td4 viscous coupling issues....

guys........ need some help...

IS YOU FREE LANDER TIGHT ON FULL LOCK REVERSE AND FORWARD ?



i bought an 05 plate freelander in january...
full landrover service history, low miles, one owner etc etc very tidy motor....
i read up a few bits to check reguarding any problems and preventative maintenance etc etc.. and got to thinking the viscous coupling was on its way out... when i reversed on full lock and dipped the clutch it felt like i had the hand brake half on.... tried the tipex method and it didnt seem to move much ?allthough it would happily drive round the asda car park in reverse figure of 8's on tick over alone with out stalling...also, jacked back wheel up and couldnt really turn it by hand without almost kacking my pants and bursting an eye ball.. or with a bar through the u/j on the prop (allthough i couldnt really get good purchase on the bar/uj with the tools i had available..

took it to a good freind of mine who owns a gearbox centre....told him the results of my testing and he said he'd renew the viscous coupling for me if i bought one... i got a service filters kit aswell and the plan was to give it the once over at the same time whilst it was up on a ramp...
when we took the v-c off he took out the front part of the transfer box to examine the bearings....you guessed it, the bearings were on there way out too..."over wound" i believe...they seemed ever so slightly notchy..?
i read up that ,when the viscous coupling is shot, it locks it in 4 wheel drive and then in turn over winds the transfer box or IRD unit, all the bearing collapse, kill the crown wheel etc then its MEGA bucks to put right........
we agreed, and my mate at the gearbox centre took off the IRD transfer box, split it open on the bench and reconditioned it all with new bearings etc.... rebuilt the ****** and finally installed the new viscous coupleing...........
viscous coupling was from land rover (hardy spicer i think) (?)

so... its had the ird overhauled which is as good as new, a new viscous coupling and bearings....

i got it back today and took it for a spin....
£800 later in v- coupling,bearings and other service bits and labour costs....

THE SAME ISSUE IS STILL THERE !!!!!!!!!!! breaking feeling on full lock....feeling "tight" etc

now, i now know that the ird and viscous coupling are right, cos there new ! Land rover say its supossed to feel like this.....?????

WHATS THE SCORE?????? aaaaaaaarggghgghh!!!! have i just had all that work done for no reason ?

with genuine gear on as oposed to a "loose" pattern vc is it normal for it to feel tight in full lock ?

other then this it motors/ runs beatifully....
really need some advice hear, if its supposed to feel like this, then ill just get on with it and perhaps try to ignore the fact there may have been feck all wrong with it in the first place...... if this is not really ideal and will inevitably end in a broken ird well then the problem could be somewhere else ?? what about the rear diff ? anything i should look at there ? its fine in a straight line just on full lock....

or...is this normal.....?


now im paranoid to death over it....................... dont know if its right or wrong, is bette now or was ever broke to start with...i didnt want to wait till it all broke in an expensive way but i may have jumped the gun........

Sounds to me like your original VCU was working perfectly & the feeling you've got is perfectly good. Expensive peace of mind, but peace of mind at least is your only consolation.

chromiumuk said:

Sounds to me like your original VCU was working perfectly & the feeling you've got is perfectly good. Expensive peace of mind, but peace of mind at least is your only consolation.

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nope - coz he mite have a spare VCU and IRD

The Mad Hat Man said:

nope - coz he mite have a spare VCU and IRD

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Very true indeed. Guess I haven't quite got into the spirit of this peace of mind lark............

Just to make you feel a bit worse, I have had 3 freelanders over the years and they have all felt stiff as you say while reversing on full lock but I have never had a problem with any of them, I have just accepted that that is how they feel in reverse full lock. :doh:

doh !!!!!!
at the time, i read the stuff... did the tests and came to the conclusion the vc needed to be renewed before i got into expensive repair bills............
the job then seemed to spiral and with a hefty amount of caution having thought the vc was duff i got involved in looking further into the ird... again being cautious got it overhauled.......
now, with hind sight and only having the conflicting info id found on the net to go off, i realise i may have made a very expensive boo boo........

my mate who did the ird said the bearings in it wer'nt up to much and there was bits of swarf in there....so i guess some good came of it....
the vc went in the bin as did the duff bearings from the ird.... double doh!!!

lesson learnt...............:doh:

dont tell the wife.........

myzeneye said:

doh !!!!!!


lesson learnt...............:doh:

dont tell the wife.........

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Sounds like you have many more lessons to learn.At least you've got a
few spares,and a perfectly good vcu gone to the dump.Is that like a
grand, since you bought it in January?

Try and get a test drive in another td4,see if it feels like yours.

I guess I'm as paranoid as you.....My FL 1.8 felt really, really tight on full lock in reverse.
I was really worried about overstressing the IRD, so changed VCU with a recon unit.
Guess what....it feels exactly the same!!
Prop now off for summer - much better performance, and peace of mind that the IRD is not going to explode into millions of bits.
But i expect the doors will for orft, or something.
Russ

keep an eye on how the rear tyres are wearing, if they're smooth the vcu is fine, if they are wavey or saw-toothed the vcu is knackered.

myzeneye said:

doh !!!!!!
at the time, i read the stuff... did the tests and came to the conclusion the vc needed to be renewed before i got into expensive repair bills............
the job then seemed to spiral and with a hefty amount of caution having thought the vc was duff i got involved in looking further into the ird... again being cautious got it overhauled.......
now, with hind sight and only having the conflicting info id found on the net to go off, i realise i may have made a very expensive boo boo........

my mate who did the ird said the bearings in it wer'nt up to much and there was bits of swarf in there....so i guess some good came of it....
the vc went in the bin as did the duff bearings from the ird.... double doh!!!

lesson learnt...............:doh:

dont tell the wife.........

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don't throw away duff vcu's coz you can trade them in for a discount on a replacement one.:doh:

howardo said:

keep an eye on how the rear tyres are wearing, if they're smooth the vcu is fine, if they are wavey or saw-toothed the vcu is knackered.

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Now thats interesting. When i bought mine in Nov last year, both rear tyres were really badly 'saw-toothed'. So bad, the noise and vibration was unbearable above 55 mph.
This was another reason for replacing the VCU.
The worry is that there did'nt seem to be any difference in 'tightness' between the old and new VCU.

The tyre wear can be charcteristic of the Freelander and due to not adhering to correct tyre rotation and service time, and not necessarily related to VCU seizure.

Cheers

Blippie

freelander vcu paranoia can be an expensive thing lol

thrasher said:

freelander vcu paranoia can be an expensive thing lol

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Yep...

....but, there has definately been an issue in my FL's dark past...although all working properly, new VCU, and all oils changed, there were a few very small bits of munched up pressed steel, that were attached to the magnet when i drained the IRD....
But I do have peace of mind...until the doors fall off, or something 'orrible 'appens.

Always been weary of "recon VCUs"

A couple of years ago I stated a thread on hear about VCUs - I had spoken to the company that made the genuine ones for LR

They sent me a lot of info and one of the things they said, was that they wre a sealed for life unit and that they couldnt be reconditioned - wasnt just a case of opening them up and replacing the gell stuff or the plates.

Having said that - that was a number of years ago - maybe things have moved on