Restoring 4WD on a Freelander 1

Hi folks,

I bought a Freelander recently on ebay, never owned a Landrover before and hoping to get some advice. Done a bit of reading about faults and fixes but need some experienced opinion.

Its a 2000 model Freelander S TD4 2.0

The propshaft has been removed and I would like to put one back on and restore the vehicle to proper 4wd mode.

Is there anything bad to expect? Knackered diff, or anything else. It has a rattling/scraping noise coming from the transfer box area when shifting down into 2nd and 1st. Also a knocking noise from the box area when parking and reversing slowly.

The knocking noise. Does the propshaft support a bit of weight from the ird unit, or perhaps it needs some new gearbox mounts/bushes?

Cheers!

speak to Bell engineering as what you describe dosent sound good from inside the ird

knocking noise could be mounts as prop dosent support any weight of ird

jwilde said:

Is there anything bad to expect? Knackered diff, or anything else. It has a rattling/scraping noise coming from the transfer box area when shifting down into 2nd and 1st. Also a knocking noise from the box area when parking and reversing slowly.

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The normal reason the props are removed is to get a bit more life out of the IRD and pass on repair costs to the next owner. However the reason most sellers give for the vehicle begin 2WD is "to save fuel". This is total nonsense, as there's almost no difference in MPG between 2WD and 4WD.
The sound you are hearing is most likely the internal crown wheel scuffing on the IRD casing because the bearings have collapsed. This is a common problem then the vehicle has been driven with odd tyres and a stiffening VCU. If you're serious about returning it to 4X4, then budget for a reconditioned IRD and VCU and have 4 identical tyres fitted.

Not having the props fitted can cause more engine movement than when it's in 4WD, simply because some of the movement damped as it's taken down the props to the rear of the vehicle.

Looks like it needs a replacement IRD then! The cost of a rebuilt unit doesn't seem worth it for the age of this Freelander, x reg nearly 20 years old. There's loads of old parts that'll need replacing on it at some point. It could be a good restoration project or just a massive money pit.

I found a fairly decent ird on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rov...056560?hash=item3635fdc170:g:6ioAAOSwrJBbLAER

Tyres at the moment are all identical with even tread but I fancy some new all terrains for off roading at work.

Has anyone here replaced an IRD before?

jwilde said:

Has anyone here replaced an IRD before?

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Very many. I think you need to search for the posts of @Hippo on the subject.

Great sounds a good challenge and an even better money saver!

jwilde said:

Has anyone here replaced an IRD before?

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Yes. It's relatively easy to do, although you need to strip out the RH drive shaft and physically lower the old one out. Then lift the replacement back in to position, taking care to align the splines with the gearbox correctly.
Otherwise it's not really a difficult job to complete. I'd check any second hand IRD carefully before going through all the hassle of fitting it, ,only to discover it is just as bad as the one you're removing.

Nodge68 said:

Yes. It's relatively easy to do, although you need to strip out the RH drive shaft and physically lower the old one out. Then lift the replacement back in to position, taking care to align the splines with the gearbox correctly.
Otherwise it's not really a difficult job to complete. I'd check any second hand IRD carefully before going through all the hassle of fitting it, ,only to discover it is just as bad as the one you're removing.

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Thanks for the info! Yeh for sure most of the second hand ird units I wouldn't bother with. The one I've seen has done 43k and looks to be in much better shape than the one I have on just now.

LUKBENPHI said:

speak to Bell engineering as what you describe dosent sound good from inside the ird

knocking noise could be mounts as prop dosent support any weight of ird

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I had a look on Bell Engineerings website, £600 for an IRD. Way out of my budget for this old bus. Bell look the business I'll keep them in mind for the future.

jwilde said:

I had a look on Bell Engineerings website, £600 for an IRD. Way out of my budget for this old bus. Bell look the business I'll keep them in mind for the future.

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I would give it some careful consideration.
If the rest of the freelie is fairly sound, and you fit the IRD, that should go on for years.
You are unlikely to get a decent 4wd for that sort of money elsewhere.

Turboman said:

I would give it some careful consideration.
If the rest of the freelie is fairly sound, and you fit the IRD, that should go on for years.
You are unlikely to get a decent 4wd for that sort of money elsewhere.

