VCU Torque test results

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VCU definitely fubar!! Tried it again to make sure. Wheel rocking VCU rocking, prop rocking, all my weight in the hub bolt with my wrecking bar and it won't move!!

Parking up until I can fit the refurb VCU. May as well do all the back end stuff while it is off. Putting the spare V6 into daily use instead. Not doing many miles so can probs afford it. Esp as fuel price has dropped for a while!!!
 
andyfreelandy said:
VCU definitely fubar!! Tried it again to make sure. Wheel rocking VCU rocking, prop rocking, all my weight in the hub bolt with my wrecking bar and it won't move!!

Parking up until I can fit the refurb VCU. May as well do all the back end stuff while it is off. Putting the spare V6 into daily use instead. Not doing many miles so can probs afford it. Esp as fuel price has dropped for a while!!!
Click to expand...
lol, if it looks like **** and smells like **** - it probably is ... :D

If fuel prices there are anything like here, a V6 is not more expensive to run than a 1.8 2 months ago!
 
Took the VCU off my TD4 to use up the remaining fuel before doing the rear end, tank cradle etc.

Not before time. 82k miles and on the bench, with a breaker bar and 12 stone and it won't move a mm!!!!!

Glad I got it off before damage to transmission or tyres. It really did appear to just fail but there has to be a point where you can't feel it reversing and then you can.

New refurb to go on when time allows.

My rule of thumb is now going to be OWUT every 6 months from VCU covering 60k miles.
 
andyfreelandy said:
Took the VCU off my TD4 to use up the remaining fuel before doing the rear end, tank cradle etc.

Not before time. 82k miles and on the bench, with a breaker bar and 12 stone and it won't move a mm!!!!!

Glad I got it off before damage to transmission or tyres. It really did appear to just fail but there has to be a point where you can't feel it reversing and then you can.

New refurb to go on when time allows.

My rule of thumb is now going to be OWUT every 6 months from VCU covering 60k miles.
Click to expand...
They can fail well before 60k miles.
 
Yes agreed, what I propose is increased testing at 60k, still annual test at service.

Do we know what has produced the early failures? Tyre pattern, pressure, use of vehicle??

My personal findings are that if the tyres are same pattern, depth and pressure then 60k is a safe mileage to increase testing frequency. If these things are not true then every 6 months regardless would seem sensible.
 
andyfreelandy said:
Yes agreed, what I propose is increased testing at 60k, still annual test at service.

Do we know what has produced the early failures? Tyre pattern, pressure, use of vehicle??

My personal findings are that if the tyres are same pattern, depth and pressure then 60k is a safe mileage to increase testing frequency. If these things are not true then every 6 months regardless would seem sensible.
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Ah, I see. To me it read as only testing every 6 months after 60k miles. It's preferable to test based on mileage throughout it's life as that has a connection with use. The higher the miles the more it will have been used in theory. We have to be careful how we advise to test as some will assume as I did from how I read it that yer safe from failure before a certain mileage when we have found this not to be the case. 6 months to me was about 1800 miles where as some cover that in 2 months. So mileage related testing is more definitive. When I was running my FL1 v6 I tested the vcu every 500 miles. Perhaps considered too often for some so 1000 miles is ok but I wouldn't personally advise to go above that.

There's no precise reason why they have failed at such a low mileage. Mine original LR production supplied one went about 35.5k miles. Some just seen to fail early "naturally" through use as opposed to there being a specific dominant reason. There are a numbers of factors involved that "age" a vcu through use. In general how often the vcu is put under pressure, and by how much. We've discussed it to death on ere over the years.
 
Hippo said:
When I was running my FL1 v6 I tested the vcu every 500 miles. Perhaps considered too often for some so 1000 miles is ok but I wouldn't personally advise to go above that.
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Testing the VCU at 500 mile intervals. :eek:
I test mine every 5,000 miles, which is yearly. It's been giving 40 to 50 seconds timings every year, but I'm thinking of rebuilding it this year, although I said that last year, and the year before. :rolleyes:
 
Yes 500 miles is keen! The solution is, of course, mileage based monitoring, but until I have a device that reminds me at a mileage it is, for me, better to use time intervals as I can set reminders in my vehicle maintenance scheduling app kindly provided by the A A. As my annual mileage is roughly constant at 10 to 12 k then a fixed time interval is approx a fixed mileage interval for me.

New refurbed VCU is slightly tighter than previous ones. About 12secs for 1.2m and 5kg on the bench. This, if I recall, gets multiplied by 3 by the diff. It may settle with use. Interesting as I used the same method and the same viscous oil. Previous bench tests have been 8 seconds for same test kit.
Incidentally, important finding..... An old ventilated disc and a broken front diff mount together weigh 5Kg!!!!!!
 
I must be more dedicated to Freelandering.

Each time the dash rolls past the next 1,000 mile marker, test yer vcu. A reminder to swop tires front to rear anorl.
 
So you are swapping back to front every thousand miles, Hippo? I just had two back tyres fitted early March and two fronts done early May. I may not be so keen to swap in winter, but during the summer it won't be such a chore... What is the recommendation from Solihull on swapping on a Freelander 1? Is it rotate, or just front to back every so many miles?
 
paul99 said:
So you are swapping back to front every thousand miles, Hippo? I just had two back tyres fitted early March and two fronts done early May. I may not be so keen to swap in winter, but during the summer it won't be such a chore... What is the recommendation from Solihull on swapping on a Freelander 1? Is it rotate, or just front to back every so many miles?
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I bought 4 tires brand new last year. I swop them front to rear every 1000 miles so they wear more evenly, to get more life from them as they all wear evenly. I did the this to my FL1 previously and do it to my FL2 now.

If you have tires of differing tread depths then the 2 with the deeper tread go on the rear. If yer can't get (or don't need) 4 new tires then replace them in axles pairs instead. Deepest tread go on the rear. To be frank if buying just 1 tire it's not a massive problem. Put it on the rear and move the lowest tread rear tire to the front. Vehicle manufacturers and the tire industry prefer you to have the same depth thread across the axle pair, as it can affect stability like traveling through and breaking in heavy rain when the roads wets. Differing tread depths clear different amounts of water so can cause you to drift to one side. They makean important point. It's the ideal thing to do.

LR state tires should be changed in sets of 4 ideally. If not possible then change axles pairs with deepest tread going on the rear.
 
25 sec
1.2m, 5kg, from 45 to 90 degrees, td4 2005, 135.000 km
 

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So with a slightly stiffening VCU (41s with 5kg at 1.2m on the last test) I'm pondering if it's safe to swap my tyres front to rear to even out wear and I'm wondering people's thoughts are? I've done approx 4.5k on the current set, which seems a bit much for a swap but tread depths are currently as per below;
TTDS.jpg
 
kernowsvenski said:
So with a slightly stiffening VCU (41s with 5kg at 1.2m on the last test) I'm pondering if it's safe to swap my tyres front to rear to even out wear and I'm wondering people's thoughts are? I've done approx 4.5k on the current set, which seems a bit much for a swap but tread depths are currently as per below;
View attachment 210843
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I swap mine at 3K mile intervals, which seem to give a difference of 1/2 mm front to back.

My VCU is timing at ~45 seconds.

If you're worried, you could just run FWD for 1000 miles to even out the wear, before putting the VCU back on. ;)

I've done that on occasion myself.
 
due to new vibration when driving did 1 wheel up test:
1.2m bar, 5kg weight, timing was 6 minutes from 45 to 90 degrees
not going anywhere for a bit!
 
Hoops said:
due to new vibration when driving did 1 wheel up test:
1.2m bar, 5kg weight, timing was 6 minutes from 45 to 90 degrees
not going anywhere for a bit!
Click to expand...

With that slow time, you want to drain the IRD of oil, so you can assess it's condition. Black oil is ok, but oil with silver particles in it means the bearings are fubar.
 
beastsilver said:
Has anybody tried replacing the oil in the viscous coupling ie drill a hole in it tap a thread drain the oil and replace. This seem sensible as the feedback i get is that the oil needs changing.
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Not sure if it was FL 1 or 2 but pretty sure I saw a post on here about that very thing ?
I think their 'solution' was to replace the current lubricant with one that could be changed regularly.
Could've been dreaming but pretty sure that was it.
 
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