D3 Front Suspension Bush

[dwaters]

G'day all, I recently had my D3 TDV6 serviced and I was told that my front suspension bush's were badly worn and needed to be replaced.
This was fine until I heard the price................$1600+GST??? And they would need the car for 2 days.

Has anyone else had this problem before?
Can this be done your self, if you have basic mechanical skills?

I believe they will repace the ball joints aswell, but $1600+ still sounds rather heavy.

Cheers

[400HPONGAS]

Who told you that ? Stealers or a Indy ? Just what were they going to do ?, uppers and lowers ,both sides ?Did they mention the balljoints ? Its not easy to do it yourself , some special tooling required (An electric Hacksaw!)

[dwaters]

I prefer not to mention names, but that was for both sides including ball joints.

[sniegy]

I would assume that they are going to replace both the lower control arm assemblies complete.
The arm itself has a ball joint, hydra bush & rubber bush.
It is easier to replace the whole arm as normally you replace the ball joint then you need to replace a bush soon after & so on. You end up paying more for labour so it is easier to just do it once.
Cheers

[400HPONGAS]

As Sneigy has said , probably for both sides , Lowers only ,using service exchange type arms complete with bushes and ball joints , and the important camber bolts/nuts. The price is reasonable considering it near $800 in parts ,but lowers only shouldnt take 2 days . Its only 8 hrs using the power hacksaw method.I know one Indy that does both upper and lower complete changeouts for just under $2000 , which makes only a lower changeout for $1600 a bit Hexxy .
Did you notice this problem at all ? Just how bad is this clunk/bump/knock anyway ? Get the mechanic to show you the wear/problem .
It may need doing , but maybe in another 20,000K
The Standard way to test for Bush/balljoint condition,is to swap from Forward to reverse and back again at idle with the brakes on. Youll here a knock if the bushes or balljoints are excessively loose/worn

[bbyer]

The link below is to a pretty good discussion re the advantages of changing out both front lower arm assemblies rather than just the two ball joints.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/101399-lower-ball-joint-issues.html

[dwaters]

I have not noticed and knocks or bumps at all.
I just tried you test method and there are no bumps or knocks either??

The reason the mechanic said it needed to be done, was the inside wear on the tyres.

I will have to check with him, but by the sounds of it, he will replace the whole control arms. He did mention using a D4 part.
I will call him next week and get more info.

Thanks for your help gents!

[smwilk]

400hpongas, what do you mean by the "important camber bolts/nuts" do these come with the control arms? Thx

[400HPONGAS]

Lower arm front camber adjusting bolt 275 203
Lower arm rear castor adjusting bolts 275 203

These are the bolts that go through the Bushes ,they are eccentric allowing the adjustment of Castor and Camber for Independent Front end that your landrover has .
Invariably they are seized of worn ,allways replace , seeing the fast way to get do the job is cutting them off anyway !
Suggest you get on EBAY and download one ($10 Last time I got one !)of those Cheap Workshop manuals for a D3, (dont worry if its for a Yank LR3 , 90% of it will still apply .

[giddyup]

Thanks for all the great info. My D3 has the same issues except I have a slight knock every time I go over a speed hump. Time to see the mechanic. Any suggestions for Adelaide?

[SuperMono]

Had an interesting discussion yesterday with a LROCV member that was in the middle of investigating the front bush knocking in detail. He was half way through the replacement of both lower bushes (on one side) with the lower arm still in the vehicle. Included building tooling so that a porta power could be used to remove/refit the bushes in situ.

Will see him next week and ask if any conclusion came out as to root cause of the knocking noise. The original bushes still looked pretty good so it will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[Mully]

The front end wear issue is an ongoing one with the D3. It is a very heavy vehicle and chews our front ends after around 100 thou... depending on how hard you push it off course. Check out the front rotors too if the front end is knocking I reckon... a fair bet they'll be getting a bit worn by this stage also.

After having this same problem for a while here, the conclusion really is to rebuild the front end and in Adelaide the verbal quote is around $1200 all done and it involves dumping the wish bones for swap overs already pressed up with new bushes and ball joints. Deffo swap out camber bolts etc too.. one of mine is stuffed right now and you cannot get a correct wheel alignment without functioning camber bolts. You could do the job yourself and get an alignment and all done but for the small dollar increase for labor and getting it done right on a hoist...I wouldn't bother with the DIY option but sometimes these jobs can be enjoyable of course. :)

Also I did the lower ball joint only change out and it improved the vagueness in the front end considerably but the knock will remain until the bushes are done. Replacing the bushes wouldn't be a lot of fun and personally I'm opting for the front end rebuild very soon... it's relatively inexpensive for the results and you can expect to do this again prolly in a round another 150 thousand kms I reckon. The D3 will be a continual cost factor in your budget I believe.

For the Adelaide enquirer, go talk to Phil at TRS in Lonsdale and he'll show you the wishbones etc and you'll see a clear option pretty quick... it is a very known issue now on D3's.

Cheers!

[400HPONGAS]

Seeing that the operator was unaware of the knock and the mechanic drew it to his notice based on uneven tyre wear Then maybe he should find another mechanic who Knows how to do a proper wheel alignment. Sometimes the "Knock" turns out to be the anti-roll bar bushes and joints , watch out for them also.

[simoncs]

Hi
Had mine done yesterday at Ayers in Sydney. $1100, all done in one day. Two ball joints and two hydra bush thingies

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[400HPONGAS]

2 bushes and 2 ball joints ? so what did you end up getting ? Is that supposed to be 2 balljoints and 4 bushes ,meaning both side lowers were done ? Sounds like you had 1 side done ,

[simoncs]

2 bushes and 2 ball joints ? so what did you end up getting ? Is that supposed to be 2 balljoints and 4 bushes ,meaning both side lowers were done ? Sounds like you had 1 side done ,

according to the report
remove both lower front suspension arms replace outer ball joints.
replace both lower inner control arm bush assemblies

2* ball joint lower = $151
2* control arm hydrabush = $250
2* hub nut = $14
labour = $495

[luked3]

I have the same problem with this knocking sound from my front right hand side, took it to a mechanic he couldn't find it ?????? Who is good to use on the Gold Coast ?

[smwilk]

Ricks 4x4 at Nerang, he specializes in land rovers. Quoted me $1000 to replace lower arms.

[Rusty_Discbrake]

Hi all.

New HSE V8 '06 owner, and learning the ropes on D3's. Has anyone tried the superpro bushes, I know in other cars the poly bushes give a harsher ride and can break other bits potentially as well. So far mine doesn't need them replaced but they will be a future event.

Cheers

Rusty

[LRD414]

Has anyone tried the superpro bushes, I know in other cars the poly bushes give a harsher ride and can break other bits potentially as well.
See here > Poly Bushings in Control Arms (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/225058-poly-bushings-control-arms.html)

Scott