Broken Freelander Diff - Fisher Fury
Discussion
Managed to break my Freelander LSD diff on my Fisher Fury R1 on a Rockingham trackway yesterday. It was making a nasty treating sound (like splines grating over each other) then I lost all drive on track. Now when I push the car the drive shafts obviously turn but the propshaft doesn't!
Can anyone recommend where I can get this rebuilt/exchanged or find a replacement and what typically breaks causing the above symptoms?
Can anyone recommend where I can get this rebuilt/exchanged or find a replacement and what typically breaks causing the above symptoms?
Took it off the car today and opened it up. I can see small slivers of metal but nothing the looks like teeth.
Strange thing is, when it was in the car if I pushed the car the rotating drive shafts didn't rotate the prop shaft (so clearly broken within the diff housing). But today when it's off the car and opened up I turned the input shaft (that the prop bolts to) and the crown wheel turn seemlessly.
What I couldn't tell is if the splines within each drive shaft hole were turning.
Any ideas if this might suggest what's broken?
Given this is a Land Rover Freelander diff with Quaife LSD powered by a 160BHP 1.0 litre Yamaha R1 engine I'm surprised the diff was the thing to go, would have expected the motorbike gearbox to be the weak link.
Anyway I'm sending it off to Quaife later this week and hoping it's not a huge bill!!
Strange thing is, when it was in the car if I pushed the car the rotating drive shafts didn't rotate the prop shaft (so clearly broken within the diff housing). But today when it's off the car and opened up I turned the input shaft (that the prop bolts to) and the crown wheel turn seemlessly.
What I couldn't tell is if the splines within each drive shaft hole were turning.
Any ideas if this might suggest what's broken?
Given this is a Land Rover Freelander diff with Quaife LSD powered by a 160BHP 1.0 litre Yamaha R1 engine I'm surprised the diff was the thing to go, would have expected the motorbike gearbox to be the weak link.
Anyway I'm sending it off to Quaife later this week and hoping it's not a huge bill!!
Might I suggest you speak to Austen at http://www.bellengineering.co.uk
Bell are the experts in all things Freelander-driveline and Austen is a RGB racer with many years experience - including racing a R1 Fury for several years.
Bell are the experts in all things Freelander-driveline and Austen is a RGB racer with many years experience - including racing a R1 Fury for several years.
Quaife say a couple of bearings need replacing, and the spring pack they replace routinely when they have them apart - £400ish
Broken driveshaft due to a fractured weld has been cleaned up and rewelded - don't know the cost yet.
So on reflection it looks like the broken driveshaft was the primary fault, there's a secondary fault in the diff but I wouldn't have known this if the driveshaft hadn't of failed.
All very surprising on a 160BHP, 1.0l, 450kg Car. So when I discussed with the mechanic it turns out the previous owner hit the pit wall at Silverstone and they thought it was just bodywork, but could have damaged the weld on the driveshaft and the diff bearings which then failed some years later.
Anyway that was all in the previous owners previous car, he transferred the running gear over to a new build with all other parts being new so I know everything else is good.
Broken driveshaft due to a fractured weld has been cleaned up and rewelded - don't know the cost yet.
So on reflection it looks like the broken driveshaft was the primary fault, there's a secondary fault in the diff but I wouldn't have known this if the driveshaft hadn't of failed.
All very surprising on a 160BHP, 1.0l, 450kg Car. So when I discussed with the mechanic it turns out the previous owner hit the pit wall at Silverstone and they thought it was just bodywork, but could have damaged the weld on the driveshaft and the diff bearings which then failed some years later.
Anyway that was all in the previous owners previous car, he transferred the running gear over to a new build with all other parts being new so I know everything else is good.
So I finally gotr the Diff back from Quaife and the rewelded driveshaft and reinstalled them yesterday.
As it's not road legal I can't test it on the road (obviously!) so decided to put it up on axle stands and start it up to make sure everything sounded ok.
So I start it up and gentle let the clutch out in 1st gear and the wheels start to spin in mid-air (up on axle stands remember) and then I start to get the same grating/graunching noise!!
So Diffs been inspected and given a clean bill of health by Quaife and the drive shafts are now definitely fully intact. Prop shaft all looks fine as do UJs so what the hell is going on?
In frustration I decide to take it off the jacks, clear the tin tops off the drive, wheel the fury to the back of the garage and accelerate out to the end of the drive. I manage mild acceleration in 1st and 2nd before having to brake hard to avoid going out onto the public road! When doing this, as far as I could tell there was no grating noise evident.
