firespritepointers Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Hi all, just had a bit of a hairy scary ride in my disco. Have been wondering if symptoms are me being either tired or imagining it... but am now convinced its the car not me. The car seems to be following the ruts in the road, is giving me a hard ride over bumps, in fact it feels like i have no suspension but still seems incredibly floaty with a lot of side to side movement like being on a boat! A bit like driving on ice, kind of like the steering is a bit detached from the real world. Really hard to describe. But i do feel very uneasy and am taking it very slowly. Have relaxed hands on wheel on straight roads, no pull to left or right. No lit up dash or anything out of the ordinary, but i feel very on edge as car seems to be doing its own thing. Any replies please in girlspeak.... cheers in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suboffroader Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hi all,just had a bit of a hairy scary ride in my disco. Have been wondering if symptoms are me being either tired or imagining it... but am now convinced its the car not me. The car seems to be following the ruts in the road, is giving me a hard ride over bumps, in fact it feels like i have no suspension but still seems incredibly floaty with a lot of side to side movement like being on a boat! A bit like driving on ice, kind of like the steering is a bit detached from the real world. Really hard to describe. But i do feel very uneasy and am taking it very slowly. Have relaxed hands on wheel on straight roads, no pull to left or right. No lit up dash or anything out of the ordinary, but i feel very on edge as car seems to be doing its own thing. Any replies please in girlspeak.... cheers in advance. my old man had a 200tdi disco veheical dose a lot of offroading and on the road it seemed to go side to side it was the steering drop arm come lose mud had wedge it self in the top so wouln't go all the way up he took it off cleaned the splines put it back on made a hell of a diffrent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 In girlspeak and not knowing your level of experience...: There is a bar that runs at an angle in front of the front axle that connects the passenger side hub to the steering box - called the Drag Link. This has ball-joints on either end which are probably past their best and need replacing. Try getting hold of the bar and moving it from side to side. If there is any clunking, either by feel or by ear, then it's knackered!! It's a one-piece arrangement, so you have to buy the bar and the joints as one part and either fit, or get it fitted. I got stung for this at an MoT - the tester said the vehicle was unsafe to drive in the state it was, so I had to let them do the work or trailer the vehicle away for repair. As usual, the MoT ran out that day, so I told them to get on with it. New part would have been approx. £60 if my memory serves me right - the garage charged me £190 to do the work!!!!! After that was changed, I still had a slight problem with the car following the ruts in the road. I fitted a set of All Terrain (AT) tyres and the problem went away. The tyres were exactly the same size as the original road-biased tyres, so it must have been the tread pattern that made the difference... Hope that's some help... Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_P Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 If the suspension bushes are worn then that won't help either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 ...and the panhard rod bushes -the bar that runs almost parallel to the drag link but attaches to the axle, not the passenger side hub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firespritepointers Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 thanks guys, appreciate all of that. Have taken it into 4x4 garage who did a bit of a drive in it today and apparently it rides like a typical mk2 disco...hmm ive had this one since May but only felt this unease in last week or so. Asked em to keep it in for a poke about as i have no knowledge past tyre pressures and power steering oil which is all i have checked. I have joined local L.R. club tho and intend to make next mtg to meet folks and introduce myself. No previous experience apart from a FAB Mk1 disco which i took in to sell a while back and cried all w/e ..... then fetched it back!! As you do... So luckily have transport whilst other bus in hock. is there a how to look after your land rover basic mechanics course out there anywhere? -for girls. Some enterprising establishment surely must run such a thing??? cheers for all the input, i now need to look it up on the web to find out more. really appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 ...and the panhard rod bushes -the bar that runs almost parallel to the drag link but attaches to the axle, not the passenger side hub. Are the tyre pressures OK?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 and check teh front shock absorber bushes - as they wear out and cause the 1st inch of travel at the front to be un-damped giving it a wallowy horrible feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Are the tyre pressures OK?? Sorry to be off-topic, but this business of people using the 'reply with quote' button is getting beyond a joke -this reponse has NOTHING to do with my post, yet you included for exactly what reason? If you want to reply to a thread, look a little lower down the page and use the 'Add Reply' or 'Fast Reply' button instead, as most people don't need to see the same information triplicated within every thread. Coddy, don't take this personally, it is not by any means just you! Sorry rant mode off, feeling grumpy this morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Sorry to be off-topic, but this business of people using the 'reply with quote' button is getting beyond a joke -this reponse has NOTHING to do with my post, yet you included for exactly what reason?If you want to reply to a thread, look a little lower down the page and use the 'Add Reply' or 'Fast Reply' button instead, as most people don't need to see the same information triplicated within every thread. Coddy, don't take this personally, it is not by any means just you! Sorry rant mode off, feeling grumpy this morning like this sorry , couldnt help myself all i could hink of has already been said but the main cause would be the bushes, it might be worth investing in polybushes or something similar. mikey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 The Quote thing is because they are using the "reply" button under the post rather than at the bottom of the page. Or maybe they like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingnut Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 all i could hink of has already been said but the main cause would be the bushes, it might be worth investing in polybushes or something similar. If it does turn out to be the suspension bushes then have them replaced with genuine ones from a dealer. Fitting Polybushes or similar will make the car handle even worse than before IMHO and experience. Regards, Peter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymach23 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 My TD5's steering feels terrible when I have the tyre pressures at 28 or 29psi at the front. I know that this is the recommended PSI. If I drop the pressure down to 25 psi the steering feels much better. I've 16 inch wheels and road tyres. The last time I checked my tyres at a garage, I dropped them to 25 psi. The steering felt terrible so I checked the pressures on my compressor at home and they were reading over 30. I dropped the pressure and the steering is ok again. Looks like the garage air gauge was up the left maybe. Maybe your pressures are too high? The steering still isn't great with the current lower pressure. It feels very much like you describe. Light and floaty when cornering. It doesn't pull to the side and I have had the wheels recently balanced. It follows ruts etc in the road but I feel that is maybe due to the wide tyres. I'm not sure if it is ok to run the fronts at lower pressures. I may have some bush wear issues like others have described, which gets masked to an extent with the lower tyre pressures. I'll start to look into the steering in more detail when the weather improves. Cheers Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDIITD5 Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 The 18 inch wheels are prone to tramlining. As said, check your tyre pressures. I am running goodyear AT's and they lose pressure very easily. (yes the garage that fitted them has checked them) Obviously, if any bushes are worn then you will get problems Cheers John BTW for the picky ones amongst us. If you click add reply, it adds the previous posters reply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 BTW for the picky ones amongst us. If you click add reply, it adds the previous posters reply I'm a picky one - no it doesn't!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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