Disco one getting unsettled over bumps

[bmw535guy]

Hi People,
I would appreciate some help as my disco tends to get "unsettled" i.e. i have to correct the path of steering more often then i would like over bumps, now i know these arent sports cars but father had 95 300tdi and worked fine.

Car 94 200tdi 5dr disco
2 inch lift (unknown black springs)
old man emu shocks (unknown age but seem to be good)
Poly bushes all round (not happy as hat poly but how i bought it and all good)
265/70/16 rubber (intending on going 245/70/16 when i wear out due to gearing)
New adjustable steering damper
both sway bars remove (previous owner)
Had wheels ballanced and alignment done last week (could they have stuffed it up?)
pressure front 28 pri, rear 36psi

Where would you start in finding the issue?

Also towed a car trailer yesterday and a 1.4 tonne bmw on it and over 80km /hr the disco went into a "wallow" so i stuck to 70-80km/hr :eek:

I hope you can help :)

[bmw535guy]

Also springs are rather hard, not impressed with them and in the pipe to change them to some 2 inch lift softer ones........but now sure which ones :unsure:

[MacMan]

Had wheels ballanced and alignment done last week (could they have stuffed it up?)

The magic question is did the aligners know that your vehicle needs toe OUT not toe IN? 0mm to 2mm is the factory spec. I do my own and set to 1mm toe out at the rim.

[bmw535guy]

The magic question is did the aligners know that your vehicle needs toe OUT not toe IN? 0mm to 2mm is the factory spec. I do my own and set to 1mm toe out at the rim.
how do you do your own????
And i asked them to adjust steering bump stops, which they didnt so hrm....you might be onto something
Wouldnt they know it needs toe out?
Would this explain the issues im experiencing?

[Blknight.aus]

put the sway bars back on...

[bmw535guy]

put the sway bars back on...
Thanks for the reply, my old man said that too today (mechanic)
bought the car without them, ive read posts saying they are ok without and others saying best leave em on. Would this impede my off road ability much if i fit them? You reakon they will solve my problem?
Keep in mind im a 4wd noob and dont pretend to be anything but [bigwhistle]

[MR LR]

My 98 Disco had sway bars, my 83 RRC doesn't, the RR wallows around, and I maintain that the Discovery is the nicest car I've ever driven, and I kick myself every day that I sold it!

Also what is the ball joint like? My mates one is shot and his car drives like crap (92 D1).

But if you aren't planning to go crazy off road then sway bars are good...

[Blknight.aus]

the disco1s handling and offroad ability can be maintained without the sway bars with damn good selection of shocks and springs...

then you hook up a trailer...

if you want to tow with it the swaybars are pretty much mandatory

[bmw535guy]

My 98 Disco had sway bars, my 83 RRC doesn't, the RR wallows around, and I maintain that the Discovery is the nicest car I've ever driven, and I kick myself every day that I sold it!

Also what is the ball joint like? My mates one is shot and his car drives like crap (92 D1).

But if you aren't planning to go crazy off road then sway bars are good...

ball joints are as good as they get and so are all other components in this car as it recently passed the wonderful Road Worthiness test we have here in victoria. Thus im perplexed :eek: But will follow the advice of my old man and yourself and fit the sway bars....and they tick me off ill disconnect them in the bush as realistically 10 minutes should be all i need and damn it feels unsafe on the road the way it is :(

[bmw535guy]

the disco1s handling and offroad ability can be maintained without the sway bars with damn good selection of shocks and springs...

then you hook up a trailer...

if you want to tow with it the swaybars are pretty much mandatory

thank you for this comment.................i really appreciate it :)
yeh i want to tow on the odd occasion and must say im surprised i didnt have a brown patch in my pants a few times on saturday hahahahahaha
btw how much 4wd ability will i loose?

