Rebuilding an IRD and types of IRD

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Alex1000

Active Member
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203
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Have been looking at different parts for rebuilding an IRD. Worked on gearbox rebuilds for older cars, so bit of experiance. Im aware of the petrol engines, l series and then TD4 etc.
Are there different IRD and if so how can you tell.

The ratio issue that landrover sorted 2001, can that be identified by looking at it?

And are the parts required for a complete rebuild, all bearing, seals, crown and pinion etc the same or different models. Id assume different due to lr fixing the ratio issue.

What should i be prepared for and what are problems when doing a rebuild.

Im eying up a cheap 3 door with L series engine. Good order but no drives. Idea as a project. Recon ird, diy recon vcu, refit drives. Diff rebuild i can do easily enough.

And i know there are those who would say why bother.

Buy a car with it all working,!
But id never be certain how good or how long it would last.
This way, other than my time ,overall costs will be similar but i will know i have a solid ird, vcu and diff.
 
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The IRD is relatively easy to rebuild. Bearing kits are available and reasonable in costs. Gears are also available, but very expensive. It's best to get a working IRD and rebuild that.

There are 2 distinct types of IRD, 4 cylinder and V6. However there early and later 4 cylinder IRDs. The ratio changed early on in the production run, some time in 1999 IIRC. This change made the system less sensitive to tyre fitments.
 
Thanks again nodge. How can you tell if you have the newer ird. And when getting parts how do you know they will be for the newer ird?. And an L series engines lrd will it fit a td4 ird?. Theres one on the car obviously, but lack of vcu and drives makes it likely ird is fubar in some way. If im reconing intend to do a complete rebuild.

And would ird and diff oil be the same.?
 
Alex1000 said:
How can you tell if you have the newer ird.
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You can't from the outside, as the case is the same. There's only a minor change to the gears used inside .
Alex1000 said:
And when getting parts how do you know they will be for the newer ird?
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The bearings are all the same. If the gears are damaged, then the unit is effectively scrap, as the gears cost more than several second hand IRDs.
Alex1000 said:
And an L series engines lrd will it fit a td4 ird?.
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Yes. The casings are all the same, so the units are interchangeable.

Alex1000 said:
Theres one on the car obviously, but lack of vcu and drives makes it likely ird is fubar in some way. If im reconing intend to do a complete rebuild.
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Potentially the IRD is failing. The easiest way to check is to drain the oil. If the oil comes out looking like silver soup, then the bearings have failed, which results in gears getting damaged.
Alex1000 said:
And would ird and diff oil be the same.?
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No. The IRD uses a fully synthetic 75w90. The rear diff uses a more conventional 80w90 mineral gear oil.
 
If yer do buy a Freelander and open up the ird we can get the serial number checked to see if it's the origional fitted. Tis on the outside. Can yer also count the teeth on the gears inside? Eggspecially if it's a later model none V6 engine.

Reason being I started a fred on ere about counting teeth which got trolled/trashed some time ago. Tis my beleif from wot we have seen so far there are two versions of ird, V6 and none V6. The V6 version had a different ratio. The none V6 didn't. LR only ever had one part number for each version. Local main dealer agrees with this ont microcat and the old paperwork parts books they have. If the none V6 option were to have had a later change of ratio then LR would have given it a different part number. So there would be 3 or more part numbers for ird's, even if one superseded another.

When measuring front/rear prop speed... The squashed smaller diameter tyre at the front evens out the ratio to closer to 1:1. We measured the same on the V6 which is heavier at the front. The greater squashed tyre required the ratio to change so it resulted in being closer to 1:1.

I know this is a touchy subject on ere and dun't want this fred to get trashed like mine did. There will be dissagreement with wot I have just wrote. Eye is open to discussion but need to see facts/pic's.
 
Sorry that wasn't in direct reply to you. Just a general comment as eye dun't want this fred destroyed.

Nodge68 said:
God knows why.:confused:
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ird teeth and wheels size counts have all ended in arguments in the past. Good intention by those wanting to contribute is lost when it kicks oft.

Nodge68 said:
by whom? Folks without Freelander's no doubt. :mad:
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yes

Nodge68 said:
You have pictures Hippo, so post them. ;)
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There's a number of pic's ont this fred and an eggsplanation:
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/freelander-1-ird-drive-ratio.280728/

The reason fer asking fer pic's is I want proof of the teeth being counted as we were spoofed previously. Yer can count some via the ird filler ole if yer mark the gear with chalk or tippex and turn a lifted wheel but not all of those measured that way have been correct. Not easy to do fer most peeps and easy to make a count mistake.

The above fred was destroyed but mods cleaned it up and took out the cr*p. It's a long story but my vcu (and ratio) research continued int private and stayed oft the forum because of the arguments. It was only when measuring front/rear prop speed we mistakenly realised my v6 was near 1:1 ratio in a straight line. Eye had brand new tyres at the time. Eye thought I'd stuffed my vcu as we'd been turning it at speed many times per minute previously so removed it quickly. OWUT and bench test both said it was ok which we later confirmed it was, but at the time didn't realise why it was 1:1 prop speed on ma hippo had occurred.

It was only when old bearings and wooden sticks were fitted instead of props, to put markers on to film driving in tight circles... that we realised the same happened with no vcu fitted in a straight line. Near enough 1:1 ratio. Messing about doing the same with a td4 with part worn tyres din't agree to the maths so we put my wheels/tyres on it. We found the same near 1:1 ratio but it still din't make sense as it din't match the maths of wheel diameter of my new and his part worn when using the later v6 ratio. That's when we twigged about the squashed tyre issue changing the radius which generated the request for tyre height measurements in the link below.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/measuring-yer-wheel-fred.291115/

I thought it would all go wrong which is why I never posted what we were up to at the beginning. Peeps would try to answer the problem as opposed to measure their wheel. We would then end up with all sorts of sheering talk... Of all 4 engines the v6 is heavier, with the other 3 about the same. With the work we'd done to date we came to the conclusion of one ratio for all none v6, as per the eggsplanation in the top link because of the part number situation.

The "introduction" briefing document into the v6 and td4 going on sale talks about the ratio change but we think this only really happened on the v6. I would love to be wrong about this as it would mean our Freelanders have a betterer chance of survival if the 2001 model year revisions all included the later ratio. All 1.8 owners would get the same original ratio regardless of year if asking for a recon ird from a main dealer if wot we think is true. If this is not the case then no one at LR has noticed the part number never changed. They always use the superseded method with a new part numbers if the later replaces the older.

It dun't affect me. Either way I would just like to know. Of the broken ird's I have purchased over the years from later FL1's they have all had the old teeth count. We had a big clear out of Freelander parts due needing more garage space so eye only have a FL2 transfer box and one jatco left. When I see peeps about to take their ird apart eye spot the opportunity of another measurement. Not many do this. Tis no wonder peeps think I'm mad.
 
Alex1000 said:
:confused:Wish I'd never asked!!!
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If you do go ahead with the rebuild it would be nice if yer could count no of teeth of internal gears. That's all.

Yer can recondition an ird yerself but getting the bearings on/off can be difficult. Fair bit of effort to remove the ird and put it back anorl. If it's yer daily drive them most dun't have the time to do the work or can't be without the vehicle while they spend a number of days doing it all. If that's not the case then it's do-able. The easier option is to get a recon ird to fit yerself. There's a number of peeps ont you tube who have put up video's.

There's some cheap Freelander bargains out there with damaged ird's where the owner has lost faith. If yer got space and time to do the work yerself yer can pick up a good motor with a bit of repair work. Same fer duff auto's, hgf...
 
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