Hello good weather, goodbye prop!

upstream said:

Hi again,

These comments have me thinking... Is it possible to test the VCU with it removed from the vehicle? How "spongy" should the rubber things that connect the brackets to the front and rear of the VCU be? On mine I can easily move them all around by hand without using hardly any force at all.

Also - Is it possible to test the rear diff and IRD without the prop in place?

Click to expand...

Hi,

Your'e meaning the prop-shaft support bearings on either side of the VCU.
I just fitted a new set of those on Friday morning - see my thread entitled 'Which prop-shaft bearings?'
They should be pretty stiff - quite hard rubber. I would imagine that if yours are 'spongy' - they are well past their sell-by date.
My transmission is now very smooth and totally quiet. One of the actual bearings was 'rough', but the rubber bits were just a little bit softer than the replacements.
I had horror visions of needing to do all sorts of expensive replacements - and it turned out to be £40 and under 2 hours garage time.
Be sure you get the good ones - GKN with FAG bearings moulded into the rubber. Foundry4X4 fixed me up with them super quick.
Whatever else your problems are - I reckon you need to replace those.

Cheers,

Singvogel.

upstream said:

Hi again,

These comments have me thinking... Is it possible to test the VCU with it removed from the vehicle? How "spongy" should the rubber things that connect the brackets to the front and rear of the VCU be? On mine I can easily move them all around by hand without using hardly any force at all.

Also - Is it possible to test the rear diff and IRD without the prop in place?

Click to expand...

Yes you can. Have tested my vcu on it’s own. With the props attached it’s easier. Put a long screwdriver or rod through the prop universal joint each side of the vcu. As an example: Distance between weight and pivot centre = 34cm. Weight = 5.2kg. Time = 54 seconds to turn 45 degrees to the horizontal. Hence it turned 45 degrees and when it was horizontal I stopped timing. Have filmed it but not got round to putting up yet.

You can test the rear diff and ird without props/vcu by:

Lift one wheel and turn it. The prop connection should turn.

Lift either both front or both rear wheels and turn 1 wheel. The other wheel will turn in the opersite direction. Stop the prop connection from turning to do this.

Thanks for this,

I'll test it because having been driving for just a few days now it seems to handle so much smoother that there must be some significant problems with my prop/vcu bits.

Andy.

This is really funny - It's snowing outside now so it could be an interesting day on the roads...

Perhaps I'll stay at home as it'd be highly embarrassing to get stuck in the snow in my freelander because I had taken the prop shaft off ;-)

250 miles so far. The fuel light came on about 5 miles ago so at a guess I'd say I have another 20 or so.

This being the case I'll conclude that dropping the prop has lead to a reduction in fuel consumption of around 10%.

Andy.