Technical Panda 4x4 clonking/juddering

[Jamie KC]

First chance to get under and have a look today. No dead found.

Pic of centre bearing attached, likely has been replaced as doesnae look that old, and rubber support appears to be moving around as intended and doing its job well.

Gonna start with changing the diff fluid and greasing joints, see what’s what!

When solved, or at a dead end, will report back.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Two interesting observations based on your photo:
First, I think that whole propshaft has been replaced - the universal joint and its fitting to the tube is different to mine (see my photo) and it all looks very clean compared to the rest of the underside.
And second, note the ring of grease spots on the car, being flung out from that universal joint. I wonder if that is where your clonking is coming from? Mine is dry there (the bearings are sealed)

In my photo you can see the beginnings of a little deterioration of the rubber ring: five years and 47000 miles old. There's a long way to go on that though before I need to do anything

 

[Panda IIs]

Two interesting observations based on your photo:
First, I think that whole propshaft has been replaced - the universal joint and its fitting to the tube is different to mine (see my photo) and it all looks very clean compared to the rest of the underside.
And second, note the ring of grease spots on the car, being flung out from that universal joint. I wonder if that is where your clonking is coming from? Mine is dry there (the bearings are sealed)

In my photo you can see the beginnings of a little deterioration of the rubber ring: five years and 47000 miles old. There's a long way to go on that though before I need to do anything

View attachment 428589

@Herts Hillhopper you beat me to it and I actually went and looked under the car (this time...). I would agree a replacement propshaft and relatively recently (note relatively clean marker on UJ circlip). Do you know if the prop shafts are dynamically balanced (originally) maybe this is part of the issue?

Pleased for the local squirrel population!

 

[tomdee]

You can test it without the axle, but then you'll notice a slight grinding sound due the lack of the axle. It'll come mostly from back differential.

 

[Jamie KC]

Two interesting observations based on your photo:
First, I think that whole propshaft has been replaced - the universal joint and its fitting to the tube is different to mine (see my photo) and it all looks very clean compared to the rest of the underside.
And second, note the ring of grease spots on the car, being flung out from that universal joint. I wonder if that is where your clonking is coming from? Mine is dry there (the bearings are sealed)

In my photo you can see the beginnings of a little deterioration of the rubber ring: five years and 47000 miles old. There's a long way to go on that though before I need to do anything

View attachment 428589

The whole prop does look fairly clean under there, so it may well be that it has been replaced. The ring of grease seems relatively dry, so I wonder if that was from the old bearing, and may indicate why the prop has been replaced.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

I wonder… if it’s been replaced, are all the bolts tight in the flanges where the shaft meets the PTU and rear diff…

 

[Jamie KC]

I wonder… if it’s been replaced, are all the bolts tight in the flanges where the shaft meets the PTU and rear diff…

Cheers. Will check. Although seems that would be an all the time issue, as opposed to only when it has thoroughly warmed up.

 

[tomdee]

Cheers. Will check. Although seems that would be an all the time issue, as opposed to only when it has thoroughly warmed up.

Also have in mind that metals once heated tend to expand and play is more noticeable.

 

[Jamie KC]

So, seems I am now noise free. Fluids not changed, joints not greased. Was due to get that sorted in the next week.

On Saturday morning I had four new tyres fitted, and it was surprisingly quiet on the way home.

Took it for a 45min spin last night, all quiet.

Took it for a 60min+ spin this morn, all quiet.

Seems that tyre circumference issues may have been in play here. They weren’t evenly worn front to back, and although the same size they were different brands. All wee worn in inner and outer edges hence a complete new set of boots. It defo wasn’t a loose wheel nut kinda issue.

Ding dong the noise is gone!

 

[The Panda Nut]

So, seems I am now noise free. Fluids not changed, joints not greased. Was due to get that sorted in the next week.

On Saturday morning I had four new tyres fitted, and it was surprisingly quiet on the way home.

Took it for a 45min spin last night, all quiet.

Took it for a 60min+ spin this morn, all quiet.

Seems that tyre circumference issues may have been in play here. They weren’t evenly worn front to back, and although the same size they were different brands. All wee worn in inner and outer edges hence a complete new set of boots. It defo wasn’t a loose wheel nut kinda issue.

Ding dong the noise is gone!

Thanks for reporting back. Now you say this I bought a Golf that was the same. New tyres fixed that too. Glad you have got to the bottom of it. We need to remmeber to do all the obvious things and easy things first before blaming the many Fiat idocyncracies which have affected us over many many miles.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Different makes of tyre has a big part to play as there will have been differences in rolling resistance, maybe in the temperature they reached and so the pressure after a long drive. It’s not good practice to mix brands across the car, and not ideal end to end either. With the 4x4 (actually with *any* 4x4), it’s also quite important to try and keep the tread depths similar all round too, by doing a back-to-front swap as they begin to wear noticeably. This helps ensure the wheel speeds remain consistent - remember it’s a change in speed of one wheel compared to the others that is being watched by the system that decides when to engage the rear drive.

My first ever car tended to pull to one side, even though tracking and tyre pressures were correct. That turned out to be through having a different brand of tyre on each front wheel.