New VCU

howardo said:

theres a guy on here from bell engineering maybe he can tell us what they do.
If they take it apart maybe they can change the fluid in it, its just like silly putty apparently.

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They are opened up, completely cleaned out, welded back together and brand new CORRECT grade and quantity of fluid added. The recon units supplied by us (Bell Engineering) work as per the original OEM units, unlike the the other company supplying "recon" units which supply absolutely no drive to the rear wheels as they have not got the correct fluid in them.

Russell Jupp said:

Sorry to hijack this thread, but just how tight on full lock is considered normal? Mine was tight enough so that it would'nt roll backwards on a gentle gradient. Straighten the front wheels and away it would go!! I replaced VCU with a recon, and it really does'nt seem any different? Feels like the brakes are binding!!
Cheers,
Russ

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This seemed to happen to my Freelander - which is why its still with the selling garage being made roadworthy - and despite the new coupler it does seem to stop when on full-lock. In my case the rear differential has had it (complete with sheared front mount) due to a worn-out coupler causing the damage....Might this be a posibility?

The 'thinner' compound used in the one described earlier in the thread makes good theoretical sense - if not used for off-roading - for increased longevity/drive train strain. I do wonder if your drive will benefit though if the majority of the torque is still going through the front wheels?