Thanks Paul,
Goldplug is manufactured in USA and I'm in UK.
I checked Burton power in UK, importers (thanks for the link).
They are Ford specialists and list only six plugs - all I say in photos on their website look long.
Phoned them, it seems the photos on the site are generic.
So it's not posasible to judge length of plug from the website photos.
They have a plug with correct thread, but 10mm rather than 12mm length of thread.
I have ordered that and will take a look at it.
Reference for this plug is AP-05, is £19.04 including delivery.
Will post here, when I get time to have the plug changed. The quick brown fox

How many people members have followed this modification, and how as is worked out for them, post not4ed for future reference

I fitted one of the Dimple plugs when I first saw Paul G's post a couple of years back - That diff failed.
(I bought the plug from an online UK supplier near Liverpool).

Its now in my recon diff which is also failing !

Its job is to hold onto debris / particles to allow them to be analysed and to stop them causing more damage. It has done these 2 jobs admirably in both my rear diffs, allowing me to monitor the health of my diff and i'm sure has delayed, but not prevented, the inevitable.


So, in summary, coupled with regular oil changes it wil help but it aint a miracle cure ! FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone

Quote:

I fitted one of the Dimple plugs when I first saw Paul G's post a couple of years back - That diff failed.
(I bought the plug from an online UK supplier near Liverpool).

Its now in my recon diff which is also failing !

What I don't understand is why some drivers diffs are failing - multiple times in some cases, and some drivers diffs are damn near bullet proof. Transmission software?

OK I drilled the diff and fitted a drain plug - nonmagnetic, and changed the oil every service after the first 60k.
No idea what the oil was like as I dropped it into the container that was full of warm engine oil.
Refilled with stuff bought from LR dealer.

but I was still on the original diff and Haldex at 185k miles.

Driving style = unsympathetic, off road as often as possible, tow a caravan most months. granted it's 40 miles each way to work but the first few miles are stop start for 30-45 minutes, so repeated stop start but then the transmission does get chance to fully warm up. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Indeed, the software differs before and after Q106 and Q106 is more gentle with Haldex engaging.
What's more, Q106 is mainly for automatic, BUT also modifies the Haldex. And dealers doesn't update the software in the Haldex for manual cars.
And as I've said in another thread, I believe most users doesn't verify the air pressure all around, air pressure that could lead to uneven rotational speeds between axles, more than different tires. And that difference in rotational speed, combined with Haldex engaging without need, could lead to premature fail.

Paul,

I'm always on road and am meticulous about tyre pressures, using a calibrated gauge to ensure they are correct and have recently upgraded to a calibrated PCL Mk4 garage-quality airline for my compressor.

Here is my diff history:

Original Diff - Started to whine around 53,500 miles so I fitted the dimple plug and changed the oil using Castrol EPX 80W-90. Noise became unbearable and I fitted a reconditioned diff from Austen @ Bell at 56,000 miles.

Reconditioned Diff - This got rid of the whine.

After a further year, in May this year, I reached 65,000 miles and changed the diff oil again using Castrol EPX 80W-90. In the last couple of months I have developed a drivetrain revolution-dependent knocking noise which I have been trying to track down. I've changed both rear wheel bearings and last weekend had all 4 wheels off the ground enabling me to eliminate each rear driveshaft in turn and listen to the prop shaft bearings. The knocking noise feels as though it is coming from the rear of the diff but has not got worse over the last 3,000 miles. There is some fine debris on the dimple plug. Next plan is to talk to Austen in the next couple of days.

A farmer I know drove his FL2 commercial off-road every single day for many years. The damn thing finally broke down on him so he got rid of it - It was on 250,000 miles and the original rear diff..... FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone

Have you inspected the prop shaft? The front CVJ gets the grease baked into a hard crust by catalyst and that stops the CVJ from having the small amount of fore-aft float that it needs. If you can't grab the prop shaft from PTU to Haldex and move it fore-aft 3-6 mm then the shaft needs to come down and have the front (might as well do the back too) CVJ cleaned out and new grease schmutzed in. I'm in US and auto stores here ususally have CVJ grease in an oversized toothpaste tube type container.


New here. I'm a retired Volvo guy that owns and services mostly Volvo models. The P3 Volvo platform and the LR2 are first cousins and have huge parts share. I have done bearings on many of the rear diffs with no returns. I used Timken brand bearings that are cross-referenced. The bearings in the diff are all common ones used s front wheel bearings in some 3/4 ton trucks (carrier) and the other smaller ones on pinion are pinion bearings used on some US models of different brands in the 70's thru 90's. Some bearing brands have lower spec for roller and race hardness and will run as long on the pinion where the loading is much higher.

Thanks Cattlecar and welcome. Jules

Thanks Cattlecar for that - Very refreshing for someone to actually contribute on their first post ! Sounds as though you've go the sort of experience that is going to help a lot of us on here.

I'm not familiar with the verb to smutz (!) and dont recall seeing a grease nipple. If I recall correctly, I did do that very thing on my RR classic propshaft so am keen to clean and lube the 2 joints if that will help longterm reliability.

I'm still waiting for the person who sold me my rebuilt diff to return from holiday, so will update when I can. FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone

There is no grease nipple. You tap around the perimeter of the metal boot retainer that the bolts go through. Once that slips off the end you can scrape the old hardened pasty grease out and then push the new stuff in like packing a wheel bearing. Alternatively you tap off the cap. I find more pasty stuff in the boot side so I knock that one loose. The joints here are constant velocity knuckle-balls-outer knuckle style.

Pedro

Let us know what Austin at bell engineering says


Cattlecar

Excellent tips and discussions

Welcome to Freel2

Thanks

Paul

I called last week and they were closed for school holidays.

I called numerous times today from my car, on both their landline and mobile, and the calls just dropped out for both numbers.

Will try again on Monday from a proper phone ! FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone

Try emailing Bell Engineering. There’s more chance of somebody answering.

Just spoken to Austen@Bell about my noise and symptoms.

He was helpful and I've got a couple of things to do now that may help / narrow down the source of my noise.

More details to follow ! FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone