Towing with a 2WD freelander that used to be 4x4

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Delfine

New Member
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Hi Freelander experts I need your advise!

I have a Freelander 1- 2 Litre diesel (year 2000 3 door) recently my control system for the 4x4 broke and needs replacing however its more expensive than the value of the car therefore I have had my diff removed completely making the car 2 WD only. The mechanic then told me not to tow with the car any more as it won’t be able to perform.
The weight I am towing is 1 trailer weighting 870kg approx and a pony weighing 430kg approx. I have never towed 2,00kg with it and personally I don’t think it could.

Please can anyone advise if I am safe to tow this weight or how losing my back wheels will affect me?
Can I still tow the above weight safely? ( I won’t be towing in pouring rain or ice).
Thank you in advance!
 
Delfine said:
Hi Freelander experts I need your advise!

I have a Freelander 1- 2 Litre diesel (year 2000 3 door) recently my control system for the 4x4 broke and needs replacing however its more expensive than the value of the car therefore I have had my diff removed completely making the car 2 WD only. The mechanic then told me not to tow with the car any more as it won’t be able to perform.
The weight I am towing is 1 trailer weighting 870kg approx and a pony weighing 430kg approx. I have never towed 2,000kg with it and personally I don’t think it could.

Please can anyone advise if I am safe to tow this weight or how losing my back wheels will affect me?
Can I still tow the above weight safely? ( I won’t be towing in pouring rain or ice).
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...

The maximum towing capacity of the TD4 is 2000kg, it's probably close to that with your L series 2.0. But with it being neutered I'd think very carefully before hitching up a max weight (and that's for the BMW engine) load. I don't have the experience to encourage or discourage but there's the info. But if your trailer and horse weigh in at 1300 Kgs then I'm sure that a fully functioning 4x4 Freelander would cope with that just fine :).

Do you still have all the parts of your transmission that were removed? If so, why not give Bell Engineering a call and get quotes for a new IRD and VCU, which are the parts I'm betting have failed, pretty much every new member here has a Freelander with broken transmission. Anyway they are one of the best in the biz and will give you as good a price as you will get. Their parts prices (not sure about labor prices) were £615 for a reconditioned IRD and £230 for a recon VCU with new OEM bearings last time I looked. The Freelander may not be worth much on the market, but the L series one is one of the best out there and if you fix the transmission issues then it will be a more than faithful workhorse long after all the new 2013 Range Rover's have gone to the scrappie!

Where are you, there may be someone local who could help you. Us Freelanderers look out for each other :).

Welcome,

Will.

Oh, and ignore all the pricks who come here from the other sections just to wind people up. You get alot of bored little people with nothing better to do but there are also a great many very helpful and knowlegable people here too. So don't take any banter personally.
 
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It will tow 1500 Kg's no problem provided it's on a high grip surface. On wet grass and mud you will need 4 wheel drive. What is up with the 4wd ?
 
I towed a huuuuge trailer that was at least 1000kg when mine was 2WD and the car didn't really seem to notice.
The road was very up and down as well.
Mine is a V6 though.
 
Hi Will,

firstly thank you for your reply. The MAX I would ever make it tow is just over 1,300kg (I don't think it could even tow 2,000kg if it had 4 wheels) it was fine with the 1,300 when it had 4 wheels just on motorway gradients and hills it would slow right down..

Regarding the Diff - yes I still have it there is nothing wrong with it, I bought a new one as we though that was the original problem.. however sent it back after concluding mine is fine... its control unit is the bit that is making loads of noise when my foot is off the accelerator- my mechanic said it would have to replaced, but at the time I didn't think it was worth it as the car is 12 years old and not worth much.

I will check out the website you have sent... I am located in Manchester. I am only looking to tow locally max 90 minute drives, and don't take the car off road any more, however its the risk of getting into a situation where the 4x4 feature might be a great help.

Its more the danger I would be putting the horse in that I am worried about, however looking at replacing the car is proving quite expensive, someone just mentioned that it might be able to still tow, hence my post, another reason why I am trying to hold onto the car if I can because anything that could have gone wrong with it has, so under the bonnet its quite a young car and mechanically sound :)
 
Hi, basically the brain of the car needs replaceing.
When I was driving it and was talking my foot of the accelerator it was making a very loud noise that week after week was getting louder and louder (almost like a tractor) so i had the diff removed and the noise stopped.

I am just conscious as I would be towing life stock and would want it to be put in any danger because of the car not being capable :)

Another thing I keep being told is that as the car is now on 2WD it is balanced all wrong as the weight is all on the front of it... apparently this makes a difference?
 
Delfine said:
Hi Will,

firstly thank you for your reply. The MAX I would ever make it tow is just over 1,300kg (I don't think it could even tow 2,000kg if it had 4 wheels) it was fine with the 1,300 when it had 4 wheels just on motorway gradients and hills it would slow right down..

Regarding the Diff - yes I still have it there is nothing wrong with it, I bought a new one as we though that was the original problem.. however sent it back after concluding mine is fine... its control unit is the bit that is making loads of noise when my foot is off the accelerator- my mechanic said it would have to replaced, but at the time I didn't think it was worth it as the car is 12 years old and not worth much.

I will check out the website you have sent... I am located in Manchester. I am only looking to tow locally max 90 minute drives, and don't take the car off road any more, however its the risk of getting into a situation where the 4x4 feature might be a great help.

Its more the danger I would be putting the horse in that I am worried about, however looking at replacing the car is proving quite expensive, someone just mentioned that it might be able to still tow, hence my post, another reason why I am trying to hold onto the car if I can because anything that could have gone wrong with it has, so under the bonnet its quite a young car and mechanically sound :)
Click to expand...

