VCU, or no VCU?

My Freelander goes so very much smoother with the VCU removed. - The Petrol consumption has gone from only around 15mpg, to around 28mpg around town, & up to 40mpg on a run. - I have no intention, ever, to use it off road, - might get it dirty!! - So why do I need the VCU?

You should have been getting better fuel consumption than that, VCU or no. I suspect that removing it has masked some fault in that part of the drivetrain. My guess is that the VCU itself is FUBAR. In which case, replacement with a known good unit will fix the fault.

Freelanders are designed to be 4wd. The way it's set up, there's always a slight amount of drive to the rear wheels which will improve stability and handling, particularly in corners. Without it, all the drive will be going through the front wheels which will increase the tendency to understeer. People tend to take the VCU off when it fails and don't bother to fix it.

What's a "Fubar"? - My Landy handles perfectly with no understeer at all. - How much does a new VCU cost? - I might get it replaced if it's not that expensive. - My garage told me that they have removed loads of them!! - I still have all the parts, bolts etc.

FUBAR- ****ed Up Beyond All Repair. Slightly related to FUBARBUNDY which is mainly for paramedics. Not to be confused with SNAFU which is more relevant to series/90/110 owners.

Also, you can do the job 'properly' with a blanking kit which removes the rear output shaft from the transmission. Currently this will be spinning away doing nothing which is not what it's designed for. But it remains a bodge. All the design work by Land Rover was done on the assumption that the transmission would be intact and working. Your insurance will need informing of the modification as well.

Haha!! - Will have to look up VCU prices on ebay!! - Or where else do you suggest?

I do intend to fit a new VCU unit sometime. Only had it removed when I first got my Landy, cos of the bad fuel consumption. - I didn't realise that it was seized. - Where do I get a new one from?

You can fit a refurbished on - Bells engineering is mentioned on here and seem to have a good reputation too. Search on here about them. Or you could fit a new one, they are around £300? [plus VAT] I think.

You don't say what year/model of Freelander you have - I presume its a diesel - L Series or TD4?

If your MPG dropped to 15MPG and the only fix to get it back up was to remove the prop shafts - then your VCU must have been in a very very bad condition. Before you take the decision to invest in a new VCU and put it back to 4WD, check the oil in your IRD - if it comes out grey, then the VCU has shafted it so budget for a recon IRD as well.

If you remain 2WD, I'm not so sure swapping the pinion for a blanking plate will achieve much. If the IRD hadn't started making god awful noises, then its unlikely to jam up the crown/pinion gears unless it was on the cusp of doing so. Putting a blanking plate on will removed the flange which will be spinning around and possibly picking stuff up - but then you'll still have one on the rear diff.

As for whether the car is any 'worse' in 2WD over 4WD when all you'll be driving on is tarmac, the answer is undoubtedly Yes because you'll lose the 4WD benefits in icy/wet/snowy conditions - other than that though I feel comments about lots of wheel spin and oversteer are scaremongering unless you drive it like you stole it. That is particularly true for diesels and especially for the L Series diesel. The petrols will probably behave more adversely - but just like any FWD car.

People say "Freelanders are desiged to be 4WD" - well obviously they are - when they left the factory they had power going to all the wheels. But I have not seen 1 fact why this means they are significantly worse than a car designed to be FWD when they are running with the props removed. Lets face it Land Rover also said they designed the car to behave like a FWD car!

I bought my recon'd VCU from Bell, it was £275 with new bearings and postage including returning my old one.
When i bought my freelander it was always my intention to remove the prop and VCU for 9 months of the year. I am currently getting 33 mpg which Is much improved after the recon VCU and a good service.
Still needs heater plugs and has a flat spot every time I change gear that needs curing, but so far my TD4 has been ok.

badpuppy said:

My Freelander goes so very much smoother with the VCU removed. - The Petrol consumption has gone from only around 15mpg, to around 28mpg around town, & up to 40mpg on a run. - I have no intention, ever, to use it off road, - might get it dirty!! - So why do I need the VCU?

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Your Freelander will drive just fine without the VCU. The only thing I've noticed while driving my mate's one, which has no VCU, is a tendency to wheelspin at a wet T junction if you pull away a bit sharpish. As GrumpyGel says, you might notice a handling difference if you really push it, but any competent driver should adapt to that.

That said, if you want to keep it stock then a recon/exchange VCU from Bell is your best option. If your MPG really went from 15 to 28 then there must have been something seriously wrong with your drivetrain.

Running without a VCU, if it's working makes so little difference to the Mpg that it's almost undetectable. I did a long term VCU/ No VCU fuel consumption comparison over 6,000 Miles. This was conducted on my old V6 ES which is the lest efficient Freelander made. With my slightly stiff but perfectly serviceable VCU fitted, the Mpg was 19.6 Mpg for the 6K miles.
I then conducted the same test without the VCU or props. The Mpg did rise but by a tiny amount, climbing a whole 0.2 Mpg to 19.8 Mpg. This is pretty much what I expected and likely due to the weight reduction of the parts being on the garage floor.
At 15Mpg, you have something wrong with the car.