how often will the VCU & IRD go wronge??

i bought my freelander (1998 2l) 1 year ago and it had just had both of these replaced before i bought it, and now the garage has dissconnected the prop and its only 2wd (no use to me, although cheaper to run!) i dont really understand technical terms but i think what they were saying was it had gone again is this possible in such a short space of time? i know now i should have bought 2002 or later but these still seem to have the same problem (dad did google search on them) if they go alot is there a perm fix for it? i need the 4x4 so am faced with changing cars (nightmare) i know almost everyone hates these but i quite like mine i tow a horse trailer (with 1 pony maybe 2 sometimes) and havent had much bother with it, other than the alarm, tyres, odd wear and tear bits, is it worth mending or should i look for a newer version (gone off the idea of a disco td5 i dont tow far enough to warrent one) most jap 4x4 tow the same weight as freelander but look rubbish (to look at) is it worth throwing another £1000 odd at it to get it mended or will it go again???

How about telling us why the garage disconected the rear prop shaft.

I stand to be corrected, but I thought a VCU had a service life of around 80,000 miles?
If IRD and VCU were replaced a year ago, it seems a bit odd that the VCU would fail again so quickly..(you cant have done 80k in a year?)

It could be the diff is packing up now. If the IRD / VCU were replaced due to failure then the stress that lew the IRD would have been felt by the rear diff also. It may not have failed then but it was stressed and know its giving out also.

hi they dissconnected the prop as my brand new back tyres have worn around the inside, have done max 20,000 (proberly not even this) it also had a bad oil seal leak on the gear box which was fixed

Hummmm, I assume they mean that the tyres have worn on the inside edge, ie the edge of the tyre against the struts. Thats not transmission casusing that, that's camber error. Still, its not a bad thing to check the VCU is not the problem first as the damage that could be caused is scary.

tams said:

hi they dissconnected the prop as my brand new back tyres have worn around the inside, have done max 20,000 (proberly not even this) it also had a bad oil seal leak on the gear box which was fixed

Click to expand...

Mine does about 20k on rear tyres before I have to change them out - I and my tyre mate, recon this is standard for a Hippo - the perm 4wd plays havoc with the rear wheels.

Don't shell out £1k - you can buy a LOT of tyres for that kind of money.

thanks for replys, mine has done 1600 miles on new tyres, yes it is the inside edge of the tyre that has worn could this be something other than the vcu then? how do i find out more? went to local landrover garage today and they said get rid of it and get a 2001

have done max 20,000 miles on vcu and 1600 miles on new tyres

Tams, something is not setup right on the back axle of your car by the sound of things. My 2000 L series has got 35,000 miles out of a set of tyres and they're not finished yet. The only abnormal wear is due to the effects of roundabouts.

The rear suspension setup on a Freelander is not straight forward. If you look under the back of the car at the suspension links you will see that they have adjusters on them. The rear wheels effectively have a combination adjustment for tow and camber, although I believe that I am correct in saying this should be zero degrees tow to the line of travel. This is unlike the front wheels which, again I believe I am correct in saying they have a couple of degrees of tow out. If these setting are incorrect then the result is not all the wheels are pointing in the right direction when you are driving along. This not only wastes fuel as some of the tyre have to shuffle tread to compensate for the misalignment, but it also makes the tyres wear in unusual ways. I'd say this is the problem you are getting here and its got nothing to do with the IRD, VCU or diff.

The Landrover garage should know this and should be able to set this up for you. If in doubt, go elsewhere. It sounds like this crowd just want to sell you another car when its not necessary. Where are you? It is possible one of us can recommend a good independent garage to you, which can help you and cost you less money.

Ok, so before the prop was removed, was the transmission OK? any horrible noises from anywhere? If it seemed OK, then it probably is OK. Like Darmain says this could be something completely unconnected with the drivetrain, and probably an easy and cheap fix.

hi thanks for replys im in dorchester, dorset, have contacted the garage again and they said it was removed purely because it has worn the tyres on the inside, they are going to re fit it for me, but that still leaves me with the problem of my tyres wearing, should i start a new question on this site for more help? is the camber thing something a garage sorts out or a tyre place? thanks