Alternative to the fluid coupling (VCU)

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Alex1000 said:
To me, ability to select 2 or 4 wheel drive when you want it.

The vcu diy fix, could you elaboeate or point me in right direction.

My frrelander doesnt have this issue yet, but im looking at what if plan for when it need replaced.

Im in the mind to pick up a 3 door thats vcu's knackered. And mess around with it techlok or such like, as a bit off fun.

But the ratio difference front to rear my only drawback.
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The creator of this fred @likimstip is the person to contact. It's his design.

The last I know of this he was trying to work out how to get the price below £1000. Obviously volume sales would help but that's a lot of money for something which isn't really a problem. I like the idea of it and find it interesting but most vcu problems are resolved by removing it if the owner is overcome with worry.
 
Thanks. Like the idea, but appreciate the ratio difference front to rear needs to be overcome or compensated for.

The lot of money for something that really isnt necessary is pretty much the car aftermarket industry.

credit to fred for actually building it..
 
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Alex1000 said:
Thanks. Like the idea, but appreciate the ratio difference front to rear needs to be overcome or compensated for.

The lot of money for something that realy isnt necessary is prety much the car attermarket industry.

credit to fred for actually building it..
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The front to rear prop shaft ratio isn't really a concern. The vcu will take this out when the "lock" is locked.

Some aftermarket kit is ok. Some goes a bit too far. I think in the OP's case he had a lot of the tools available to make the item so it wasn't as difficult to do as say the average person.

edit: I thought he had revised it to include the vcu as well as a the lock. My mistake.
 
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Yea. But the non vcu idea doesnt at the moment...if he could figure that out it would mean the unit would be very viable.

And if a bit of demand costs could be brought down easily enough.
 
Alex1000 said:
Yea. But the non vcu idea doesnt at the moment...if he could figure that out it would mean the unit would be very viable.

And if a bit of demand costs could be brought down easily enough.
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Ah. I thought he had revised it to include the vcu as well as a the lock. My mistake.
 
He might have. Im only catching up on this idea. But that creates another issue. My thoughts were the traclok was viable to replace a knackered vcu. Ill have to read up more to catch up.
 
Alex1000 said:
To me, ability to select 2 or 4 wheel drive when you want it.

The vcu diy fix, could you elaboeate or point me in right direction.

My frrelander doesnt have this issue yet, but im looking at what if plan for when it need replaced.

Im in the mind to pick up a 3 door thats vcu's knackered. And mess around with it techlok or such like, as a bit off fun.

But the ratio difference front to rear my only drawback.
Click to expand...

I don't know how he would overcome the terrible handling of a 2wd Freelander with this device. If you've ever driven your Freelander without the propshaft you'll know what I'm talking about, it's especially bad in a K series.
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/how-to-recondition-a-vcu-yourself.307445/
 
Hi All,

My first thoughts on this was, would an electro magnetic clutch be a viable replacement for the VCU with the clutch operating and putting drive to the rear when the TCS operates.
My next was that a VCU operates in a similar way to a SSS clutch.
http://www.sssclutch.com/en/how-it-works/
But i must say that i doubt either would work better than a lockable centre diff and the VCU seems a good system that i hope to be reinstating soon as i can get the front shaft coupling off the B@#$$ard VCU then speak nicely to Bell engineering.

Cheers

Dave
 
Dave 227 said:
Hi All,

My first thoughts on this was, would an electro magnetic clutch be a viable replacement for the VCU with the clutch operating and putting drive to the rear when the TCS operates.
My next was that a VCU operates in a similar way to a SSS clutch.
http://www.sssclutch.com/en/how-it-works/
But i must say that i doubt either would work better than a lockable centre diff and the VCU seems a good system that i hope to be reinstating soon as i can get the front shaft coupling off the B@#$$ard VCU then speak nicely to Bell engineering.

Cheers

Dave
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The VCU is simple and good, and able to deal with the different gear ratio between front and rear.
Just make sure the tyres are identical, with least worn on the year, and forget the VCU for 100k miles.;)
 
FWIW, I don't just play with hippos, I've also had a few discoveries, and still have one each of a Discovery 1 and a "razor dash" Range Rover Classic. The Range Rover never had an LT230 disco/defender transfer box, they used a unit sourced from Borg Warner, at the heart of which isn't a geared mechanical differential, but a ruddy great big viscous coupling, driven by a chain from the output of the gearbox. The RRC 4WD system works better than the Disco's. The reason it does that is the Vicsous acts like a Limited Slip (Centre) Differential, which is something you can buy as an upgrade to the disco/fender transfer box: https://shop.quaife.co.uk/qdf30kt - but the hippo has a viscous, that acts like a LSD, at the centre of it's transmission, and the tegra lock removes that?
 
Jayridium said:
FWIW, I don't just play with hippos, I've also had a few discoveries, and still have one each of a Discovery 1 and a "razor dash" Range Rover Classic. The Range Rover never had an LT230 disco/defender transfer box, they used a unit sourced from Borg Warner, at the heart of which isn't a geared mechanical differential, but a ruddy great big viscous coupling, driven by a chain from the output of the gearbox. The RRC 4WD system works better than the Disco's. The reason it does that is the Vicsous acts like a Limited Slip (Centre) Differential, which is something you can buy as an upgrade to the disco/fender transfer box: https://shop.quaife.co.uk/qdf30kt - but the hippo has a viscous, that acts like a LSD, at the centre of it's transmission, and the tegra lock removes that?
Click to expand...
I sued to take my Disco down the beach and it was very capable, but you needed to work the transfer box, switching in and out of diff lock depending on what you were driving on. Also needed to put it in low range as well or it was terrible.

The Freelander was fantastic - you just point and go.

Have to say though - in concept, I recon the RR Classic/P38 viscous center diff would be best setup. Never driven one but been a passenger in a fun trip up into the mountains in a P38 :D

IIRC though the Classic only had the viscous setup for a few years before it was replaced by the P38, it wasn't for most of its life.
 
GrumpyGel said:
I sued to take my Disco down the beach and it was very capable, but you needed to work the transfer box, switching in and out of diff lock depending on what you were driving on. Also needed to put it in low range as well or it was terrible.

The Freelander was fantastic - you just point and go.

Have to say though - in concept, I recon the RR Classic/P38 viscous center diff would be best setup. Never driven one but been a passenger in a fun trip up into the mountains in a P38 :D

IIRC though the Classic only had the viscous setup for a few years before it was replaced by the P38, it wasn't for most of its life.
Click to expand...

I'm not a full-on RRC rivet counter, but as I understand it, the initial RRC 2 door model in the seventies, the one with rubber floors and vinyl seats, had a 'fender transfer box, but when they made the 4/5door they aimed to take the model upmarket and part of that required negating mechanical transmission noise, to do this they switched to the BorgWarner transfer box.
 
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