Diff Clunk and Tight Gear Shifter

[WayneH]

Hi. I’ve got a 2008 SWB 3.2 243000km. What I have noticed is that when putting the shifter into drive or reverse there’s a clunk sound from the rear diff. I have tightened the crown nuts and it helped for a bit but has reappeared. Another issue is that when parked on an incline the shifter is very tight and difficult to change to park or reverse. Has this got something to do with the park brake not engaging and the vehicle moving cause the drive train to wind up? I was also thinking diff mounts? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for an awesome forum.

[4ePikanini]

Crown nuts?

Tighten the axle nuts.

Sent from my SM-A505F using Tapatalk

[Bernard]

Hi there. I have also experienced the difficulty of getting the car out of gear when parked, especially on an incline. I also have the clunk when changing from reverse to drive and back. I have been advised that I should ignore the clunk as it is caused by a stretched chain in the gearbox and would cost a lot to repair, and this appears to be a consistent problem with auto Pajero.
To address the difficult gearbox changes, I have made an alteration to the gearbox mounting which costs nothing and should take max 1 hour to do. I postulate that the difficulty is due to there being too much play in the mounting due to the rubber deteriorating over time.
I have inserted a square of rubber under the mounting which makes the gearbox ‘flex’ less.
See picture.
You have to support the gearbox and remove the mounting. I was under the impression that gear changes were smoother, but, I have not been able to test due to lockdown.

[Ernesto]

Hi,
I have been experiencing the same problem on an incline in my 2000 model 3.2 Di-d Shogun, how was the
result of your upgrade on the transmission support? Thanks, Boyet

[SimphiweB]

When you park on an incline, the first thing you do is to engage the hand brake while you are still holding on to your foot brake. Next: let go the foot brake and let the handbrake hold the car, and then shift to park. If you shift to park before the handbrake holds the car the gear will "'hook", and then when its time to take-off you will have to fight to unhook it which then results to that uncomfortable initial shifting.

The clunk/thud knock from the back often comes from the splines of the back wheels, assuming you have checked all the bushes, especially on the diff support and track control arms , and dog nuts. Over time splines on the outer shaft wear and then the outer shafts have to travel a few centimeters before they hold onto the "hub teeth" when you take off. There is nothing much you can do. Remember: ONLY QUALITY CARS GET OLD, and Pajero happens to be one of those! Unless you have enough money to change the shafts and the bearing hubs, nothing wrong will happen if the sound is from the wheel hub, unless something else is very wrong. Learn to take off nicely and remember your prop shaft tends to knock a bit when it changes direction i.e forward to reverse.

[WayneH]

I took it to Propshaft Master. They checked everything. Splines ok, prop cv’s ok, cross member bushes a bit soft but ok. The problem seems to be inside the transfer case. When in drive turning the prop back and forth the clunk sound is emanating from the transfer case so maybe the chain. So I’m off to see Arnold at Mitsu Tech Monday

[Bernard]

Hi Ernesto. In my opinion, the gear changes are are smoother and quicker. It did not solve the clunk, but, it’s worth the effort and something that you can do for free.

[pajerogen1]

Hi. I’ve got a 2008 SWB 3.2 243000km. What I have noticed is that when putting the shifter into drive or reverse there’s a clunk sound from the rear diff. I have tightened the crown nuts and it helped for a bit but has reappeared. Another issue is that when parked on an incline the shifter is very tight and difficult to change to park or reverse. Has this got something to do with the park brake not engaging and the vehicle moving cause the drive train to wind up? I was also thinking diff mounts? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for an awesome forum.

Hi, so how did you resolve this problem at the end?