Pad Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Evening all, Had a moment of madness at the weekend and bought an 93 Vogue SE off ebay, always fancied a Classic and this looked ok... pretty straight, has gas with certs, coil sprung, and everything works, just a couple of minor mechanical issues that need sorting (which I knew about). Given I paid less than £600 and it has MOT till Jun 2009 and tax till Jan, I am a pretty happy bunny. What I wasnt prepared for though was the rear axle feeling like it has a mind of its own (bearing in mind this is my first 4x4 so I will be a bit 'soft' ). It really is quite alarming at first, squirms around a fair bit. I am assuming the bushes in the panhard rod are shot, can anyone offer any advice as to ease of removal of the old ones and what new ones to go for (and where from..)? The other issue, which when combined with the above means I am not driving it at the moment, is that at anything over 40 mph, when I brake it lurches to the left, but only at the initial bite, if that makes sense? Once constant pressure is applied then it seems to sure up, like one of the calipers has a 2 second delay on it. Could this be sometihng as simple as a sticky pot? I would be surprised if its air, as the pedal feels (surprisingly) firm. Any advice or comments you have on either issue would be appreciated and I look forward to spending some time on here! Cheers Pad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landmannnn Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Welcome. Your dodgy handling will be the front end of the rear radius arm bushes probably. Have a look, they will probably look knackered. Easy change though, just a few nuts and bolts. For parts somewhere like paddockspares.com are well priced, (you will find plenty of parts suppliers in one of the multitude of Land Rover mags) You might be right on the brakes, the fronts have 4 pistons and one could be sticky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 The brakes pulling to one side can also be front radius arm bushes that need replacing.....slightly softer on one side. I think I'd change the panhard bushes and those in both radius arms front and back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pad Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 thanks chaps, looks like I'll get on the case with paddockspares tomorrow then (and let the swearing begin..) Cheers Pad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheltie50 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Grab one corner of the Rangie and try to shake it sideways, you will soon see which end moves in relation to the axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pad Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 ok, so it looks like I can get a full set of Deflex poly bushes for a very reasonable £60 or so and they look easy enough to fit... any tips on getting the old ones out?! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 STOP!!!! Deflex bushes are rubbish. You will be better off with genuine or if you want the ease of poly bushes then go for superpro. Getting old genuine bushes out is either a case of burn and then hacksaw or a quick visit to your local independant to press them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_d Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 ok, so it looks like I can get a full set of Deflex poly bushes for a very reasonable £60 or so and they look easy enough to fit... any tips on getting the old ones out?! Cheers You can get press tools to remove them but I have never had much success with them. You can drill through the rubber until you can break out the steel centre. Having done that you can carefully hacksaw through the steel sleeve from the inside. Be careful not to cut right through into the housing. You can then collapse the sleeve in on itself and remove. You can burn the rubber out but is very smelly and I'm not happy with what the temperatures may be doing to the housing. You may also manage to cut the rubber out with a jigsaw. Get a flap wheel or small drum sander and polish the inside of the housing. You need to do this because the rubbers you are fitting do not have an outer sleeve so will move in the housing. If you leave the housing rough and rusty it will tear up your new rubber in next to no time. Fitting the new rubbers should not present any problems. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pad Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 cheers for that, some good tips - the drill and hacksaw method sounds do-able for me. Whats the crack with the Deflex then, are they ill fitting or is the durability poor? Surprised that an apparently reputable dealer is selling them if they are carp.. Thanks again to all those that have contributed. Pad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Durability is the problem I had, which was probably due to not being as good a fit as they should be, certainly when compared the the Superpro replacements. My radius arm (axle end) Deflex bushes lasted a little over 6 months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pad Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 Gonna play it safe and go with the OE bushes, cant afford the superpro so I would rather not compromise. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANO3528 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Most of the bushes on Shed are those old blue Ironman ones from Paddock and are years old. However as i was informed years ago, don't bother using poly's on the chassis ends of the arms as A) They don't droop as much B ) They break up in no time I therefore use rubber std ones in those positions and no major failings as a result. The disco is about to be changed to Deflex and I have no qualms abut their quality as it is a 75% road motor/tow hack Horses for courses in my opinion.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clbarclay Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Personally I would used deflex again where on or off raod. Placed side by side with a genuine Polybush its quite easy to tell the 2 apart and that has nothing to to with the colour. The primary reason I removed the deflex was they restricted suspension movement too much, but its far from the only reason. Deflex bushes are stiffer and that is largely down to the choice of polyurethane specification. Personally though I've had no problems with the stiffness of rubber bushes or the softer Polybushes for towing etc. The deflex bushes for the top of the rear dampers were possible the worst of the lot, I didn't/couldn't fit mine but this was a friends with the latter type mounts so he was able to screw them on. And ths is why. deflex standard rubber The crush tubes on deflex bushes are also rather under specified compared to the Polybush. They have a smaller wall thickness, all the ones I removed had peremenat deformation from the clamping forces. The lips on the deflex bushes are also much tickner than the Polybushes, as a result where as the Polybush crush tubes are wider than the bush by about 1mm, the deflex bush is wider than the crush tube by 2 mm. When removing the deflex from the panhard rod, the crush tube had stuck to the bush, rather than the bush freely pivoting on it. In the end they got removed with the press When replacing the radius arm bushes back to metalastic bushes I found the rubber (not metalastic) radius arm to chassis bushes easier to fit than the deflex. Finally we come down to the surface finishes of the 2 bushes. As you can see the Polybush is much smoother due to a better finish on the moulds. There was also practically no surface defects on the Ploybushes, but there were a lot of small air bubbles in the deflex bushes and a few larger air bubbles. Those are my findings and you are free to draw your own comclusions, but I have no trouble understanding why Polybush and Super pro are twice the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pad Posted November 1, 2008 Author Share Posted November 1, 2008 Just to conclude, fitted the OE radius arm bushes today (whilst lying in about half inch of water whilst it pi$$ed down continuously) and its like driving a different car, much better and I am a happy bunny. Thanks for all your contributions Pad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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