IRD, it's it going to blow up?
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GrumpyGel
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Easiest way is to change the oil and see what comes out. If its got metalic flecks in it, with a grey looking sheene - then the IRD's in poor health.
Always use a tight fitting 6 sided socket and loosen the fill nut before the drain plug. The fill plug is soft as cheese and often rounds - you want to make sure you can get it off before draining oil.
Always use a tight fitting 6 sided socket and loosen the fill nut before the drain plug. The fill plug is soft as cheese and often rounds - you want to make sure you can get it off before draining oil.
GrumpyGel
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There will always be an amount of sludge build up on the magnetised drain plug - but not to much and the oil should not show signs of containing ground down bearings.
Drain the oil and look for silver flecks or grey coloured oil, as those suggest bearing damage.
GrumpyGel
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If the drivers side drive shaft support bearing is going, I'd have thought you'd notice vibration, but if its the 'normal' drive to the rear pinion, then you may not notice anything till it goes 'BANG'.
GrumpyGel
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What would you replace it with? A unit from a breakers that may be in just as bad condition or a £650 recon unit to replace something you think might be broke?
First things first - check the oil. If it comes out looking like oil, you are fine. Doesn't need to be nice clean oil, putrid horrible oil will be fine, so long as there's not lots of metalicy evidence in it.
Depending on how good you are with the spanners, there are options if its damaged, depending on the condition of the crown and pinion gears - you could get a bearing kit for under £200 and fit them yourself. But you need to know if you have a problem or not first.
First things first - check the oil. If it comes out looking like oil, you are fine. Doesn't need to be nice clean oil, putrid horrible oil will be fine, so long as there's not lots of metalicy evidence in it.
Depending on how good you are with the spanners, there are options if its damaged, depending on the condition of the crown and pinion gears - you could get a bearing kit for under £200 and fit them yourself. But you need to know if you have a problem or not first.
It won't be clean, but should come out old and black looking, not silver or grey. It takes 75w90 fully synthetic oil, but only about a liter or so.
No there's no drive deterioration, normally noise first, then a big bang as the gears slip out of mesh!
Output bearing failure is often a side effect of the RH driveshaft tripod joint going stiff in conjunction with the IRD thrust bearing breaking up. That poor output bearing does double duty supporting the diff carrier and the drive shaft, so any stiffness in the tripod joint will finish it off pretty quickly, once the oil in the IRD has turned to a metallic soup.
Not unless there's a need to replace it, but if you're concerned about it, you can always rebuild it with one of the many bearing kits available for them.
GrumpyGel
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I have only seen 2 IRD's oil
(1) My daily after the IRD went BANG. The oil in that literally looked grey with all the metal suspended in it.
(2) My parts car's IRD. That oil was black. I presume it is in good condition, although I haven't fitted it or used it yet - and I didn't take a pic with flash and I don't know what oil under a flash looks like.
I was hoping yours was going to be grey or black
I suspect that yours is showing that the IRD is worn, but hopefully Nodge or others have a better idea. Maybe even someone like @jamesmartin might recognise what to look for in a good/worn gearbox/transfer case oil.
(1) My daily after the IRD went BANG. The oil in that literally looked grey with all the metal suspended in it.
(2) My parts car's IRD. That oil was black. I presume it is in good condition, although I haven't fitted it or used it yet - and I didn't take a pic with flash and I don't know what oil under a flash looks like.
I was hoping yours was going to be grey or black
I suspect that yours is showing that the IRD is worn, but hopefully Nodge or others have a better idea. Maybe even someone like @jamesmartin might recognise what to look for in a good/worn gearbox/transfer case oil.
The IRD bearings are showing signs of distress, and need changing before they collapse.
Poo, funny enough I had the same thing (but much worse) on my series 1 gear box 15 years ago, when changing the oil it came out grey with relatively large metal filing in it. 15 years on and approximately 40,000 mile late its still ( touch wood) going strong but I think series suff seams to be a wee bit more accepting of neglect ;-)
Thank you Nodge68 And GrumpGel for you help, im guessing getting the IRD out is a fair job and probably worth doing the clutch at the same time?
Thank you Nodge68 And GrumpGel for you help, im guessing getting the IRD out is a fair job and probably worth doing the clutch at the same time?
Getting the IRD out is a couple of hours work. Doing the clutch at home is a weekends work.
GrumpyGel
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Given the number of IRDs that have catastrophic failure, I'd say you are right that they are not as forgiving as post-war engineering!
I got a rebuild kit from these guys...
https://www.onestopgearboxshop.com/
Its been installed for 7 years now and running fine (all be it with the crown gear removed and running 2WD). A rebuild kit is a good option if you can pull and replace bearings. If you have to pay someone to do that, then a recon unit probably works out a better option.
Even then though there are other factors that go to making up your decision.
If there is wear on the crown or pinion gears themselves (inspeciton needed by removing rear pinion) then replacements are not cheap and once again a recon unit looks good.
It may also be that its only the bearing in the rear pinion that's gone, in which case, replacing just that one will get you up cheaply and easily and you don't even need to remove the IRD. Dunno how you'd tell what's gone - giving the pinion a feel would let you know what its like, but not the others. Given the value of the cars now though and the cost of a recon unit - it may be the "sensible" option.
I got a rebuild kit from these guys...
https://www.onestopgearboxshop.com/
Its been installed for 7 years now and running fine (all be it with the crown gear removed and running 2WD). A rebuild kit is a good option if you can pull and replace bearings. If you have to pay someone to do that, then a recon unit probably works out a better option.
Even then though there are other factors that go to making up your decision.
If there is wear on the crown or pinion gears themselves (inspeciton needed by removing rear pinion) then replacements are not cheap and once again a recon unit looks good.
It may also be that its only the bearing in the rear pinion that's gone, in which case, replacing just that one will get you up cheaply and easily and you don't even need to remove the IRD. Dunno how you'd tell what's gone - giving the pinion a feel would let you know what its like, but not the others. Given the value of the cars now though and the cost of a recon unit - it may be the "sensible" option.
