help needed please

hi im new to this and just got a freelander td4 but the slave drive is leaking so i thought i would change myself easy so i thought
got up on axle stands nearside wheel off drive shaft out oil in both boxes drained all but 1 bolt in gearbox out near the ird and now im climbing the wall i need a bit of hands on help i live in hull if anyone can help me please i basically need the ird off and gearbox out got a new clutch kit and master cylinder to change
anybody can help i would appreciate it

If I remember right there's two bolts at the top of the ird 15mm and two at the bottom and the two brackets at the other side

Lots of extension bars for your sockets make the job easier, so you can turn the ratchet a long way from the bolts - in the wheel arches if necessary!

Plus an extension tube (technical name for a suitable pipe) for the ratchet handle to get leverge on it - you might only be able to turn it 1 click, but at least you can turn it!

Plenty of safe space underneath the car also helps.

You may not need to, but I'd have thought it sensible to remove the prop shaft from the pinion to save breakages, and of course you'll have to get the other drive shaft disconnected from the IRD.

TBH I've found the easier bit when removing the IRD is unbolting it and shifting it onto the subframe. The difficult bit is then lowering it down to the ground and then getting it back up there again. You don't have to do that, so hassle your mates for some extension bars and find a 2 foot long pipe to fit over the ratchet handle and you should be away

Never done this myself (well, not yet) but I'm in Cottingham if you need an extra pair of hands.

Hi, i would get a set of impact sockets and a breaker bar, small cost compared to the grief if you round of one of the bolts, also the ird unit is a lot heavier than it looks. its tight and hard work but i broke 2 rathets (1 guaranteed for life) using an "extension bar" on my ratchet. Good luck

Fair comment about breaking the ratchet! I've done that with a much longer extension trying to get hub nuts off - luckily it also had a lifetime guarantee, but also bought a breaker bar to do that job with when I got the replacement

Hub nuts are an "easy" job to do with a breaker bar, but an IRD is a much harder job - for the rounding reason you mention, you'd only use 6 sided sockets which with a breaker bar means you don't have a lot of freedom on where you can start turning it. I found the angles the ratchet could turn were so small, you only had a '1 click' rotation on some of the bolts.

I use an air ratchet, which makes life easier. However if the IRD bolts are really tight. I find several 12" socket extension allow a proper swing of a hand ratchet, without the IRD or block being in the way.