VAGUE STEERING ON TD5

Its a Discovery by the way.

twill be a bush.

Check them all really.. panhard Rod. Radius Arms, steering arm, track rod ends.

Get a small child to lay underneath and look for movement. Or you lay underneath and get a small child to wobble the steering, which is probably better than asking a 10 year old to lay under a car and look at bushes.

If all the bushes are OK then how long have you had the 18"ers on? What does it handle like with standard wheels on?

Is a Landrover bolted together like an overgrown Meccano set?

Martin

Another thing to check is tyre wear. When I first got my DII it had less worn tyres on the rear and it would wander around in a rather vague fashion, not tram lineing but enough to make you keep your wits about you.

Swapped wheels front to back and I noticed the difference within 50yds of driving. I now get the tyres diagnoally rotated at each service to keep tyre wear even across all four.

Hmmm, good point Dave. I'll try it tonight. After fitting my new compressor after the old one failed on Friday. =A3230 inc VAT for a replacement. I know I should take off the airbags and fit coils, but I really want the adjustable height for towing etc. Bryan.

On or around Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:31:13 -0700 (PDT), snipped-for-privacy@uk.aprilenet.com enlightened us thusly:

WRT tyres: not sure about the DII but the DI is noted for bad front tyre wear, running higher than book pressures solved it. I had a set of Pirelli scorp ST on mine from new, never rotated, and they wore even and level down to the point where I replaced them with just under 2mm tread left. That had

235/70R16 on it and I ran them at 36psi front. If you get edging on both sides of the front tyres, it's worth trying a few psi more in them.

Just 'cos they put a pressure in the book, doesn't fiollow that it's right :-)

Except that when the legistlation was introduced back in the days of yore (60s) regarding tyres, mixing crossplies and radials ect. so were things like minimum tread depth of 1/16" IMS and pressures, it was an offence to run with them >2psi from manufacturers recommended. I've not seen that repealled. Maybe I missed it!

DII the same, when I first got it I ran for a while at book pressure on the front, terrible inner and outer edge wear. Read in here that book pressure is too low, I now run at about 30 on the front and book (38?) at the rear. Tread wear is flat across the tyres.

I'm swopping my wheels round tonight and I'll run the fronts a bit more pumped up and see how we go. I'll check the bushes too. FYI had it on 18's since I bought it back in 2004. Never had it on 16's, but David (son) runs his with 22" range rover sport rims and his runs as straight as a die. Not only that, his steering box is more worn than mine. I'm inclined go go with the bushes. Bryan.

Swopped the wheels round last night. Also tightened up the steering box a half turn. Checked all bushes which were fine. Its definitely improved matters substantially. Albeit there is still a little evidence of it now and again. I'm resigned to thinking that I need a new steering box in the not too distant future.

Along with a new dual mass fly wheel which I've already bought, I think we've got some big jobs coming on in the Autumn.

Bryan.

Don't jump the gun. If you've adjusted the steering box (do it with the wheels off the ground) as far as you can to eliminate clearance without tight spots and there's no excessive play I'd look elsewhere.

Check that the steering drop arm is tight on the steering box output shaft.

How did you check the bushes? Just visually? If you lever the front radius arms sideways and they can then easily touch the bracket on the axle, the radius arm bushes are past their best.

Worn bolts and bracket bolt holes on those four bushes and the panhard rod bushes are more than likely. You may detect them with a good lever but partial dismantling may be needed to prove it. If there is any evidence of these bolts being even slightly loose you're looking in the right place. The important thing to remember is that the centre tube of the bush must be clamped up tight in the bracket for the bush to work properly. Worn bracket holes do not make good contact points for the ends of the centre tubes.

Also check that there is no excessive play end play in the wheel bearings particularly at the front.

Thanks Dougal. I'll get it up on the wheel free ramp and have a look again.