How to fix the cracking noise of the LEGO Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender 

Please note, this is not an ultimate fix for all cracking issues, it only covers one of the most frequent reasons. For a detailed guide please click here - racingbrick.com/2020/04/lego-technic-42110-land-rover-defender-ultimate-repair-guide/

Wow, Lego genuinely did go over and above when they made this set, it has design issues and causes grief, just like a real Land Rover 👍

Is this guy a Certified Land Rover Technician tho?

Great video. To all people who still have problems after this mod. Don't slide the u-joints all the way to the end of the axles. Let it be losen a little bit.The shaft will be restricted in it's movement If you slide the u joints all the way to the end of the shafts, which in turn will cause cracking noise and stop movement of the wheels. This solution together with the solution of racingbrick fixed my problem and the gearbox is running like a dream now.

I never thought I needed this video, I don’t even own this thing

Thank you, I rebuilt the chassis 3 times thinking I messed something up as I had the same issue with the wheels binding when pushing forward

Also the fact that the U-joints work at a very high angle contributes to the problem.

I just though it was authenticity.

It was only a matter of time before car repair videos got a Lego version!

Awesome. Thank you. I didn’t had the cracking issue but the engine speed wasn’t correct. That small change fixed that!!

Thank you for this fix video. After final assembly, I didn't have a cracking issue but noticed the selectors didn't seem to do anything. Spent 20 minutes trying to do a minimal disassembly and noticed that one of the joints was off set. Normally I keep them in line, but not this time. Fixed and the issue was resolved. Thanks.

Guys, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find out what was the issue that caused the cracking noise and I think that the most popular “mistake” is in the fake engine itself. Little 2:1:1 pieces that are rotated by the axle in the engine might not be placed perfectly and then it becomes much harder to rotate while touching the wrong fake cylinder (red one). And sometimes when it cracks, the engine stops working on any other speed. It is because of the dark bluish grey connectors between the seats (and near the + - sticker). They just get further from each other and don’t let the gears rotate properly.

I had the same clicking issue and was able to properly align the U-joints without any disassembly (I accessed them from under the vehicle and through the passenger side door). I no longer experience any clicking at all and it runs silently in neutral, as intended! Thank you for the helpful, informative video and for saving my build! :D

Thank God for this video! I was A convinced I’d screwed up my first ever Lego model at the tender age of 41 and B virtually stripped it as far as I could thinking I’d reversed the difs... you’re right the instructions are wrong on the alignment of the universal joints... many thanks!

Nobody Me Trying to silently turn on my electric stove 3am 0:06

Thank you very much for your videos. I had the tension build, cracking issue in Hi 3rd and 4th, official Lego directions were wrong! Adjusted my u joints as shown here, and problem solved! You rock dude!

Not all superheroes wear capes! Thank you @RacingBrick!

That need to set UJ's correctly is very well known in motor engineering. Odd that Lego got one of them wrong. Well done for finding it and making this video. BobUK

I have managed to solve the sticking wheel issue!! Took me a full strip down to find it. 1. Turn the vehicle upside down. 2. Look for the main gear on the rear differential. 3. Locate the small dark grey cog to the rear if the main diff gear. 4. Double check you have installed item "6261374" correctly page 495 of the manual. (Small grey + - o connector) Let me know if this solves your issue 😎🤙

Great video - my model suffered both issues, but now running much better - thanks! Very informative generally on the universal joint alignment too, I had no idea that it mattered.

My land Rover still cracks, I built it 2 times

Had an older manual, the 2 u-joints orientation was wrong, no clicking sound but pistons wouldn't run. aligned them per your recommendations and solved my issue. Thanks!

No one: When the cracking noise is still there: *Visible depression*

Thank you soooooo much. Great advice, it fixed the problem, I am really glad you made this video. Just finished bag 2, I really enjoyed construction but this little bit was frustrating. Well done!!

Thanks a lot for the solution! Is it normal to have the crackig even after implementing this solution for the highest(4th) gear?

Thanks for this video, along with alot of people i thought i had done some thing wrong during the build. It's just going to be a display piece so my mind is at ease knowing this was a common problem.

Thank you 🙏. This has been really helpful! Keep up the good work!

So I built mine with the help of all of your videos (very recently I may add) and there was no cracking...at first. Now in high gears there seems to be cracking and the output is not at a constant speed. What do I do?

Getting this tmw. I’ll keep this in mind.

Thanks for the great video. I've just got this set and the instructions have been corrected. It shows the correct alignment of the universal joints as you suggest.

That's a nice explanation Getting better every review And really helps me a lot Keep going, keep helping us Better that the one who lives in Poland 😃😃😃

Slap some WD40 on it and it will fix it.

I really have to say thank you I was struggling and thinking about demolish and redo from start everything Great job

I just bought this and this video is very useful thank you for making this!

The hero we needed, but not the one we deserve.

3:06 Even my wheels rotate backwards also the fake engine pistons work (I'm talking about my 4th gear /HI) Should I open my model and check the U joints again? Or I should check something else too...

I'm already lost 10 seconds into the video, still give an A+ for the effort for this whole vid

If you still have issues I suggest to remove the body, then go through the whole drive train and double check everything as it is presented in this video - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t9VQGoqhOFs.html It is also possible to disconnect the shafts going to and from the gearbox and check the sections separately by turning the gears manually. Here's a hint how can you remove the body in bigger pieces - facebook.com/Racingbrick/photos/a.642361079222005/1486442398147198/

SOLUTION FR + EN/ SOLUTION IN ENGLISH (translated by browser) BELOW FRENCH Si comme moi lors du premier montage, vous avez eu cette frustration en essayant votre nouveau Land Rover. Dans mon cas, après le premier montage et en dépit que tout soit bien monté ET que les arbres de transmission soient bien alignés, les vitesses craquaient en Low ou en High à partir de la 3ème vitesse. La 4ème vitesse en High craquait à mort. Bref, sans grand espoir, j’ai tout de même tenté un démontage et remontage complet MAIS en veillant à laisser pour CHAQUE engrenage (ou TOUT AUTRE PIÈCE TOURNANTE/MOBILE) un petit espace (juste ce qu’il faut pour que ça ne frotte pas), afin qu’il y ait un minimum de frottements entre les pièces mobiles et les pièces fixes. Ce qui a son importance vu le nombre d’axes et d’engrenages par lequel s’opère la transmission depuis les roues jusqu’aux 6 cylindres. Et là miracle, toutes les vitesses marchent sans craquer, même si ça manque toujours de fluidité (en 4ème High surtout). Mais ça ne craque plus jamais ! Tout ce que je peux vous dire, pour ceux qui (re)montent, c’est de bien tester la boite à vitesse (directement en 4ème High) dès que vous arrivez à l’étape de la pose du volant, en mettant les 4 roues en place au préalable bien sûr. N’hésitez pas à la faire rouler en l’accompagnant sur 2 à 3 mètres pour vous faire une bonne idée et ajuster si besoin est. Et une fois que c’est acceptable pour vous, vous pouvez continuer la suite en veillant à ne pas trop malmener la structure afin de ne pas compromettre les différents serrages établis. En espérant que ça en aidera pas mal et courage à ceux qui doivent redémonter. J’ai moi-même longuement hésiter à le faire sans savoir si ça en vaudrait le coup mais je ne pouvais pas me résigner à avoir un Lego à 150€ dont la fonction principale ne marche qu’à moitié. ____ If like me during the first assembly, you had this frustration while trying your new Land Rover. In my case, after the first assembly and despite everything being well assembled AND that the drive shafts are well aligned, the gears creaked in Low or in High from the 3rd gear. 4th gear in High creaked to death. In short, without much hope, I still tried a complete disassembly and reassembly BUT making sure to leave for EACH gear (or ANY OTHER ROTATING PART / MOBILE) a small space (just enough to keep it from rubbing step), so that there is a minimum of friction between the moving parts and the fixed parts. This is important given the number of axes and gears through which transmission takes place from the wheels to the 6 cylinders. And there miracle, all speeds work without cracking, even if it still lacks fluidity (especially in 4th High). But it never cracks again! All I can tell you, for those who (re)build, is to test the gearbox (directly in 4th High) as soon as you get to the stage of fitting the steering wheel, putting the 4 wheels in place beforehand of course. Do not hesitate to roll it by accompanying it for 2 to 3 meters to get a good idea and adjust if necessary. And once it is acceptable to you, you can continue following it while being careful not to manhandle the structure too much so as not to compromise the various tightenings established. Hopefully it will help a lot and courage for those who have to restart. I myself have long hesitated to do it without knowing if it would be worth it but I could not resign myself to having a Lego at 150 € whose main function works only halfway.

During my last 2 medicopter shift, I spent my freetime to build this set. It was so frustrating to hear this creepy noise. I started to search the web instantly, and found this video very soon. I did everything as it mentioned, but first, I didn't get a good result. Double checked everything, finally I found out, that a pin is a bit out of it's place. Took that back, than everything worked as it should be. Thx! A+

Wow I hate it when I hear this noise when I try to play with my new LEGO Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender, but thanks to this video I can now play with my new LEGO Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender in peace.

Fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing. This fixed my set and is now working well. I emailed Lego 6 days ago about my set not working but have not heard a thing from them.

I made the Defender and looked carefully at all gears and orientation of the U-joints. No cracking noise when moving the Defender slow. At higher speed there is still cracking noise, despite I checked all your advised checkpoints.

sorry but it still dose't work for me can you help me?

I am not totally sold on your recommendation. I have properly aligned both universal joints according to your instructions. My main concern is that the gearbox works incredibly fine when the car moves in reverse (i.e., backwards), regardless how hard you push it, even in Hi-4th gear. On the contrary, when you push the car 'drivewards' the gear box is a complete mesh in 3rd and 4th gears. I suspect it has to do with torsional torques in the shafts, and I would like to know if somebody else is having issues with it.

Also make sure the inner U joint doesn't slide into the 24 tooth gear.

Thanks to you very much, this problem make me can't sleep after finish building . At first, I think is there any wrong building made by me ? And now, after watching your video , I fix it ! It done!

4:35 that little red gap shown was the problem with mine. Thank you so much!! No more cracks and all I hear the pistons moving :)

I don’t even have this or need to fix this but I’m here and I’m watching this

Thanks for this video! :D I never had this problem, but because you made this video before I got this, I knew what to look out for! :D

Thx for the fix! I also used a bit of mineral oil on the gears, it helps.

Thanks, we had only one of the universal joints out of line so the clicking was a bit quieter. You can remover the shaft by taking the front seats out. All sorted now.

Hey there, I have a question. I got in trouble, because after putting the gearbox and rear suspensoin together, the transmission don’t work proper anymore, because there are two gears locking each other. Did you have the same issue?😳 I hope you can help me out🥺. It is very beautiful, it would be very sad if it doesn’t work. Nice video👍👍

Hi guys! Went through all these amazing videos but still facing the cracking issue While in D and hi gears, I feel kind of stiffness I'm pretty sure I've assembled everything in a good way. When I push the Def forward, after stopping it, the red long shaft makes another turn. Did it happen to some of you? What could be? Gears too tight? Thanks!

Do you connect the red axle with the same colour, or the opposite, as I find it difficult to manage it? Could you please make a tutorial?

Remove the joined part under the passenger seat and move ur whel. If its still craking ur problem is from gearbox. Its too hard to move the gear rleas them with a way . If ur problem is from the engin its about timing like a real car U just need a clutch like somthing and replace it with red par then move it frome hiest gear it will finde its plaice (the clutch must not bee to realisd or too hard) then very cearful remove the clutch sistem and get bak the red shaft. Mark the place and U have the timing on Ur lego

@RacingBrick hello fellow, I've noticed the same problems with my own model saldy :/ I've put attention on having the u turn axles both the right way and I've also pulled up the DNR connecter a little bit up which I think helped the model by a little but still the cracking noises.. Your videos are really helpful but I don't really have the time to watch em all and then fix it, it still has the cracking noises and I wanted to ask if you know what could be the problem then? I know that I did not use wrong gears since I am a really perfectness loving and accurate brick builder it can't be that I used a wrong brick, surely nobody is perfect but I paid a lot of attention to using the right bricks since I've noticed before I got the model that it has such problems and now I'm standing here with a mark on my face T-T I guess I'll just have to rebuild the technical parts and then put it all together again... If you know what else could be the problem then pls let me know, have a nice weekend though!

You’re guide is amazing, and it stopped cracking in drive, but the fake engine won’t work and when I go in the low or high differential mods it still cracks :/ Amazing video though!

i have watched the video multiple times and still cant figure out how to put the axels correctly. Could you make a quick video of you having the stock version and then slowly showing us how to place the axels properly?

I checked everything three times, reconnected the UJ at least ten times, tried every other advice, also I followed the instructions so close, it was not even fun building it. Now I still have that ******* cracking and I feel like Im going insane.. nothing helps, so I will have to take it all apart and build again... what a great thing to spend money on, last model I bought. ever.. thanks for thorough manual though..

Hi , whats motors and box are you using on the wheel so I can get this to show the movement

After this, if it's still not working, check if differential are in the right direction. step 4 and 136. It fixed my model :)

Thanks for this ! Not that i need it yet, but the guide is helpfull to know should my completed build have issues.

I did everything you said and still had some clicking in hi and lo 3rd and 4th gear. What I figured out is that Lego put the 2 differentials in backwards so I flipped them around and now I have no issue at all in any gear combination

I'm about to build this, so good to keep in mind!

At 2:11, the right image is step 89 on page 59 of the instructions. I just got this set 2 days ago and although my book has the same picture, the online pdf instructions shows the correct alignment of the u-joints in the inset. I just realized that although the inset is wrong in the book and in this video, the main image shows the u-joints correctly aligned.

Thanks for the clear explanation!

I changed the U-Joints and my connector in the center holding the axle of the DNR selector is in place but I still get cracks at that location, any solutions?

Can't believe I missed that in the instructions, ty Ok mine were actually already aligned and I still get cracks

Looks like LEGO have fixed the manual now. I'm up to this step on my Defender and both of the joints are in the correct position.

thank you! fixed my issue even after rebuilding it a second time!

I've done as you've suggested both in your video and in the link provided however I still get resistance in the high gears. There's no cracking but the wheels wind back and the engine doesn't run properly. Any help?

Hi mate. Thanks for the great content in explaining the mechanism of the Defender. I am half way from completing this kits, and I realise I may experience the problem of U joint misalignment as the engine would get stuck and have cracking sound. May I ask how do you maker sure the U joint is correctly aligned? Many thanks!

My issue is everytime I move it forward in drive it will crack, it wont even back up when I have it in reverse. I have taken the front and rear diffs out three times realigning and still nothing fixes it. Am I going crazy or is it just a design flaw?

Hi, I tried to fix my Defender with your solution, but, still, there is cracking noise when gearbox is set on higher gears.

I am getting cracking when in D, and I can see/hear the tension built up in the gears. Don’t know how to fix, as I’ve gotten all the build correct, as far as I can tell. U joints are oriented correctly, as are the differentials.

This helped me to fix similar issue in my moc. Thanks for this video

Thanks for the video it helped out with diagnosing the problem and fixing it aswell

If my rear wheels are binding after phase 2 of building should i rebuild ?

Hey my Lamborghini rear wheels spin in opposite directions. Do I have to re build? Thanks

That thing with the + and - on it, if you scroll it all the way to the - and put it in drive, it cracks, but then when you scroll it however many times you want to in the + direction it doesnt crack, im not sure if its for everyone, or just me,

Thank you i was thinking on it for 6 months thank you very much

I have this model and it is finished now but i have also problems with it: 1 it doesn't drive, the front wheels are good but the back wheels not, 1 turns forward and other backward. 2 the black gear on the roof turns but is not functioning 3 if i would pull the winch out, i can not pull it back because it is all hidden. the gear which was meant to do this in the hood is stuck Do you know what went wrong? I rebuilded the chassis 2 times but the problem with the back wheels is still there. I don't understand it.

Something somewhere is happening with my Lego technic Lamborghini do you have any suggestions for that

Hi Sir, I have the same cracking sound here and follows your instruction now, but before I fix it I made this cracking lots of time, in fact which gear was skipping and would it causes any damage?

I have a similar problem with the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Is there a fix for it?

This literally saved me! Thank you!

I have tried to change the fitting several times with my son and we still get the clicking issues, just like described! Is there a better was to make sure we have the right angles on the U-Joint?

I am in the middle of building a motorized mod, with all sorts of snaps, crackles and pops. I read the hypoallergenic Vaseline is OK to dab on gears, but other people say it will melt the plastic over time.

This isnt just a lego issue. People with insane lifts on their vehicles snap axles and driveshafts all the time and wonder why.

OUTSTANDING thank you for your time and effort

thank you so much for this.so all i have to do is push in that axle in the correct order?

Guess what? No cracking, finally! Thanks! :)

I aligned properly the joints but in 3rd and 4th gear i still have some issues, the engine doesn't make any weird noise but the wheels roll backwords when I lift the car up. Please help I can't find a solution (I already redone the entire build but nothing)

So mine seems like it is having the same issue, but aligning the u-joints does not fix it. It works perfectly in R. But when in D, it binds up and builds that tension that spins the wheels when you lift them up.

Is there an easy way to fix this without taking the whole thing apart (and / or bit by bit)? Mine doesn't crackle but the engine and gears don't move instantly, (they start to move after like a second) and barely run. The wheels on mine don't move backwards, either, though. Also: is there an easy way to remove the main body, leaving only the chassis, as I think that would be cool too!

i aligned the u joints and it didnt work. is it okay if i send u a video?

I see a even bigger problem.Higher gears work with no problem, but when i put the gear in the lowest one then it starts to crack!!! I have these two gears from the video allined proppaly (i think so).Any ideas maybe??I need help(fast). Greetings

Is it normal for high-gear 3 and high-gear 4 to have this issue? All the other gears are able to run smoothly… I aligned the two joints and the issue is still there for the two specific gears.

ok so i have mine cracking when on HI but only when i push it forward.. everything is connected properly, U joins too, i saw this before assembly.. looks like i have to rotate both diffs? :( :( :(