Thread: P38 viscous coupling replacement in photos.

I spent the day under the Rangie yesterday replacing the viscous coupling unit.
It went well, took me about 6 hours all up, I was glad when it was all done and dusted!
At the request of poleonpom, I started taking some photos of the process, ended up taking lots of photos and have done up a procedure for anyone who may be thinking about tackling this job.
I find workshop manuals are great, but it's a big help to see the actual job in progress with real photos and tips you don't get in the manual by someone who has actually done the job.
I was having symptoms like my front uni joint kept chewing out, my drivers side CV started clicking around corners, front diff became very sloppy and loose and mystery vibrations at different speeds.
I replaced the CV, put in a good second hand diff center, new uni joints on front and rear shafts, but the core problem seemed to persist.
I did suspect the VC to be the cause all along, but following the test procedure, I could get the wheel to turn with a breaker bar attached. Even though it was very hard to turn, as far as I knew it seemed to test ok.
As I have now discovered, it has probably been at least partially siezed the whole time, causing all of my front drive line issues.
I had my front drive shaft reconditioned, (balanced to correct a wobble, two new uni joints, one end of the shaft was replaced due to wear, probably caused by the faulty VC).
So I ordered a new VCU, front output bearing and oil seal from Ashcrofts, along with the correct silicone sealant, it arrived in three days from the UK can you believe!
I could find virtually no photos of this job in progess, so here for your use is my version of the VC replacement job.
Hope it helps someone considering taking on this job, at least you can see everything that is involved.
This has made a HUGE difference to the feel of the drive now, very solid and tight in the drive line, much nicer to drive now.

What an amazing how-to. Well done!
Thanks.