recently my rubicon has developed a grinding noise in the D1 & D2 ranges whenever it begun to lug such as soft soil or inclined grades. If the transmission was placed in low it wouldn't make the noise now it is even doing it in low range. When i took it into the local dealarship they couldn't get it to grind at all. has anyone else had any problem like this?

mudrunninRancher


01 Rubi Vampires
01 Rancher 4x4 589's

 

mudrunninRancher my 2002 rubicon has the same problem. I took it to the dealer twice, and they said the same thing "can't hear any grinding". It helps to idle it up some but I don't think it should be grinding anyway. Mine does it when coasting down a hill and sometimes when I've been riding awhile and it's warmed up if I get in a Bind going up a steep bank it will just start slipping and grinding. Let me know if you have found out anything.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Stop at the top of a steep hill and go down very slow with the engine braking and if it make's the grinding sound you are talking about it is a low pressure problem.

One of the oil check valves for the oil pump is stuck causing low oil pressure.

let me know after you test it.

later

Mark

 

Yes thats what it is doing. Sorry it took so long to respond.

 

mudrunninrancher did you ever get yours fixed. And if you did what did they find?

 

I am new but I have had this issue. When staring off slow it would "grind" and jump a little. Once you gave it gas it would go ahead and take off. The grinding got worse if you went uphill or if you warmed the engine.

I talked with a few people about hydrostatic engines and told me to first check the oil and if it has anything in it that lowered the viscosity that this will cause a problem and if that doesnot work then your oil pump is not creating enough pressure at idle.


If you look into how the tran works it makes since that low oil pressure and/or really low viscosity oil may cuase this problem.

This may be why the service guys don't hear it, they didnot run it long enough to make the oil heat up to lower the viscosity and this problem probably occurs more in the summer heat than in the winter.

Hope this helps someone.

 

I took all the plastic off. And noticed that there was mud caked in the upper part of the radiator and oil cooler. It may have been like that for awhile. I took the screen off to clean the radiator everytime before, I took the front fender off and could see alot better, the fins still had alot caked in them. Anyway I'm thinking this was causing the oil to get to hot and break down. I haven't had it do it since, but I haven't really rode for an extended amount of time though guess I'll find out. I've changed the oil again after doing this and the engine brake seems to be working better. I will post the results after further testing.

Thanks for the Reply,
Mark

 

Thanks for the input. I haven't posted in awhile, but I have come to the conclusion that it was getting hot right to the point before the Temp light would come on. It seems the protection screen in front of the radiator has very small holes that mud gets caked in. This is causing it to run hot and the oil viscocity is breaking down causing it to grind. This was so simple and I probably caused alot of premature wear. I have since removed the screen from the protector, but put everything back on (to protect the radiator from sticks on the sides) minus the screen. This has helped alot.