So for those with experience of a Quaife mechanical LSD, if neither wheel has traction (i.e. up on axel stands) does the LSD not like this/get confused and do something strange which creates the grating noise?
The other thing which occurred to me (read worries me) is that the rear suspension was on full droop (as the chassis was on the axle stands, I'm wondering if one of the driveshafts is fulling out of the diff and the driveshaft splines and separating from the diff splines creating the noise?
Really worried now that the whole thing will need to come apart again which is an utter ball-ache. I also have a trackday booked for 15th July so very little time to resolve and I really don't want to turn up there (its a 2.5 hour drive there on the trailer) only to find out the diff/drive is still stuffed.
Any suggestions/support gratefully accepted
As it's not road legal I can't test it on the road (obviously!) so decided to put it up on axle stands and start it up to make sure everything sounded ok.
So I start it up and gentle let the clutch out in 1st gear and the wheels start to spin in mid-air (up on axle stands remember) and then I start to get the same grating/graunching noise!!
So Diffs been inspected and given a clean bill of health by Quaife and the drive shafts are now definitely fully intact. Prop shaft all looks fine as do UJs so what the hell is going on?
In frustration I decide to take it off the jacks, clear the tin tops off the drive, wheel the fury to the back of the garage and accelerate out to the end of the drive. I manage mild acceleration in 1st and 2nd before having to brake hard to avoid going out onto the public road! When doing this, as far as I could tell there was no grating noise evident.
So for those with experience of a Quaife mechanical LSD, if neither wheel has traction (i.e. up on axel stands) does the LSD not like this/get confused and do something strange which creates the grating noise?
The other thing which occurred to me (read worries me) is that the rear suspension was on full droop (as the chassis was on the axle stands, I'm wondering if one of the driveshafts is fulling out of the diff and the driveshaft splines and separating from the diff splines creating the noise?
Really worried now that the whole thing will need to come apart again which is an utter ball-ache. I also have a trackday booked for 15th July so very little time to resolve and I really don't want to turn up there (its a 2.5 hour drive there on the trailer) only to find out the diff/drive is still stuffed.
Any suggestions/support gratefully accepted
Put jack stands under the outboard ed of wishbones and try again, i.e. so the susp is at normal loaded position? I wouldn't be surprised if it is a clearance as tested issue. might be worth leaving the rear wheels off so you can have a fair look around while its running.
I've a (Ford 3.38 with) Quaife diff in my IRS Fury and no, it doesn't make graunching noises when tested as you describe - barely any noise at all in fact.
I've a (Ford 3.38 with) Quaife diff in my IRS Fury and no, it doesn't make graunching noises when tested as you describe - barely any noise at all in fact.
Thanks for the advice Huff. I did think afterwards that I should have loaded the suspension on the axle stands, but worried it might fall off while testing it though!
I'm going to load it on the trailer tomorrow and take it to a private car park and give it a definitive test are more track like conditions.
The grating noise is very like the sound I heard as the Diff/Driveshaft went on my last trackday which is very worrying.
Will report back tomorrow
I'm going to load it on the trailer tomorrow and take it to a private car park and give it a definitive test are more track like conditions.
The grating noise is very like the sound I heard as the Diff/Driveshaft went on my last trackday which is very worrying.
Will report back tomorrow
I've tried running it again this morning on the axle stands and at low revs (tickover in first) it makes an awful noise like splines jumping, if I apply the brakes and a bit more throttle to load up the drive train it still makes the noise at low revs. If I give it more revs, with the brakes on or off, the noise goes away which is confusing.
And no it's not just a bit of driveline chatter, its very load and a mechanically painful sound!
And no it's not just a bit of driveline chatter, its very load and a mechanically painful sound!
Sent it back to Fury sports cars and they gave it a full inspection and clean bill of health. So then went and did my trackdays at Bedford GT circuit and while noisy it all held together ok.
So I think it’s a case of TADTS with a BEC and Quaife LSD.
I bought it as a cheap track car but I spent so much time and money on it trying to get it track worthy and it just kept breaking so I gave up and sold it on. I’ve now got an Exige 380 on order which is not really staying with the spirit of a cheap trackcar
So I think it’s a case of TADTS with a BEC and Quaife LSD.
I bought it as a cheap track car but I spent so much time and money on it trying to get it track worthy and it just kept breaking so I gave up and sold it on. I’ve now got an Exige 380 on order which is not really staying with the spirit of a cheap trackcar
Gassing Station | Kit Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff