My Essex V6 Transplant

[madbri]

ok lee we now no the input shaft is suported. sorry i couldnt meet up with pole dancer at weekend i was away. gearbox here if u can get a meet any time soon? lee i no this might sound daft u sure ure alternator not come loose and the fans are touching somthink? i must say ive not had a gearbox go b4 but theres always a 1st... keep on transitineering...

[Leeday]

Hey Brian.

Definitely not the alternator, that is fixed nice and tight.
Definitely seems to me that it is something to do with the gearbox or beyond as noise increases with road speed and not engine speed.
My little pole dancer should be on the ferry now travelling the high sea waves back to the Isle of Wight

[madbri]

something to do with the gearbox or beyond as noise increases with road speed and not engine speed.

did it make any difrence if u put ure foot on the clutch? i think u said no ?
have u checked wheel bearings for noise? ie when travling did it get less when going round corner?
sorry for questions but that oil shows no signs of bearing break down

[Leeday]

did it make any difrence if u put ure foot on the clutch? ......... no difference.
have u checked wheel bearings ........... No play in any wheel bearings.
when traveling did it get less when going round corner ............. No difference in the noise, faster you go louder it gets, straight line or cornering.

[Mad machinist]

Are you sure prop uj's are sound, does noise stay same in all or any particular gear

[Leeday]

Are you sure prop uj's are sound, does noise stay same in all or any particular gear

Hiya,

Noise gets louder the faster you go as you work your way through the gears,
When I fitted the Essex and MT75 I fitted a mk5 prop on the van and had to fabricate a centre mount bracket (details in this thread), and no noise, I then acquired a mk3 prop which would mount to the Ford original centre bearing mount on my van which I fitted, drove around for about 200 miles, then this noise started, I checked the centre bearing and it seemed ok, but I fitted the MK5 prop back on (which was fitted before the noise started) and the noise continues, so am guessing neither prop is causing the problem.

[jonochap]

I had a similar problem that stopped when i changed the prop. Trying both was a sound move, could the mk3 have damaged something?

[Leeday]

I had a similar problem that stopped when i changed the prop. Trying both was a sound move, could the mk3 have damaged something?

I`m not sure, would have thought if there was a problem with the mk3 prop (UJ`s gone or centre bearing gone or out of true) it would have affected the output shaft of the box, but when you grasp the output shaft and try to wiggle it there is no movement at all. Am becoming somewhat confused as to what the problem is, can only try fitting another gearbox and see if the noise is gone.

[whitemice]

After a spell in an institution on a section i would now be heading from IOW to Beachy Head dude, mental(after replacing the diff bearings ).

When i get back to the house/camera in a few days i will take some pics of my v6 to get you all like motivated, i recently had the rocker covers off for new gaskets and for as to set the valves and whilst they were off i degreased the critters and painted them with 3 coats of red SMOOTHRITE and since i am now a bachelor once more found that baking the rocker covers in the newish oven betwixt de-nibbed coats created a pukka finish and they look brahma as i DEOX C'd the hold down bolts/fittings and dremeled the critters so they look like polished stainless steel.

I was in QD the other week and they were floggin off spray cans of what is known as LEAFSIL at 3 spray cans for 99p, these are at least about 500ml cans for spraying onto indoor plant leaves and contain some sort of exotic plant oil so i thought i'll buy 21 cans and cleared the shelf thinking i'll find a use for 'em, anyways i did spray one dejected indoor plant and it came up all beautified and yissdee i used a whole can on me degreased and cleaned v6 and in 5 minutes it looked amazing, had to open the bonnet today to look at it again and it still looks amazing after 30 mile drive, have now creamed me jeans though! Will do me pushbikes with it next,,bargain.

[Leeday]

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? ........................ No, it`s SuperTim
Got a replacement gearbox off Tim, so got me grinder out and ground away all the excess material around the bell-housing for manifold clearances and for starter motor clearance. Today got gearbox back into van and bolted to engine, tomorrow will re-attch everything else (prop, cables, clutch, starter etc, etc) and see if the problem is solved

Also van has been Pulp Fictioned

[limitedblack]

He's a top guy that Tim. Glad to see the vans on the up.

[Leeday]

Well the good news is the van is re-assembled.
Took it for a test drive and the noise is still there so not the gearbox.
Guessing its the back axle
What tests etc can I do to see if there is a fault with the back axle: Axle is a Type 34 - H Axle (it is all squared as opposed to round and as per info in Haynes manual it states "The H type (Timken) is of the three quarter floating type and is bolted to its own carrier, which is attached to the front face of the axle case" )

[limitedblack]

Suppose you could drain some oil off first to see if it's clean.

Sorry to hear it wasn't the box.

[Leeday]

Been trawling through the forum and came across this one:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=34680

And last post states:

"Re: Axle Rebuild
Postby farsalvage » Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:56 pm
if only!!! i think it was because all the bearings were shagged out..
the normal transit drone just got worse and worse.. i was in the process of thinking i wish it would either get worse or go away.. about ten mins later bang it went..
still drove it back to workshop about 6 miles.. the noise was amazing!! if you want to get looked at, drive around with a broken diff.."

........So I wonder if the diff is broke, or damaged, the knocking sound is really LOUD and whilst driving the van very slowly (crawl) it feels like it is "limping" like its got an out of shape rear tyre (egg shaped) however all wheels and tyres are true and straight, not majorly but you can feel something........ more like when you are crawling, you feel resistance then its free, then resistence then its free, etc, so at a crawl you get no noise but van limps? at high speed no limp but very LOUD noise.

The back axle, before this never whined or droned or anything and was quiet as a mouse, there was never a bang, the noise just started for no reason after being parked up and just got louder and louder.

[Leeday]

Today, jacked van up and sat axle on axle stands, started it up and put it in 2nd gear, clutch out and yes it is the back axle.
Have done 3 short videos, first to show prop running true, other 2 showing the axle and noise, the noise is there but as there is no resistance (tyres on road and driving) its no-where near as bad as when driving, but the noise is quite clear (turn up your volume), the passenger side wheel spins freely but the drivers side wheel is very notchy, so am guessing there is a failure on the drivers side shaft within the diff:







Plate in van states axle is Type: B and Ratio: L.
So what's the best option, replace with a 2nd hand one and hope all is well, rebuild this axle or new axle (but has to be the narrower early mk3 axle or my wheels won`t fit with the later wider axle.