Diesel Do
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Unfortunately not
Replacing the vcu
- Thread starter Uber-Smee
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no1birdman
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well i dont think a freelander would get any where near a mx5, well mine would not thats for sure lol, I asked at a garage about running without a rear prop and they said quite a few do with no problems unless u go off road. looked on other sites they also say ok, is it not in 2 wheel drive most of the time anyway untill u start to spin a bit, i thought the back was geard a bit different,
Singvogel
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I wasn't trying to have a pop at either you or your mx5, birdman - as an mx5 is a very different beast from a Freelanderr - intended for a completely different job.
My point was that in the real world of twisty 'A' roads and having to contend with other traffic, pure speed and acceleration alone do not mean high average journey times.
It's not just about off-road either though - I have a BMW 528i - and I much prefer my Freelander for 'Storming Alpine Passes' - a pastime to which I am addicted. Without 4X4 a Freelander would be worse than useless in the Alps, or any hilly part of the UK for that matter.
A post I remember from a little while back involved the horror-shock of a Freelander driver who couldn't get his caravan off the camp-site! He didn't know he had a free-wheeling VCU, from a crap re-furbisher.
I don't think there would be that much of a fuel saving by dropping the prop, and there would be much increased front tyre wear to counter the less wear on the rears.
Surely you would be replacing the prop / VCU for wintertime?
Singvogel.
no1birdman
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no, at my age i am not mauling that on, dont drive in snow much now, gone all these years without 4 wheel drive, in 60s had a lot more snow and got through that with a frogeyed sprite so i think i can cope. Never drive above 50 now anyway and dont use motorways, only bought the freelander because did not want to keep putting bags of wood in mx5 for woodburner and doing up my escort mk4 cab which i usually use. I was going to get a van for a bit but mate offered me this for 500pds and he taxed it for me so only cost 380.So i have now joined the under the bonnet club like if u buy the mg sports car.
Hippo
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When we have snow and ice we get peeps at work who have accidents on the way in. Not their fault... it just happened because of the snow etc. Few years ago it happened and I went to help change a wheel for one of them. He needed an allan key for the hub cap. Anyways, he's talking me through what happened and how the car just slid to one side. I took the **** and said he was going too fast. Bearing in mind a colleague had left his car near by earlier, after having the same accident. Further into the conversation it becomes clear he was going down a slight hill where the road turns sharp right by 90 degrees. Very heavy camber across the whole width of the road. Caught some ice and the car just side to the side. Both cars had kerbed LHS front wheel. As he's telling me this a bus drives the same route and turns without a problem. He dissagreed with this only to tell me he'd driven further down the road as where it happened he's seen many peeps hit the wall of the garden near by. the owner comes to annoy you for the cost of his wall. So he's aware of that corner... We watched many cars slowly take the corner without problems. They both still don't accept they did anything wrong. Speed v's road conditions.
Singvogel
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I agree completely with Hippo here.
The UK, more than any other country I drive in, has lots of folks who refuse to change their driving style in accordance with conditions.
Be it fog, rain, sleet, ice or snow they drive as usual and if they have accidents or can't get to work - it's not their fault.
I had a colleague at work who had a BMW 5 series on sports summer tyres all year round (ContiSport3s - which Conti tell you are not intended / suitable for temperatures below about 7 degrees, even in the dry)
"BMWs are crap in the snow," was the wail that went up every winter - "I'm never going to buy another. At that price the car should be able to cope with all conditions."
BTW have you noticed how BMW, M-B and others heavily promote 'winter' tyres in their showrooms every November through to March.
Even the BBC and other weather / traffic info people don't help to instill personal responsibility in adverse conditions.
The roads and or weather are 'treacherous' and cars, trucks and buses "go out of control' - very rarely do you hear that the driver lost control - no - it was the nasty car that went out of control!
Well, well - we who know better, just need to never forget there are others who think it's never their fault.
I'm not including birdman in this uninformed group by the way - he seems to have got himself a bargain to use as a 'log-carrier' and at that price I wouldn't be spending too much cash on it VCU wise.
