Collected my 90 today, seems a real cracker, '91 200 Tdi in very good nick.
Only issue so far is that the steering seems very vague, it wanders all over the place and you have to work it to keep going straight. Not had a 90 before, is it a normal characteristic or a sign of a worn damper or steering box etc?
Has 265/75/16 MT's fitted but was more or less the same on the standard rostyles and skinny tyres.
No...
Mine is sharp.
Probably worn bush in either steering damper or play in the uj's on the column.
Steering damper, worn swivel bushes, not a Disco 3!!
I reckon the tyres arent helping, they look big mate.
Bring it round & I'll have a look for you matey?
Has it had a suspension lift without a caster correction?
No suspension lift fitted.
Just went through MOT with no problem too.
It will be summat & f*ck all, or summat really serious ;)
Nip round this weekend & i'll give it a good hiding on the road if you want, could even be tracking really badly out.
Nige
Wrong offset on the rims?
I thought the rear "A" frame ball joint can cause this when it needs replacing? My 90 has started to do the same and I believed it to be the ball joint, steering column joints are tight, so could it simply be the steering damper (bloody sight easier to fix than the "A" frame joint!).
On or around Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:08:15 -0000, "Andy" enlightened us thusly:
Steering damper or tracking is my bet. My tracking setting-of-choice is parallel on most of the rangie/disco/90/110 set.
Also check: play in the steering box, which could exist but not be enough to fail the MOT - might be able to adjust it but beware of making it too stiff. Iffy swivel bearings should have shown up on the mot.
Steering damper gone tends to make it much more sensitive to bumps etc in the road, ISTR.
Front tyre pressure. Book values as ever are way too low, I'd be looking at
32 or 34 psi even in fat tyres like those. I ran the 300 TDi disco on 235/70R16 with 36 in the fronts, good tyre wear pattern and nice sharp steering - lower tyre pressure will make it more vague.I tend to run it a bit and check the tyre edges for feathering - if the tracking's known to be OK, then any uneven tyre wear is likely to be down to pressures. Discos especially often show uneven wear on the front tyres, and people who know little say "oh, they all do that". Oh no they don't - I had a set of Pirellis (known to be soft, fast-wearing tyre) on one of mine from new, and when replaced they had almost dead-level wear down to under 2mm, and had never been rotated on the vehicle.
"Austin Shackles" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
It's getting a new set of springs and shockers fitted next week so will get a new steering damper done at the same time. It isn't too bad and I think the combination of large tyres and a small steering wheel are exacerbating the problem.
Just need to get used to it probably.
Don't forget to check the bushes on the rear trailing arms, steering will be terrible if these are worn. And if they are worn you really need to fit them in pairs.
Martin
worn swivel pins (or too many shims in them) on a series can cause a lot of vague feeling through the steering wheel, and cause it to wander a lot when you hit a bump/hole.
The steering box might need adjustment matey.
I have an '87 RR which I reckon steers like a sponge, the seller said it was normal and I'm sure he wasn't trying to put one over - he has looked after the car with almost an obsession. I discovered a split rubber coupling in the steering column (I would guess all landrovers are similar?) which I replaced just yesterday. It's still no formula one, but noticeably better.
On or around Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:23:39 GMT, jg enlightened us thusly:
generally, I reckon this is a combination of a whole pile of very small wear/faults. Consider: There're 2 flexible joints in the steering column, then there's the steering box, then 2 balljoints before you get to the wheels, then there're swivel bearings and track rod and its damper, and then finally tyre pressures...
Then there are 10 flexible bushes holding the front axle onto the vehicle: 2 at the front of each radius arm and 2 at the back, plus 2 on the panhard rod...
Not to mention the damper bushes and their mountings, including the 2 on the steering damper...
...and all of them affect your steering precision, if there's the slighest extra play in 'em.
Yes that's right, but with perhaps "squirmier" off-road or truck tyres, more suspension travel etc than a 2wd sedan you might expect them to feel a little more rubbery. Some of us don't know what they are like new or how one compares with another aged... what is considered normal after forgiving all the minor wear. I might have written the loose feeling off as normal, but I happened to notice the broken coupling and found the steering better after I fixed it. It even has to be facing up when you happen to be under the bonnet, probably looking at something else - it doesn't jump out.
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