Hey, someone's found my video useful
At the time I was really ****ed with the Freelander. I'd sold a car I loved (a D1) and replaced it with a Freelander that I had complete indifference to - but its what the Mrs wanted. It repaid me within a couple of years by doing that!
However, I quickly realised it was me that had created the fault, and after working on it to fix it - I actually appreciated the car a lot more and now love it more than my old Discos! I've now had it 5 years and other than this (and the ABS modulator) its given me great trouble free service. So its not the end of the world - but it might be the end of your bank account!
What ever you do, do not drive it as it is (ie with the props installed). You may be lucky in the $ dept at the moment, but 100 yards down the road could convert that to $1,000s.
You have 3 things to consider:
1) What caused it.
2) What's now broken.
3) How are you going to fix it.
1) What caused it. This probably isn't the most important thing, but to understand the problem and stop it happening again, its in your interest to. My case was very similar you yours, I was diving along fine, car developed a rattle knocking that sounded like it was from the rear (but wasn't) got a bit worse, then a mile or so down the road BANG, then BANG BAG BANG. It was like someone was whacking the car with a sledgehammer every turn of the road wheel (either moving it under power or pushing it). In my case the car had felt a bit 'strange' - but ignored it as we had friends visiting ad wanted to go out exploring - big mistake. It turned out a tyre had lost some pressure and after driving on it for about 450km the windup had trashed the IRD.
I'm of the belief that a lot of transmission failures are due to incorrect tyres and people's lack of knowledge of the importance of same size tyres/pressures needed.
Your problem could have been caused by a tyre low of pressure, mismatched tyres - a relatively small mismatch will cause enough wind up that over time the IRD will fail, its a case of rate of wear, it could be the VCU was too tight and not allowing enough slip on the small tolerances allowed in tyre diameter.
As said, it might not be a windup issue as such. It could be something like the splines have gone between the gearbox and IRD - but if this were the case, the VCU would not get "red hot to touch".
I'm assuming its a windup issue that has trashed your IRD.
2) What's gone wrong? When there's windup in the transmission of the Freelander, it puts huge stresses on the IRD and rear diff. The rear diff can go, but usually its the IRD - both will probably have suffered high wear, but its likely the IRD has 'gone'. I'd take the props and VCU off - lift the car on 1 side placing blocks under the wheels on that side and lower it on to them - this gives you more room under the car. There are 6 or so bolts at either end of the prop that fix it to the IRD & diff - loosen the ones you have access to. Then push the car along the blocks (put more blocks in front if needed) then loosen the remaining bolts you didn't have access to before (pushing turns the prop). Be carefull when you remove the last couple on either end as the prop will drop and its heavy - take its weight and lower it onto something that will support it at not to greater angle from the VCU. Then put a jack under the VCU and remove the 4 bolts supporting it - lower the jack and remove props/VCU.
Then you can take it for a slow, short test drive as I did in my video. The big noises should have gone - if they haven't then we're back to looking at splines etc. Assuming they have though.. Give the rear pinion on the IRD a wiggle - it may rotate a small amount, that's expected, but should not have any lateral movement - I'm expecting there will be and that's because the bearing in the pinion is shot - if there's no movement then the IRD is probably OK and what I say here should be questioned!. You then need to drain the IRD's oil - the drain and fill pugs are reasonable accessible, but loosen the fill plug first before draining - if you can't get the fill plug lose, you'll need oil in it to get it to a garage. The oil will probably come out grey in colour - being ground down metal from the bearings. There may also be a few chunks of metal that are teeth from gears and the magnet on the drain plug will probably have attracted a lot of 'swarf'. You then need to remove the rear pinion from the IRD - undo the bolts holding it on and withdraw it - it was a bit fiddly withdrawing mine. Examine the teeth on the gear on the end of the withdrawn pinion - check to see their condition - does it still look good or is it damaged. Do the same with the gear it mates to inside the IRD - you will have to push the car so that it turns to see all of it.
Before you take the props off, you could do a 1 wheel up test to check the VCU - however, regardless of whether it was knackered before, it will probably be now or very shortly - so I wouldn't rely on it.
3) How are you going to fix it? This depends on what's broke and whether you want the car as 2WD or 4WD. I think most people would like 4WD and it depends on the cost of fixing it whether they then opt for 2WD.
To rebuild as 4WD, you will need those crown and pinion gears in good condition. If they are not you may as well finish your investigation and determine that you need a recon IRD and VCU. If the teeth are OK - you then need to address the bearings. I got a complete bearing kit (inc seals & cooler) from One Stop Gearbox Shop and had a gearbox shop hear fit them. With hind sight - I recon I could have got away with just the bearing in the pinion replaced - it would have been a lot cheaper and the IRD could have stayed on the car. Its up to you and others may give advice. The alternative is a recon IRD and if you're replacing all the bearings, there's little price difference (it was for me as you can't get recon IRDs here in NZ). You'll then also need a VCU. Oh and m,ake sure your tyres are all the same, in good condition and pumped to the same pressure.
If the cost is too much to rebuild as 4WD (or you want to make sure it doesn't happen again) and you can live with (or want to sell it as!) 2WD, the simplest thing is to put a blanking plate on the IRD where the rear pinion was and fill it with oil. £10 for the plate plus oil. If the remaining bearings in the IRD are serviceable, this will be sufficient. I had all the bearings replaced for peace of mind and had the gear on the end of the pinion removed so that no drive went to the props. I then bolted it all back together with props and VCU - the VCU serves no purpose now, so it doesn't matter that its naff. You could look to do this or simlpy get a recon 2WD IRD rather than buying bearings and having them fitted. Comparing my car to others who have gone 2WD without props, I'm sure retaining the props has a dampening effect on engine movement and makes the car more comfortable.
As I say - its not the end of the world, our Freelander's run perfect since I had transmission melt down.
