S2a pulling left and right

[JayBoRover]

My DeeDee has developed a bad habit and it seems to be getting worse. When you accelerate (from throttle off) it pulls to the right. When you throttle off (from constant throttle) it pulls to the left. It's most noticeable in typical Freeway crawling along where you get up to maybe 40kph (on a good morning) and then throttle off as you slow to around 15kph and then throttle on again to top Kwinana Freeway speed of 40kph again! (... and people wonder why I cycle 32 km's to work as often as I can!).

Anyone have any ideas as to what the likely cause could be? It has been mentioned to me by someone following me that DeeDee seems to be "crabbing", but I haven't had a chance to do some measurements yet.
Cheers

[isuzutoo-eh]

Spring bushes would seem to be the likely culprit!

[JDNSW]

Probably the rear axle will be moving. As isuzutoo-eh says, probably spring bushes. However, other possible causes are loose U-bolts (perhaps with broken centrebolt), or a broken main spring leaf.

As a slight possibility, it could be a dragging brake, probably due to a leaking hub seal, or possibly just a soft tyre.

If it is the spring/bush etc, it should be on the right side, if a brake, on the left.

John

[incisor]

can also be caused by swivel pin play on one side, and by the sounds of it in your case the passenger side.....

[JayBoRover]

Thanks people. You've given me a couple of things to check.
I have previously had one of the leaf pack centre bolts shear in my Nissan Patrol ute that caused it to crab along. Was quite a job to sort out because it had a very heavy duty leaf pack! I have checked DeeDee to see if there's any sign of the rear axle moving on the spring pack, like dirt being polished back anywhere, but it was looking okay last time I checked when the problem had just started. Maybe now it's getting worse I'll see something. Same goes for the U-bolts being tight - they were when I checked at that time too, but worth a re-check for sure.

I know DeeDee has leaking hub seals, so that's a possibility, but they all seem to leak so hard to say one is causing the problem:). I suspect the suspension bushes though as the most likely candidate for the pulling left and right, and that seems to be where the consensus lies too, but that might mean I have two problems to explain the crabbing? I wouldn't have thought worn bushes would result in crabbing, or is this possible if the bushes only on one side get sloppy? I haven't checked with people driving behind me to see if it's only crabbing when I'm on throttle and corrects itself when I throttle off. So I'll try and have a look this weekend and let you know what I find.

Cheers to all for your advice.

[JDNSW]

Crabbing is when the rear axle is displaced at a fixed angle. What you seem to have is the axle displaced at an angle that varies according to whether it is driving or dragging (overrun). This could be either freedom to move on only one side, or freedom to move on both sides but different amounts. On Series Landrovers the axle is located by the spring. The link is chassis to spring eye (possible bush wear), spring main leaf to centre bolt (possible broken main leaf - second leaf wraps round but still allows some movement), centre bolt to axle (possible broken bolt or loose U-bolt).

John