IRD replacement

[PAT303]

I friend from NSW just rang up and thier 99 freelander has a noisy tranny and from looking up different threads it seams that the coupling siezes and stuffs the tranny.Is there a way to remove the rear drive shaft and run it in front wheel drive to keep it on the road and do away with the troubles or is it a exxy fix?.I know nothing about freelanders so any help would be good. Pat

[woko]

You can just remove the tail shaft and it will be a front wheel drive. Mite not fix the noise as the damage is done

[101RRS]

When the VCU seizes it kills the IRD - dead or or at least the pto to the rear. If it is noisy it is unlikely that VCU has caused it but who knows.

I did have my IRD fail so much that the car was not drivable. I removed the tail shaft and VCU and it drove OK in front wheel drive. The bearings had failed in the rear PTO section which allowed the PTO crown and pinion to loose mesh and make the vehicle not drivable. By removing the rear tail shaft the load on the PTO was no longer there and after changing the oil and removing metal bits I was able to drive on it no problems for about 4 months until I put a new IRD in. Without load the damaged bearings worked OK and the crown and pinion turned OK - no new metal appeared in the oil.

So if you take the rear drive shaft out and change the oil you should be OK BUT as the IRD (or is it the gearbox) is noisy, as Woko has highlighted there may be other issues.

Garry

[PAT303]

Its not noisy,it's just chewing it's tyres so removing the tailshaft before anything worse happens would be a good idea. Pat

[101RRS]

Its not noisy,it's just chewing it's tyres so removing the tailshaft before anything worse happens would be a good idea. Pat

That is a definite symptom of a seized VCU causing transmission windup which is being relieved by slipping tyres causing the wear. Sooner or later the IRD will fail so you MUST do something now.

If you do not want to buy a new VCU ($1200) then remove the tail shafts. If the VCU has failed this must be done now and the car not driven until the VCU is either replaced or not connected to the drivetrain.

Garry