[Spel1]

ball joints are as good as they get and so are all other components in this car as it recently passed the wonderful Road Worthiness test we have here in victoria. Thus im perplexed :eek: But will follow the advice of my old man and yourself and fit the sway bars....and they tick me off ill disconnect them in the bush as realistically 10 minutes should be all i need and damn it feels unsafe on the road the way it is :(

You mentioned ball joints, but I think the question was about the A-arm ball joint at the rear. If that's gone your vehicle will turn a bit with the back wheels, or at least wander. Also, re the sway bars, I tow all the time for work - front sway bar is on but no rear, never had a problem but do have decent 2" suspension. Maybe just try the front first to see if its different.

[MacMan]

how do you do your own????
And i asked them to adjust steering bump stops, which they didnt so hrm....you might be onto something
Wouldnt they know it needs toe out?
Would this explain the issues im experiencing?

Not being facetious here but just because they run a business doesn't mean they know what they're doing. Unless they know what it should have been set to it could be anything.

Checking toe out is dead simple on a Rover front end since it's the only adjustment there. Camber and caster are not adjustable so all I do is measure from the inside edges of the rims behind and in front of the axle. I check front and back a number of times with wheels rotated slightly each time using a telescoping rod.

Depending on what it's set to, yes it can influence stability and road holding.

[Tank]

Hi People,
I would appreciate some help as my disco tends to get "unsettled" i.e. i have to correct the path of steering more often then i would like over bumps, now i know these arent sports cars but father had 95 300tdi and worked fine.

Car 94 200tdi 5dr disco
2 inch lift (unknown black springs)
old man emu shocks (unknown age but seem to be good)
Poly bushes all round (not happy as hat poly but how i bought it and all good)
265/70/16 rubber (intending on going 245/70/16 when i wear out due to gearing)
New adjustable steering damper
both sway bars remove (previous owner)
Had wheels ballanced and alignment done last week (could they have stuffed it up?)
pressure front 28 pri, rear 36psi

Where would you start in finding the issue?

Also towed a car trailer yesterday and a 1.4 tonne bmw on it and over 80km /hr the disco went into a "wallow" so i stuck to 70-80km/hr :eek:

I hope you can help :)
Did you remove or at least undo one end of the shocks and test to see if they are good, if you didn't, might be an idea to check, Regards Frank.

[dullbird]

when my disco was having issues with Bumps etc it was due to swivel preload not being enough...

I would say have that checked especially as your on bigger tyres.

[libertyts]

Hey Mate,

Just wanted to comment on how much "offroad performance" you are likely to use by putting the sway bars back on.

There is a reasonable amount of flex to be gained by having the sway bars removed. Not heaps, but sometimes every little bit helps. However, you did mention that you are really quite new to 4WDing. To be honest, and don't take this the wrong way please, you are unlikely to loose ANY offroad performance by replacing the sway bars. The limiting factor for you at this stage is likely to be your skill level and confidence, not the car!

The Disco's are a seriously capable offroad vehicle, even in their most standard form. I have seen Disco's, and personally put my own Disco, through some seriously difficult obstacles. I am a reasonably well experienced offroader and even now I find sometimes my skill, or my judgement, is what has stopped me on\through obstacles, rather than my Disco.

If it is in fact your lack of sway bars that is causing a reasonable amount of your issues, I wouldn't even hesitate to replace them. Also, you need to remember your car is in fact unroadworthy, by letter of law, with them removed. I personally have several things on my Disco that may make it unroadworthy, so I'm not taking a dig. Just thought I would point it out.

Hope this helps your decision making.

Chris

[Blknight.aus]

the swaybars in a disco arent that restrictive untill you up the spring height.

untill you learn its foibles put the sway bars on Its very rare that most people who have a stockish disco will push it to the point where the swaybars are the limiting factor and if we get really honest about it probably 80%+ of the people who do offroad mods (and dont get extreme about it) will fall into the same boat running out of pucker factor long before the vehicle gets to the point where its at its limits.

if its less than +2 inches in the springs and +2 in the rolling radius of the tyres then in most cases you wont notice having the sway bars on and (per bar)it takes less than 10 minutes with a pair of pliers, a spanner and a couple of zipties to get it off and up out of the way if you really desperately need the extra bit of flex.

