Thread: Defender Pulling to the left

Mine does the same thing. its only done 30,000klm. Landrover found that the left hand side is lower than the other causing it to change the geometry of the front wheels. They blame the weight of the extras which is only a winch and a bullbar. Not sure what to do now. still has a years warrenty left but they reckon its case closed on this matter.

Originally Posted by carvs

Landrover found that the left hand side is lower than the other causing it to change the geometry of the front wheels. They blame the weight of the extras which is only a winch and a bullbar.

Wouldn't the extra weight of the bullbar + winch act on both wheels the same? Collapsed spring on the one side?


I'd kick up a fuss, escalate to head office?

yeah my thoughts exactly. The only extra weight to the left hand side is an extra battery under the passenger seat.

Originally Posted by carvs

yeah my thoughts exactly. The only extra weight to the left hand side is an extra battery under the passenger seat.

Which is countered by the weight of the driver anyway.

Also, I just remembered - the springs on the left are shorter than on the right to compensate for the driver.

So a bog standard Defender is always slightly lower on the passenger side. When the driver gets in, it should be almost level

I think for now seems as its still under warrenty I will lodge a complaint with Landrover customer care and see if that gets me anywhere.

Originally Posted by carvs

Mine does the same thing. its only done 30,000klm. Landrover found that the left hand side is lower than the other causing it to change the geometry of the front wheels. They blame the weight of the extras which is only a winch and a bullbar. Not sure what to do now. still has a years warrenty left but they reckon its case closed on this matter.

Why don't you just ask them what it is they do to their cars to fit LR factory winch and bulllbar? Which is an optional extra on the defender

Originally Posted by carvs

[snip]

Landrover found that the left hand side is lower than the other causing it to change the geometry of the front wheels.

[snip]

BS.

The geometry can't change, it's a beam axle, toe is fixed and won't alter, camber is fixed regardless of ride height and the castor will change only marginally, and will actually increase ever so slightly on the near side which should help it steer straight but in actuality it'd be too small to make a difference. (assuming we are only talking 10-15mm or so drop in ride height)

They are feeding you a line.

Mine started pulling Left just before the 10,000k service. Rotation, balance and wheel alignment sorted it. At just over 20,000ks on the clock now and it’s doing it again. I will repeat the process again at the next service. My guess would be the camber and caster are set too ‘neutral’ from factory due to the vehicle having a beam axle and being available in both Left and Right Hand drive. As mention earlier there is virtually no adjustment for the camber and caster so I don’t reckon there’s a ‘one fix fits all’ for this issue.