Where to get an allignment done? And some other questions...

Hey guys. I posted on this board once before and got some good help, so I'm back.

My fiancee owns a '95 disco with the 3.9 gas V8. One of the front tires is "cupping" and apparently, the front needs an alignment. From what I understand, the rear can not be alligned because of the solid axle. Anyway, I know nothing about Land Rovers so I don't know if there is something special that needs to be done during a front end alignment. Can any decent alignment shop do the job or does it need to be done at Land Rover for some reason? I don't want to tell her to take it to Land Rover if she doesn't have to, because they're so expensive. Who can do it? What special things are there to know about, if any? I just don't want her to take it to some alignment shop that breaks something because Land Rovers are wierd in the suspension somehow.

Also, she's been running 10w-30 oil in the car. This seems too thin for a V8 in the hot New Mexico climate. The lifters do tap ALL the time, but the car has almost 160,000 miles on it. What oil grade is best? I did a search and it seems like Castrol 20w-50 is a good bet?

Lastly, which oil filter is the best to use? Fram? Purolator? Mobil

1?

Thanks for any help. I know aircooled VWs and Japanese sports cars but nothing about Land Rovers.

~Anthony

Reply to
Anthony
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Hi Anthony I had my Disco alignment done by the local Goodyear tyre depot here in Australia as far as I know their is nothing unusual to look out for.

Reply to
Simon Mills

The only adjustment for front wheel alignment is toe in, and this may indeed be the cause of the problem. However, other possible causes are wear or damage to steering or suspension components such as tie rod ends, tie rod bent, worn swivel bearings, worn wheel bearings, and these should all be checked, so that perhaps a suspension/steering specialist or dealer may be indicated, although it is most unlikely any competent mechanic would break anything.

10W-30 is probably a little thin for use in that climate on a worn engine, but is unlikely to cause problems. 20W-50 is probably better. I doubt there is a significant difference between the filters in practice. The most important thing with this engine is to not skip oil changes. Properly serviced it is very durable but is also very susceptible to poor maintenance. JD
Reply to
JD

On or around Sat, 02 Apr 2005 20:37:32 +1000, JD enlightened us thusly:

when you say "cupping", what exactly do you mean?

excessive wear on the inner edge of one tyre could be swivel bearings problems.

tracking errors will tend to wear both front tyres, either inside for toed-out or outside for toed-in. I tend to get LRs set parallel, for discos and 110s and so on.

excessive wear on both edges of one or other tyre is more likely to be tyre pressures too low. ditto excessive wear in the centre of a tyre is most likely to be tyre pressure too high.

way too thin. 15W40 minimum, 15W50 or 20W50 would be better. 10W30 is for cold climates, with temperatures below freezing for significant periods.

The other thing about the V8 is that you want an anti-sludge formula oil, which means in rough terms API SG or later.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Hi Anthony,

Be careful, I had one tyre depot (STS/Stapletons) adjust the alignment on my Disco TD5 and they screwed the steering up. I took it to my local Kwik Fit and the guy there did it properly as he knew that there was one adjustment for toe in and another to keep the steering wheel level when you're steering in a straight line. Interestingly, the guy at Kwik Fit who did the alignment correctly used to work for STS, but left when they got taken over by Stapletons.

Regards nemo2

PS. Apologies for anybody not in the home counties in the UK who have not heard of Kwik Fit, STS or Stapletons all tyre and exhaust centres.

Reply to
nemo2

Parallel to 2mm toe out from memory.

Reply to
Niamh Holding

On or around Sun, 3 Apr 2005 02:19 +0100 (BST), snipped-for-privacy@4x4cymru.spamtrapped.co.uk (Niamh Holding) enlightened us thusly:

sounds right. I found it went nicely set parallel and didn't wear the tyres crooked, so that'll do me. The 110, once I had a proper steering damper, could be hurled around corners (on big fat 31x10.5 tyres, too) at much higher speeds than you'd expect from such a big thing; ditto my disco, although admittedly on stiffer springs than standard to control the body roll a bit better. I expect those cost a bit in off-road ability, but since this one hardly ever goes off-road, it's no big deal.

Discos have a bit of a reputation for edging front tyres, but I reckon a lot of that is down to tyre pressures - the "book" (in addition to confirming that toe-setting figure) also says, for 235/70 tyres, 26 psi.

The current set on mine have been running at 36 psi from new, and although they're soft pirellis have worn as flat and even as a flat, even thing. There's about 2mm tread left on 'em, maybe, and not only have they not worn crooked they also haven't gone "saw-toothed" like soft-compound tyres sometimes do.

Only flipside of running that pressure that I can see is that the ride is a bit harsher on small, sharp bumps. It's possible that they're wear OK with a bit less pressure, but 26 sounds way too soft for a vehicle as heavy as that - on the minibuses I used to run, with 185R14 tyres, they reckoned to use about 48 psi in the fronts, and unladen at least they were lighter than the disco.

The other aspect of the higher pressure which appeals to me at least is lighter, more precise steering feel.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Sat, 02 Apr 2005 18:30:57 +0100, nemo2 enlightened us thusly:

Mind, it doesn't actually *matter* if the steering wheel is slightly out (say less than 1/4 turn) - the worst that might happen is that you're turning circle one way will be slightly restricted. Normally, I'd not expect a small adjustment in tracking (toe-in) to alter the steering wheel position more than a few mm measured on the rim, though.

The toe-in is adjusted by the track rod, whereas the steering wheel position is affected by the thing that I call a drag link - the rod from the steering box to the front wheel. Just changed a joint on one of our discos, and as a result the wheel isn't quite straight any more. One day I might be bothered to correct it.

It5 is however true that if after adjusting the tracking the wheel is off-centre, then ideally you want to adjust the drag link to correct it - but then again, if you want that level of service, you may have to pay more...

Reply to
Austin Shackles

I think you've done it again, Austin! I've always thought 26 ( or 28 as my book says for whichever size I have on the Disco ) is low. After all they say 38 for the rears unladen!

I've just put a set of Scorpions on after the Goodyears were mangled by dodgy shocks - at least I hope that's what it was!

Think I might try 35 all round. ( Wifes Rover saloon, diesel, is 30 all round and it's much lighter than a Disco.

What do you reckon? TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

Which you can do at home with a suitable length of string....

10W40 is the handbook recommendation for that year in the UK. At this mileage it's going to be ready for some new bits in any case, which shouldn't break the bank at a decent specialist.
Reply to
Tim Hobbs

I run my Defender 110 at 40 all round, it seems fine to me. However I need to do this as I have dodgy cheap remoulds on tubeless carcasses that need tubes fitted. When I pumped them to 32 or so PSI I was getting 5 deflations a month spread across all the tyres, no matter who fitted them, what tubes were used or how much chalk etc they used. Pumping them to 40PSI cured it immediately, not had a single deflation since then. The truck feels fine on the road and tyre wear looks fine too.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

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