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Yeh sure I see where you're coming from, the only thing that makes me hesitant to splash out on the IRD is the amount of rust underneath the vehicle and I need to buy the prop shaft and vcu too. Basicly all of the suspension components look very old front and rear, there's a lot of play/knocking in the front end once driving off road. The fuel tank cradle has almost rusted to nothing, heard its not the cheapest fix. Its done 160k with no service history so generally is going to need a lot of fettling up! I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I need to decide if its worth the commitment. Enjoying it so far, its tempting to go for it.

jwilde said:

Yeh sure I see where you're coming from, the only thing that makes me hesitant to splash out on the IRD is the amount of rust underneath the vehicle and I need to buy the prop shaft and vcu too. Basicly all of the suspension components look very old front and rear, there's a lot of play/knocking in the front end once driving off road. The fuel tank cradle has almost rusted to nothing, heard its not the cheapest fix. Its done 160k with no service history so generally is going to need a lot of fettling up! I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I need to decide if its worth the commitment. Enjoying it so far, its tempting to go for it.

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If the rest of the vehicle is in a bad state, that puts a different light on the matter.

I fitted a second hand ird to my car two years ago and I am having to do it again shortly as the replacement has failed. This time I am fitting a recon so I don't have the hassle of doing it a third time

Madmustang said:

I fitted a second hand ird to my car two years ago and I am having to do it again shortly as the replacement has failed. This time I am fitting a recon so I don't have the hassle of doing it a third time

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Is more than the bearings? Doing a bearing change on an IRD isn't difficult or particularly expensive. There's no measuring or shims for the new bearings. You need a basic puller to get a couple of bearings off the shafts, otherwise it's pretty straightforward.

Whether it an expensive job to have a good working IRD really depends on the condition of the gears - and particularly the crown and pinion gears for the prop shaft PTO. You can remove the rear pinion to examine them - if they are worn or have broken teeth, then the economic thing is to just replace the whole unit.

If the gears are OK, then you can buy rebuild kits including all the bearings, seals and a new cooler quite "cheaply" (roughly £150 last time I checked). Then of course you have to install the kit or pay to have the kit installed.

If buying 2nd hand IRDs, obviously a good one is best, but one with good gears is 2nd best and one with bad gears is an expensive (big!) paper weight. Problem is, its almost impossible to know what you're getting.

Whether or not you already have the props & VCU isn't such a big issue because you'll want to install a reconditioned VCU anyway - I believe £275 inc support bearings from Bell Engineering. You'll need an exchange VCU - but you can probably get a set of props and VCU (to be used for exchange) cheap from a breakers.

Then you have to consider the rear diff. Firstly whether it and the drive shafts are actually there - some remove it and most of the drive shafts, just leaving the stub axles in the hubs so the wheels don't fall off. Assuming its still there, you then have to hope its in decent condition and isn't going to go bang once you start putting torque through it again.

If you do go through the cost of reinstating the 4WD system properly, you will know you have a good system that should be reliable and not give you any trouble. A few years ago it would definitely have been the sensible thing to with the value of good cars being much higher than they are now. These days though, I would imagine the most cost effective way of you getting a 4WD Freelander is to sell yours and buy one that is still 4WD. If you do though it is very advisable to check the oil in the IRD before buying - if it looks like oil, then it should be good, if it is a grey/metallicy colour, walk away. Also jack (just) a rear wheel and make sure you can't turn it easily, some cars have the pinion gear removed from the IRD so look 4WD but are actually 2WD. Also budget on a recon VCU as most will be out of spec and if the tyres are not all identical make and model, get them replaced ASAP. Checking the IRD oil may sound like a difficult thing to do when buying/testing a car, but plenty of people have full inspections before buying.

Nodge68 said:

Is more than the bearings? Doing a bearing change on an IRD isn't difficult or particularly expensive. There's no measuring or shims for the new bearings. You need a basic puller to get a couple of bearings off the shafts, otherwise it's pretty straightforward.

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I disagree as I am taking one apart and it's a mare to get the races out of the cases

I had trouble enough just splitting the 2 halfs of the case! After undoing all the bolts I tried for ages to separate them. In the end I gave up. I came back to it a couple of hours later and the 2 pieces has split all by themselves - with a bit of help from the sun!

After that... I gave the IRD and kit to a workshop to install!