UKC

The front tyres on my Freelander are getting a bit near the legal limit but the rear ones still have appreciably more tread.

I've heard that on a 4 x 4 you should not, ideally, change a single tyre. Just wondering if it's ok to change only two tyres if they're on the same axle.

In reply to FesteringSore:
I've rebuilt freelander IRD and fixed all sorts of problems with them I could spend some time describing it but it would be eaiser to read this.

http://www.bellengineering.co.uk/5.html

In reply to FesteringSore:

You should never change a single tyre on a full time 4x4, nor should you really just change a pair on the same axle.

We have an Audi quattro and all 4 tyres must be replaced at the same time with tyres of the same pattern and brand, otherwise a difference in rolling radius causes transmission wear in the permanent 4wd transmission. I believe that the same goes for a Freelander too.

Its either a case of £££ for tyres or ££££ for transmission repairs.

HTH

Dave

In reply to FesteringSore: Which Freelander is it? If it's the second generation model then that uses a Haldex system for the 4x4 rather than being a permanently mechanically coupled system. My understanding is that such a system is less sensitive to small variations in tyre size.

My Yeti also uses the Haldex 4x4 system. The standard spare supplied with that vehicle (if you opt for it) is 2.66% or 17mm smaller in diameter than the normal road tyre (195/60/16 vs 225/50/17). Although you are not recommended to drive on it for extended periods, it doesn't break the system. (The recommendation is to do with grip and vehicle control issues from mismatched tyres, rather than any risk of mechanical damage.)

What does the owner's handbook for your vehicle say? If you don't have it, you can probably download it from t'Interweb (LR's own web site, for example).

Or you could phone a LR dealer or an independent LR specialist garage (should be easy enough to Google) and ask what they think. You could even ask LR themselves, if they bothered to publish a customer service contact number on their web site (as far as I can see, they don't).

Probably best just to rely on the advice of random strangers on the web, though. I say go for it - whatever "it" was…

In reply to Martin W:

Sorry for hijack, but how d'you find the Yeti? Thinking about replacing mrs a's small 4x4 and that's on the list, along with the CX5.

In reply to Martin W:
Getting relevant info out of land rover is something of a challenge, they admitted they had a mistake with the viscous coupling version when going to Haldex, first generation is much cheaper to service and maintain than it once was, hence why I posted the link above, It took me about 3 years to understand the mk1 system basically by the constant replacement of parts, 3 IRD's 3 Gearboxs, I've put about 5 or 6 front wheel bearings on it, it destroyed its front brakes in a few thousand miles, anti roll bar bushings, which I had to drop the whole cross member of the chassis, but because I did it on axle stands I took the motor out as well as the gearbox was out at that time, it turns out in the end it was the viscous coupling. I'd previously taken it to a so called specialist and he told me the vcu was fine, when effectively it had seized so equivalent of locked diffs, but also with mk1 freelander, the rear wheel are slighty overgeared to the front so effectively its in 2 wheel drive and when the front wheels slip the back ones catch up for 4 wheel drive, but if the vcu is stiff it overheats and locks and this difference in gears winds the transmission up and the first thing it trashes is the crown wheel and pinion in the IRD, you can get that for 100quid and the bearing kit is 100 quid, but then you need a press and comprehensive set of bearing pullers, aslo there's a set of shims in the IRD which are really hard to get hold of. The IRD or Intermediate reduction drive is also called a transfer box, but strictly speaking it's not a transfer box, confusing somewhat. On the freelander forums this debate has gone on for a while and how to find out if your vcu is failing

so far this is about as good a test as anyone has found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgR-md0QGho&feature=youtu.be

I know the guy only wants to know about tyres and then he reads this minefield of fun!, so mismatched tyres can put even more load on the system and to get the full use out of front to back it's advisable to swop round every few thousand miles
.
So right now my tractor is on 168,000, and apart from suffering from the 3 amigos problem which is a couple of hours fix, it drive really well, loads of grip nice high road position, brakes are a bit woolly but they work.