knackered diff

recently learned that the diff has gone on freddy (no girls names for landrovers for me!) while my parents were borrowing him to use in Scotland.
appaerntly there was a lot of grinding noises, so they took him to a garage where the mechanic promptly labled the oil glooped and the overall diff fooked...
my parents had to drive freddy with said knackered diff all the way back from wester ross to york, and now there's no noise from the diff at all so i'm guessing everything inside the casing has just turned to shiny metal dust...

my question/s is/are.... until i can get the diff replaced for a refurb, is it still okay to drive freddy around with the old diff attached? will it have an adverse affect on my vcu? and when i do change the diff, should i get the vcu changed as well, as it's the original and has done well over 120,000 miles?

many thanks for reading my little essay.... peace out :hippie:

take the prop off as a lot do when they are selling the car and just say it is for better fuel economy

cheers teddywood1!
what about replacing the vcu? if it has been damaged by the diff going will it not then induce problems on the refurb diff i fit?

A diff going won't damage a vcu, but the vcu is a very likely cause of the diff failure. I've driven a freelander round with a grinding diff, it was fine until it collapsed on the motorway, locked rear wheels for an second or so, bit of a skid, massive bang and the diff split in half. I drove it the rest of the way home with the diff hanging out the bottom of the car. Not a nice experience, lots of oil and mess everywhere and it knackered the CV joints, so best to remove prop. Send us the vcu while its off and we will test it free of charge.

you can not get better than that

well i'll be taking the prop off tomorrow hopefully, if my side bars arrive in time as i wanna kill two birds with one stone and fit them while freddy's up on stilts... not got any offroading planned any time soon so as teddy mentioned i might just 2wd it for the time being...

Secondhand diffs are reasonably prices just a bit of a pain to replace. I've just sold one for £70 plus carriage.