[libertyts]

and (per bar)it takes less than 10 minutes with a pair of pliers, a spanner and a couple of zipties to get it off and up out of the way if you really desperately need the extra bit of flex.

Speak for yourself, mine were so freakin stuck when I first went to take them off! It took about an hour! Gotta admit though, mine is the exception to the rule, if they are maintained properly you're right, takes bugger all to get them off. :p

Chris

[bmw535guy]

Hey Mate,

Just wanted to comment on how much "offroad performance" you are likely to use by putting the sway bars back on.

There is a reasonable amount of flex to be gained by having the sway bars removed. Not heaps, but sometimes every little bit helps. However, you did mention that you are really quite new to 4WDing. To be honest, and don't take this the wrong way please, you are unlikely to loose ANY offroad performance by replacing the sway bars. The limiting factor for you at this stage is likely to be your skill level and confidence, not the car!

The Disco's are a seriously capable offroad vehicle, even in their most standard form. I have seen Disco's, and personally put my own Disco, through some seriously difficult obstacles. I am a reasonably well experienced offroader and even now I find sometimes my skill, or my judgement, is what has stopped me on\through obstacles, rather than my Disco.

If it is in fact your lack of sway bars that is causing a reasonable amount of your issues, I wouldn't even hesitate to replace them. Also, you need to remember your car is in fact unroadworthy, by letter of law, with them removed. I personally have several things on my Disco that may make it unroadworthy, so I'm not taking a dig. Just thought I would point it out.

Hope this helps your decision making.

Chris
Thanks mate, i know where your coming from.......... dont stress i dont worry about being pointed out that im a noob at 4wd ing...........after all im asking the questions due to the noobiness ;)

Hrm unroadworthy, wasnt aware of that.........and mechanic didnt notice for the RWc hahahahahah

Their going on tomorrow :) and we will see

[freediver]

I cant find anyone that mentioned the bushes apart from the aframe ball joint.

I had the same issue and after replacement bushes all round the problem was fixed.

[jacknz]

Hi, I have a 94 D1 Tdi the last of the 200 series, I have a 2 inch lift, NO sway bars, King springs and OME shocks, we have no sway or wander, on 265/75 tyres, the only occasions we did have an issue was a combination of a split roller on the bottom RH swivel bearing and later a dodgy ball joint. We couldn't find the ball joint issue until you had your had on it while someone was waggling the steering wheel and I could feel movement, there wasn't a hint of it otherwise, the former was a bit more dramatic as in a case of the death wobbles. The truck feels solid on the road and is a good drive.
My point is, I would check all the ball joints for movement by feel, then check that your steering box mounting bolts are TIGHT.
Anyway,
Best of luck
Jack

[gazby]

Mate, sounds like you had your trailer incorrectly loaded, i.e. weight biased too much to the rear of the trailer axle centre, nothing to do with the poor old Disco.
We have had two Discos both had the "anti roll bars" removed completely and to be quite honest I could detect no handling differences between bars on and bars off.
Range Rover Classics never had the bars and they were fine at speed on road or off, the Disco's and Range Rovers were all made to handle like sailing ships, that are AWESOME off road.

[chang]

if you still have the old steering damper & its okay try putting that back on.

Bad ones have been known to cause similar issues.

[JL321]

Hey guys
I'm considering buying a landrover disco 1 1998, 4cyl diesel
But as it is at the moment, one of the synchros in the gearbox is needing replacing. Any idea on the cost of just getting that fixed?

[chang]

Hey guys
I'm considering buying a landrover disco 1 1998, 4cyl diesel
But as it is at the moment, one of the synchros in the gearbox is needing replacing. Any idea on the cost of just getting that fixed?

Most likely around the same cost as a rebuilt unit exchange. Also I don't think any shop would go to all that trouble removing the box, splitting it just to replace one synchro as while your there you might as well reco the whole thing.