Broken ird

Well after a bit of struggling I've made a bit of progress with my td4 getting the ird out.
I decided to remove the front suspension beam after all and all the bolts and joints behaved , the first top bolt on the unit was way more accessible but my problem now is that fourth top bolt furthest back. I can get a socket on it by feel but with a universal joint and extension it's too tight as I'm not getting enough pressure directly on it and I don't want it to round. Is this accessible from the top maybe, I can't see much from above but wondered if the air box can be removed, has anyone got any ideas please. Once I crack this one I think it's pretty plain sailing to complete. Thanks

I used a few long extensions and a wobble joint or UJ to allow the breaker bar to be outside the car then you can grunt at it !!
Feed through where track rod end is.

I'm sure I did the bolts on Son's FL1 TD4 with just two long extensions. Wobble joint just makes it difficult to apply torque.

A UJ does but a loose fit wobble extension allowed it past summat, can't remember what but it was in the way !!

Thanks for your replies , I'll try access from outside the car , I was thinking on removing wheel liners but not sure if this will help much. I'll try searching on Google again too. I've several extensions including wobble bars so fingers crossed. The u,js have their place but I've also found it hard to get much force behind them especially when the bolt is tight.

Removing the arch liners won't help. However there is a nice hole through the inner wing on the RH side to allow long extensions to get to the bolts holding the IRD to the gearbox.

That's good to know , I won't get to have a go till next weekend tho but will be great if I can get that last bolt cracked. With the sub frame gone should be plenty of room to get the old one out. I'm going to source a second hand replacement and convert to 2 wheel drive.

earlybird112 said:

Thanks for your replies , I'll try access from outside the car , I was thinking on removing wheel liners but not sure if this will help much. I'll try searching on Google again too. I've several extensions including wobble bars so fingers crossed. The u,js have their place but I've also found it hard to get much force behind them especially when the bolt is tight.

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If you remove the front bumper...

then the cross member...

then the radiator...

then the engine...

then the gearbox...

The IRD will be reasonably accessible!

Alternatively....

Couple of extension bars, a (short) pole (with smaller internal diameter as pos) over the ratchet handle... and give it some.

You won't be able to turn the pole hardly at all, it will hit summat, but all you need to is crack the bolt. You may need the pole for a couple of tiny turns till you can then just use the ratchet.

Also, be ready for IRD when it pulls off. It weighs about 30Kg. I usually have a jack or low platform nearby!!

Yes I imagined its going to be pretty heavy. Thanks for the advice

I was laying underneath ours, and lowered the IRD carefully onto my beer belly !!

One way of doing it !! Of course, said belly has to be brim filled with suitable non compressible alcoholic liquid first.

TBH the worst part was getting the coolant pipes off & on again. I would likely take it out before doing a turbo next time, which was a PITA with the IRD there.

pwood999 said:

TBH the worst part was getting the coolant pipes off & on again. I would likely take it out before doing a turbo next time, which was a PITA with the IRD there.

Click to expand...

It's been a while since I did it but I think I removed the air filter so I could reach the coolant pipes. It was a faff but doable.

Watching this might help


and this