45000 km fo a diff?

[crl]

Hi all, I am a D2 owner but I have a question on behalf of my Dad who has a 2007 D3 TDV6 SE. He has just had to have bearings replaced in his front diff to the tune of $1000.00. His vehicle has only travelled 45000 km. Less than 5000 km of that is towing a caravan, none is off road and the rest is a combination of aound town and highway driving.

My question is: is this common on front diffs of D3s or has Dad just been a bit unlucky? He has had it serviced by the book since he purchased it new in 2007.

Thanks in advance,

crl

[Fish78]

See this thread
Disco 3 Diff Problems

Its a fairly common problem.

[stig0000]

the older cars had problems with the paint inside the diff coming off and thats what failed the bearrings,

wether that was fixed in 07 cars i cant remeber ATM,,

[crl]

As it was fairly common was there ever a factory recall for it or anything?

[Busman]

Wow, l was not aware there have been so many diff issues popping up.
I have just replace both the front & rear diff centre over the past month.
Just under $3,000 later
Saw another at the same Diff shop yesterday with 90k on the clock.
Same issue????

[Fish78]

I just checked the UK recall register, there have been 10 separate recalls on the D3 and RRS but none of those involved Diffs.

LR/authorities should issue a recall though.

[Neil P]

... there have been 10 separate recalls ... but none of those involved Diffs.

LR/authorities should issue a recall though.

I'd rather they stopped buyingcrap diffs . These have been faulting
since '05 , and they're still installing rubbish . Replacements do not
last any better than the original. The coating myth was busted some
time ago , when replacements without the coating continued to fail.
Any Company should be able to source diffs that do not have
case-hardening problems ; not exactly a leading edge metal treatment !
Their leadtime for component fault rectification exceeds model run
time . I know that the die-hards like to give this Company every
opportunity to come good , but the truth is , it's Pathetic ........

[gghaggis]

From trawling through the Toyota, Jeep, Subaru and BMW forums, it would seem that diff failure is a common occurrence throughout the 4WD manufacturers. There seems to be a fairly consistent baseline of reported faults for all models, LR included. There are spikes in the data for each individual manufacturer (eg 2002 ~ 2005 Range Rover, 2005 ~ 2007 D3, 2010 Toyota 90, Prado, 2005 ~ 2007 Jeep Cherokee etc), but these trace back to specific design faults, eg the paint contamination issue in the D3.

As the majority of manufacturers use only two or three bearing suppliers, that would seem to indicate that a common component such as this is the underlying cause. Whether this has significantly changed over the last 10 years, I'd guess that it is just a skew in the observational data due to the greater access to the Internet and web-based databases. I personally think almost ALL 4wd diffs are hopelessly under-designed for the job they have to do, with the possible exception of the Salsbury.

Cheers,

Gordon

[crl]

I'd rather they stopped buyingcrap diffs . These have been faulting
since '05 , and they're still installing rubbish . Replacements do not
last any better than the original. The coating myth was busted some
time ago , when replacements without the coating continued to fail.
Any Company should be able to source diffs that do not have
case-hardening problems ; not exactly a leading edge metal treatment !
Their leadtime for component fault rectification exceeds model run
time . I know that the die-hards like to give this Company every
opportunity to come good , but the truth is , it's Pathetic ........

That was going to be my next question, are the replacement diffs any better? I guess not, unless anyone else has some different information.

[Busman]

That was going to be my next question, are the replacement diffs any better? I guess not, unless anyone else has some different information.

I have just had both front and rear repaired and fitted.
Using American & Jap bearings.
I will find out more from my Diff Shop when l get a chance.
I was told the original bearings come from France????
We where also told that the centres were not repairable (Bull).
I have found good parts to suit, and at a fraction of the cost !!!