Greetings!

I've been going crazy about chasing down an annoying humming coming from rear of my freelander. Went as far as replacing rear subframe for a brand new one, replacing rear diff for a reconditioned one, fully flushing and servicing my gen3 haldex, replacing all the support arms connecting wheels to subframe (if you ever do that - buy alignment bolts in advance, impossible to get them out). But the noise is still there.
Upon further inspection, I am quite sure that the sound comes from left side on the rear. The only two things I can think of is axle shaft or wheel bearing, but
A) Axle shaft seemed good when inspecting - no play in any direction.
B) Wheel bearing I replaced 30 000 km ago - installed a SKF bearing.

Noise is constant, and does not change when cornering, therefore I doubt it is the bearing. Also no play in the bearing when car is up and I check for play with wheel on.
Here is a video of the sound. In video it is not that distinct, but I am positive that the humming is much louder on left side. https://youtube.com/shorts/8JI1OVKeiBE

Any ideas?

Tyres. Have you tried swapping tyres around. Some wear can change the way the tread block is presented to the road surface. Wranglers get very noisy as they wear. Some Pirelli Scorpions I had went hard and got noisy. Wintrac’s were very quiet but the rubber was very soft and wore fast but nice on cold icy roads.

Does the humming change on different road surfaces.

If the tyres are bidirectional swap them left right. They will run quieter until they start wearing down in relation to their new direction. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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I doubt it is the tyres, as I just switched from winter (Cormoran winter SUV) to summer (Michelin pilot pro) - no difference. In regards to road surfaces - it seems to be more quiet on gravel roads, but then again - gravel is loud in general, so it could be that i just dont hear the humming.

Also a thing I didnt mention before - alignment is good (did 1 week ago), but I also feel slight vibration through floor, coming from rear.

My rear humming sound gradually got louder and louder -- a new rear diff cured the problem. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

blaster1232 wrote:

Greetings!

I've been going crazy about chasing down an annoying humming coming from rear of my freelander. Went as far as replacing rear subframe for a brand new one, replacing rear diff for a reconditioned one, fully flushing and servicing my gen3 haldex, replacing all the support arms connecting wheels to subframe (if you ever do that - buy alignment bolts in advance, impossible to get them out). But the noise is still there.
Upon further inspection, I am quite sure that the sound comes from left side on the rear. The only two things I can think of is axle shaft or wheel bearing, but
A) Axle shaft seemed good when inspecting - no play in any direction.
B) Wheel bearing I replaced 30 000 km ago - installed a SKF bearing.

Noise is constant, and does not change when cornering, therefore I doubt it is the bearing. Also no play in the bearing when car is up and I check for play with wheel on.
Here is a video of the sound. In video it is not that distinct, but I am positive that the humming is much louder on left side. https://youtube.com/shorts/8JI1OVKeiBE

Any ideas?

I cannot fully confirm of the quality, but it seemed good - rotated shaft with hand and no grinding noise was present, where as the old diff had grinding noise even when rotating by hand. Also the same person rebuilt my PTU, which is working perfectly now, so I would count him as a trusted person. In regards to oil - I filled the oil myself so that I would be dead sure that correct oil is filled.

I guess I will try to replace rear bearing and go from there.

Rommel wrote:

The only other possibility is the left bearing even if there is no play it can still be worn.

Thanks Jules, I will try this out!

Do I understand correctly that you all are not suspecting the CV axle? It had no play, but i've read on reddit that in some cases CV axle can also generate humming without any play. What also raises my suspision - the sligth vibration i feel through floor. I've never experienced vibration from bearings, but CV axle - could be.

Offtopic, but worth leaving it here:





you can get brand new subframes from poland for around 300 EUR (250 gbp). I can confirm that they fit nicely, bushings seem to be good, cannot comment on longevity.
* You do not have to remove exhaust in order to replace subframe. If you leave it on, removing/installing becomes a 2 person job, but very doable.
*When it comes to suspension arm attaching wheel knuckle to subframe, you should turn the TORX bolt the other way around when installing the new subframe. Otherwise, you will not be able to take it out afterwards - gas tank is in the way.
* Order new alignment bolts - I managed to get one out with tons of WD40 and constant hammering with 1800nM impact, but the other i had to cut.

Have you a link blaster? DAVE.

Update! Although i had recently switched to michelin summer tyres, the thread depth wasnt great and as a last resot i ordered new kleber tyres for summer. THE HUMMING IS GONE. It is amazing how quiet the car is now. ))

And Dave, I bought it from local supplier, no idea if they ship to UK. https://topautodalas.lv/aizmugurejais-tilt...4-lr048466

They claimed that subframes are made in poland by NTY ( NTY ZRZ-LR-000 ).

Thanks for letting us know.

You must be pleased that it turned out to be easily fixed. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Told you

Thanks for letting us know the outcome Blaster  DAVE.