My 09 reg 2010 model Freelander 2 has developed the dreaded rear diff noises at 70,000 miles.

A local (and very good) independent Land Rover specialist has said it needs a Land Rover exchange diff at a cost, including fitting, of £840 + vat. They say it's not worth taking the diff apart to replace components as they've found in 8 out of 10 cases it needs more than the simple fix that Land Rover says is required and ends up costing more than just replacing the whole diff in the first place.

My local Land Rover dealer says they have fixed quite a number of vehicles with this problem and never needed to fit a whole replacement diff. They say they will strip down the diff and replace the required components at a cost of £630 including vat.

So the difference between these two is about £380!

Which one should I believe and go for? I'd be grateful to hear other forum user's experiences.

Thanks

If you haven't already talk to Team Valley Land Rover in Gateshead. They're usually significantly cheaper than a dealer but are a Land Rover service centre. Recommended by many on here, me included.

Thanks, I'll get in touch with them. Anyone else have thoughts on my query?

If you buy a "new" diff you need re-assurance that it has the uprated bearings otherwise you will be back to square one. My personal preference would be to have my diff reconditioned by someone who knows what they are doing. John
07 HSE Narvick Black
Land Rover Series One
Triumph Rocket 111 (sadly gone!)

Had the LR recommend parts changed on a 59 model under warranty , no problems after. I think the part that they replace is the pinion only rather than the whole diff ( i.e crown wheel and pinion)

Diff nose bearing is the weak-link on the pinion (input) shaft. The bearing is not expensive but taking it apart and getting the preload right is important, for which the dealer needs special tools and preferably having done it before. My dealer says that these so-called "low level" repairs have had no more problems.
I only had a complete diff (high level repair) in my 08 vehicle was because the service dealer who was set up by LR Assist way down in Surrey (where I was working in the week at the time) did not have and could not get his hands on the special tools and fixtures. Gone... 2013 XS TD4 Manual Firenze Red
Gone... 2008 (09MY) XS Td4 Manual Stornaway Grey
Prior... 2003 G4 Discovery 2, 1998 Disco 1 and 1997 Disco 1 Company car before that
Also gone in Nov'13, after 7.5 yrs, to new owners with time for more TLC - 1980 Series III 88
Current 2015 Discovery Sport HSE 2.0

I agree with the above comments - replacing the bearing seems to have fixed it for most.

I would say, however, that you should be very careful if using an independent for the diff repair. There have been several cases (a search will find a number of threads on this) where a diff repair by an indy has been followed shortly afterwards by a failure of the Haldex unit, and there's some suspicion that some indys aren't handling the Haldex correctly when working on the diff. The Haldex is mounted on the front of the diff and must be removed to work on the diff, and there's a very particular process to be followed when re-fitting it. Certainly diffs repaired by LR dealers don't seem to have the same incidence of Haldex failure.

As above^^^

Get your Land Rover main dealer to do the low level repair to replace the bearings. I've had no problems since mine was done last year.

pab wrote:

If you haven't already talk to Team Valley Land Rover in Gateshead. They're usually significantly cheaper than a dealer but are a Land Rover service centre. Recommended by many on here, me included.

Got a new diff fitted on the 57plate 61k miles from green oval in Leeds under warranty for £1100, they did say about the fix and I expected warranty company to go for cheaper option but, they agreed to replace complete diff, just hope it's the one with the up rated bearing.

Would recommend either specialist or main dealer, for reasons mentioned above. One other point what's the warranty period offered on the fix compared to the complete diff.

I have just had the "low level" repair on my '08 GS. Seems to have done the trick but time will tell. Get in touch with Mike@Landrover on here as Land Rover contributed 50% to my repair, obviously useful if you are out of warranty!