Vcu bearing?

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gloker

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My 55 plate td4 manual with 58k has started whirring/making gearboxy noises at 70 mph. Only started yesterday and looking on here , maybe vcu bearing? Vcu was replaced by last owner about 11,000 miles ago. Drives fine, just this worrying noise. Anyone know how to diagnose vcu bearing ( hoping to god it's not ird.) thanks in advance. G
 
Quickest and cheapest way is to get the truck on a hoist with all 4 wheels off the ground and with the engine running and in gear you can sense by sound and/or vibration if the support bearings are gone.

It's usually the front one that goes first as it catches more road crud.

Alternatively undo the mounts and lower the vcu just sufficient so that you can spin the whole mount on the shaft. then its obvious by feel if they are rough.

Be very careful lowering the VCU - it's heavier than you think and if you just let the VCU and shafts droop under their own weight you can damage the cv joints etc at the ends.

Good luck.

Singvogel.
 
How much of a bar steward is it to replace the bearings? Gonna order a pair from foundry but just wondered if it was a job I could tackle on my own? I'm gonna replace them anyway just to eliminate. Drove to the outlaws in Leeds for turkey and pigs in blankets today and the whirring is getting worse. Been running so well too....
 
How much of a bar steward is it to replace the bearings? Gonna order a pair from foundry but just wondered if it was a job I could tackle on my own? I'm gonna replace them anyway just to eliminate. Drove to the outlaws in Leeds for turkey and pigs in blankets today and the whirring is getting worse. Been running so well too....

The mounts/bearings themselves are only 4 bolts and to get the shafts off the IRD at the front and at the rear diff end is not a problem either.

Its seperating the shafts from the VCU that's the sod - mine needed mucho heat and big hammers to remove - as the slines had rusted and wouldn't slide off.

My local indy garage charged me an hour and a half time to do it. I would not have managed to get them off myself and would have landed up taking it to them anyway. Its a dawdle to drop the prop on a hoist as opposed to lying underneath with the car on ramps.

Singvogel.
 
The mounts/bearings themselves are only 4 bolts and to get the shafts off the IRD at the front and at the rear diff end is not a problem either.

Its seperating the shafts from the VCU that's the sod - mine needed mucho heat and big hammers to remove - as the slines had rusted and wouldn't slide off.

My local indy garage charged me an hour and a half time to do it. I would not have managed to get them off myself and would have landed up taking it to them anyway. Its a dawdle to drop the prop on a hoist as opposed to lying underneath with the car on ramps.

Singvogel.

Check rear wheel bearings. on both occasions, when mine has started to make unusual noises, these have been the culprits.
 
Well, I ordered bearings from foundry as per singvogels advice. They took forever to arrive as closed over Xmas. Not gkn/fag that have arrived though? They are 'allmakes4x4' premium? Do I send them back or risk fitting them? I'm really disappointed. Not sure what to do now.?
 
Rang Foundry, Nice bloke Steve. The bearings sent are 'replacement'? (£35) 'Originals' are now £10 extra ( these are the GKN/FAG )44.50 all in. Still cheap. He sells the gkn ones as fast as he can restock . He also said that he supplies a lot of other uk landrover parts places with the gkn ones too.
 
That's a bummer - I also didn't know that Foundry4X4 had upped the price of the GKN bearings.

Anyhow as you say the guy at Foundry4X4 seems upfront and honest enough. I hope they make things clear on their website and eBay.

I'm sure you'll get fixed up with the right ones soon.

As you say they are still much cheaper than the LR ones from LR dealers.
 
There was no 'replacement' or original option online or on eBay so I was a bit p-d off but bloke at foundry was too nice to be angry at. I'm still hoping it is just vcu bearings and nothing more sinister. No other symptoms other than rumble noise that wasn't there before. It seems to be in the area of the vcu so bearing replacement is a cheap ish start point...
 
Handy that this came up now.....

Mine has started making VCU bearing noises - AGAIN. When i fitted the re-con VCU from FreelanderSpares it came with new bearings. The VCU turned out to be a pile of pish, so I got a refund and got one from Bell. Since the bearings were only about a week old I reused them on the Bell VCU. After a few months it started making noise, so I ordered a new pair from Foundry 4x4 as they were supposed to be quality. The ones that turned up were the same cheap brand ("allmakes" sounds familiar, can't remeber exactly though) that had just failed. Lacking options, i fitted them and now one is noisy again. I was less than impressed with foundry4x4 as they had been advertised as OE spec, but they supplied rubbish.

So, where can I get decent bearings from, preferably somewhere that will send internationally?

And don't say foundry4x4 - they had their chance and they blew it.
 
Handy that this came up now.....

Mine has started making VCU bearing noises - AGAIN. When i fitted the re-con VCU from FreelanderSpares it came with new bearings. The VCU turned out to be a pile of pish, so I got a refund and got one from Bell. Since the bearings were only about a week old I reused them on the Bell VCU. After a few months it started making noise, so I ordered a new pair from Foundry 4x4 as they were supposed to be quality. The ones that turned up were the same cheap brand ("allmakes" sounds familiar, can't remeber exactly though) that had just failed. Lacking options, i fitted them and now one is noisy again. I was less than impressed with foundry4x4 as they had been advertised as OE spec, but they supplied rubbish.

So, where can I get decent bearings from, preferably somewhere that will send internationally?

And don't say foundry4x4 - they had their chance and they blew it.

Well I would be phoning to complain.

A decent company would be offering to replace them at either no cost or with a big discount.
 
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