By "Control Unit" are you talking about the Viscous Coupling or VCU for short? It's in the middle of the car below the floor. If it's failed it's an easy job to replace and should only cost a maximum of an hours labour to fit a recon unit. These are available from Bell for around £230. You Freelander is worth more than that !! ;)
 
Delfine said:
Hi, basically the brain of the car needs replaceing.
When I was driving it and was talking my foot of the accelerator it was making a very loud noise that week after week was getting louder and louder (almost like a tractor) so i had the diff removed and the noise stopped.

I am just conscious as I would be towing life stock and would want it to be put in any danger because of the car not being capable :)

Another thing I keep being told is that as the car is now on 2WD it is balanced all wrong as the weight is all on the front of it... apparently this makes a difference?
Click to expand...

The freelander's 4 wheel drive is a mechanical system so there is no "Brain" There might be an electronic traction control but that is a completely different thing and won't stop it from working!!
 
Delfine said:
Hi, basically the brain of the car needs replaceing.
When I was driving it and was talking my foot of the accelerator it was making a very loud noise that week after week was getting louder and louder (almost like a tractor) so i had the diff removed and the noise stopped.

I am just conscious as I would be towing life stock and would want it to be put in any danger because of the car not being capable :)

Another thing I keep being told is that as the car is now on 2WD it is balanced all wrong as the weight is all on the front of it... apparently this makes a difference?
Click to expand...

That last bit is total rubbish, the diff doesn't weigh enough to make a difference and the main weight will be the sub frame and the monocoque chassis.

If by the "brains" you mean the ECU or CCU thats odd as that's not usually a cause of rear drive failure and there is nothing that is electronically controlled in the operation of the 4x4 system. The Freelander 2's 4x4 system is entirely electrical, and very expensive to fix UNLIKE that on our lovely FL1's :).

Basically, the gearbox puts out drive which goes into the IRD (Intermediate Reduction Drive) which is located directly behind the gearbox. The IRD first reduces the revolutions through gearing to a fixed amount which gives you mre pulling power (AKA torque). It also acts as a differential for the front wheels. It then outputs drive along the front prop shaft which connects to the VCU (Viscous Coupling Unit) which is right in the middle of the underside of the car, this unit is drive splitter of sorts, in that when it feels the front wheels starting to spin it locks up and sends drive to the rear wheels. There's a bit more to it than that but that's the basic theory. This process is entirely mechanical.

Now what usually happens at 70k miles ish is that the fuild inside the VCU starts to thicken up a bit causing more and more drive to be sent to the rear wheels at all times, however the rear wheels are on a slightly different gear ratio than the front wheels and they sort of "drag along" when the VCU is seized. This puts strain up through the props and into the IRD which causes wear on the bearings and gears which eventually leads to IRD failure. So VCU failure very quickly leads to a broken IRD and that's how 75% of new members arrive to us.

The damage to the VCU can be prevented by always making sure that all four of your tyres are exactly the same make and size and that they all have the same amount of wear. Ideally the VCU should be replaced every 70-90k but you can test them for health yourself, Bell will also test them for you if you send it to them by post. Even tyre wear can be achieved by rotating them (take the RH Back one off and put it on the RH Front repeat for all four tyres etc) every 3-5000 miles. If you are aware of what causes transmission failure then it is fairly easy to make sure it doesn't happen to you.

If you were to have a new IRD and VCU fitted (you may not even need a new IRD), then you made sure your tyres were ok, then then car would just go and go. Freelanders are not "bad" - they are simply very vulnerable to mechanically unaware owners. Now I don't expect every car owner to be a DIY mechanic, but owning a Freelander demands that you at least understand the main theory of how all the various systems work. By just being around here you will very quickly pick it up - even if you don't want to pick up any spanners!

Phew, long post. Hope that helps you :)!

Will.
 
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Delfine said:
Another thing I keep being told is that as the car is now on 2WD it is balanced all wrong as the weight is all on the front of it... apparently this makes a difference?
Click to expand...


will you be towing with the trailer on the front or the back?

dont you think that might add to the rear "weight"?

I think you might (unsuccessfully) be saying that as the drive is now all at the front , then it would be unsafe????? If so do you think that other FWD vehicles are not allowed to tow?
 
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Delfine said:
Another thing I keep being told is that as the car is now on 2WD it is balanced all wrong as the weight is all on the front of it... apparently this makes a difference?
Click to expand...

This is utter rubbish!! Who is giving you this information? They don't know what they are talking about!!
 
Ha ha ... ok so my choice of words is not the best... that's just how it was said to me...

Regarding front or back... yes I know not all cars are rear wheel drive :p

Will - thank you again for your reply... I am going to go back to the mechanic and ask him which part he said would cost £1500 (without labour) to buy as that's all I got out of him at the time he just said 'the Brain' hence my reference before, -There was no drag on tyres, there was just a very loud noise while driving when the accelerator was released which kept getting louder and louder (My fear was the car would just stop with a horse in tow). My car has done approx 125k I have had it since 50k its serviced regularly and all the tyres are wrangler only 4 months old, tread is good on all of them and I check the pressure regularly, I used to rotate my tyres however haven't for the past 2 years.

Now I am aware it could be easily solved and possibly not for £1,500 fingers crossed :)
Once I find out the exact name of the part I shall check out Bell.

Thank you :)
 
Don't worry about the weight, my TD4 regularly pulls my 1700kg caravan. Granted mine is the TD4, but as long as your on the road you will be fine.
 
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