Broken Ird unit

Hi,I'm hoping someone can help me out here. My ird unit on my td4 2002 has destroyed itself and my plan was to replace and convert to 2 wheel drive. I've removed the prop and the off side driveshaft, I was hoping to take the brackets off and just undo the gearbox side but it's become a bit tricky!. One bracket is off but the one with the 10mm bolts has one bolt between the gearbox and ird and I can't see how it'll come out. I've since read I need to remove the subframe too so I need a bit of guidance here before I proceed . Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

There is debate as to whether to remove the subframe or not.

Personally, I can't figure out why you'd want to go to all that grief, but hey ho.

There are just 4 bolts holding the IRD to the gearbox - I'm sure they are bigger than 10mm. Access to the top one on the engine side is a bit trickey, lots of extension bars is the order of the day and if you're not Arnold Swarzisface a pole over the ratchet arm to get some leverage.

It looks like the subframe shouldn't be in the way to remove to me. The 10mm bolts are on the drive shaft end holding a support bracket. I'm not sure if this bracket has to be removed to allow the ird to pull back far enough to release from the gearbox. Thanks for your reply

I believe those brackets that hold the engine, tie bar and 'floating' end of the IRD in place are different depending on engine. I've not done a TD4, just the 4 pot Rover engines.

I would have thought it advisable to remove them, even if not absolutely necessary. Its a number of years since I've done one so can't picture all the bolts, but I'm sure on the Rover engined ones I've done they have been reasonably easy to remove. The problems are not necessarily accessint the bolts, but where to turn the ratchet. As I say, extension bars are a must and I'm sure I've had to run the extension bars out to the wheel arch to get some of the bolts off.

I agree it shouldn't be necessary to remove the subframe cross beam, but it does make accessing the IRD to Gearbox bolts easier. Besides, it's only a few bolts extra.

I'll take a look. If it's just the beam maybe I'll give it a go as the ird will drop down better too. I've not even looked to see the top gearbox bolts yet but I'm expecting it to be tricky