Singvogel.
The UK, more than any other country I drive in, has lots of folks who refuse to change their driving style in accordance with conditions.
Be it fog, rain, sleet, ice or snow they drive as usual and if they have accidents or can't get to work - it's not their fault.
I had a colleague at work who had a BMW 5 series on sports summer tyres all year round (ContiSport3s - which Conti tell you are not intended / suitable for temperatures below about 7 degrees, even in the dry)
"BMWs are crap in the snow," was the wail that went up every winter - "I'm never going to buy another. At that price the car should be able to cope with all conditions."
BTW have you noticed how BMW, M-B and others heavily promote 'winter' tyres in their showrooms every November through to March.
Even the BBC and other weather / traffic info people don't help to instill personal responsibility in adverse conditions.
The roads and or weather are 'treacherous' and cars, trucks and buses "go out of control' - very rarely do you hear that the driver lost control - no - it was the nasty car that went out of control!
Well, well - we who know better, just need to never forget there are others who think it's never their fault.
I'm not including birdman in this uninformed group by the way - he seems to have got himself a bargain to use as a 'log-carrier' and at that price I wouldn't be spending too much cash on it VCU wise.
Singvogel.
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Diesel Do
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Mx5s are decent sports cars. I've driven them on track days very hard. Also worked on them for a short while. I've owned and worked on many performance cars. Take two performance cars I know well, fiat 20v turbo coupe and a lancia delta integrale. Both very similar performance on a dry road twisty or straight. Chuck in some rain and the lancia stuffs the coupe, why's that? It's traction. You don't under steer into the hedge! 2wd is not as good as 4wd particularly when they aren't designed to be 2wd, a front drive hatch is designed to handle pretty well as a front drive hatch, a freelander is designed to handle pretty well as a 4wd car! Add 4x4 to a well handling hatch it improves it. Turn a 4x4 into a fwd car it ruins it!
A 4x4 system with an electro magnetic coupling is purely fwd until the traction system engages the coupling. A freelander vcu by its nature passes some power to the rear purely because of the drag in the vcu this is demonstrated by the one wheel up test as there is always resistance to turning, this then increases with wheel spin to pass more drive as necessary, so a freelander always puts some power to the rear. This will start an argument!
A 4x4 system with an electro magnetic coupling is purely fwd until the traction system engages the coupling. A freelander vcu by its nature passes some power to the rear purely because of the drag in the vcu this is demonstrated by the one wheel up test as there is always resistance to turning, this then increases with wheel spin to pass more drive as necessary, so a freelander always puts some power to the rear. This will start an argument!
no1birdman
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so is it always 4wd or when u start spinning the front, so if its only when u spin the front if u drive carefuly and dont spin would it not just be 2wd, getting confused, but on the other hand in snow a bit of spin and u are in 4wd, is that right. so its on and off.
jamesmartin
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theres always some drive to the rear as mr diesel mentioned
Diesel Do
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There's always some drive but the amount of torque passed through the vcu varies, normal driving more torque goes to the front, under wheel spin situations there's more drag in the vcu so it then passes more torque to the rear
no1birdman
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so if u are a careful driver under normal conditions it hardly does anything, but in bad weather etc it comes in useful.
Diesel Do
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It passes enough to virtually stop wheel spin in normal road driving which becomes apparent when you take it off, if you rev the nuts off it and dump the clutch you can detect a little slip which is only apparent momentarily until the vcu passes even more torque to the back and stops it completely!
Singvogel
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Absolutely right - if it's a very careful driver who is aware of the short-comings of Freelander 2WD
In my job I have to just get on and do what needs to be done - whatever the weather. I don't usually have the option of delaying or postponing a journey untill the weather improves.
So for me - an economic, fast 4X4 is essential.
S.
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no1birdman
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thanks for explanation, i dont think i need it but its in the garage and can get help to put it on if snow gets bad, i am lucky dont have to go out if weather bad.can i check it out on the garage floor somehow, mate said it knocks but works, he thought it was the 2 rubber things but they look ok to me.
