Help please with my Land cruiser Prado :)

[Jon_Prado]

 

 

Hi All unsure where to post this as not really sure what is wrong with the car!

 

 

 

Doing my research on these cars, I quickly became aware that seems they are common in Australia! And you have a lot of experts.

 

Hoping someone could help me with my 1999 3.0 TDI Auto Land cruiser (Prado). When I hit 55/60MPH (95kmh)I get a bad vibration to the point it shakes the car ( cannot feel it much in the steering). Back seat passengers tend to feel the vibration before the driver. Driving below 60MPH (95KMH) the car drivers 100% perfect, you would not guess it had any problem.

 

I am bit new to 4x4s (it’s my first) but I do little bits on my other cars, so I am looking for some help/guidance please. I have searched about and some suggest it could be the prop shaft UJ? Is there anyway of testing this? To confirm/eliminate it… Also I had someone I know say it could be the gear box? Is this possible?

 

Thanks :) 

 

 

 

Jon

 

Edited May 7, 2016 by Jon_Prado
Mistake

[Hiro]

Cheapest/simplest things first - have you had a wheel balance done?

[trentmeyer23]

Have a look at the UJs as mentioned as well as inspect the propshaft for any detatched weights. This is not incredibly common but is possible, especially when driving off road.

[Jon_Prado]

Thanks for the replies J I am going to have the wheels checked, or consider putting my spare on each corner 1 at a time. To see if the problem goes away.

 

To check the UJ can I remove the shafts 1 at a time, and put the car in HL to drive it just to test which one is causing the issue? Or would this damage the transmission?

Thanks again,

Jon

[trentmeyer23]

Just climb under the car, grab hold of the propshaft and shake it as hard as you can in every direction.  Any play in the UJ will require replacement. If it is very minimal you may get away with greasing it.

I would advise against disconnecting them for testing purposes.

[Jon_Prado]

Well today I have  had a chance to have couple hours with the car. I put spare on each rear corner, and the problem is still there! Took it to a garage, guy drove it and said “ Think it is your rear diff”   we also noticed around the rear diff is a little wet, is this car displaying the symptoms for a rear diff?

I also noticed the rear UJ joint looks all shiny, like it is not very old ( the one nearest rear diff)

I am leaning towards now replacing all the UJS? as I cannot feel any real play in any of the shafts.  Am I right in thinking they will be 4 UJ's, do these require any special tools to fit? or is hammer and socket sufficient? :)

Thanks again all! I am sure I will get there soon, and have a chance to enjoy my Landcruiser.