Thread: Wheel Alignment

For a simple toe-in or toe-out adjustment, you just do it yourself. There is a heap of information out there about that. However, if you want to see how straight, (or not), your car is then yes, it's worth getting a pro to do it on all four wheels. But the minute they make one of those stupid comments about it being a Land Rover, just keep looking.

Thanks Davo ....... When I purchased this classic (92 Vogue SE) the steering pulled badly to the left.

You literally had to keep pulling the steering to the right to keep it straight.

The guy I purchased it from didn't know what the problem was but it was too good to pass up on so I purchased it

I was under the vehicle and couldn't for the life of me understand the problem..... all the steering components seemed OK to me.

I was looking at the return to centre steering dampener that was fitted and some scratches and wear marks .....the short story is the collar (held with two Allen key grub screws) was loose and had shifted to the left.

Pulled the collar back to marks tightened and pulling has to the greater extent gone.

Only on hard braking does it pull to the left.

My idea is to take it to someone knowledgeable to check and adjust both as necessary.

Baggy

BTW Baggy, the damper is not meant to "return to centre" - its a sort of powerful shock absorber .

As noted above, the only adjustment is toe-out and it is relatively simple to do it yourself.

Have plenty of WD40 on hand in case of corroded locking nuts and adjustments .

Pulling to one side on braking may be a brake or tyre issue.

If issues remain then a truck align centre can help with other adjustments.

Originally Posted by 87County

If issues remain then a truck align centre can help with other adjustments.

There are no other adjustments.

G`day ,

agreed the only adjustment is toe out .

It is possible to get thicker Radius arm to chassis bushes for one side which can put the axle where it will be the same distance front to back wheel but normally will be the bushes are split or crushed .

If it`s pulling to the left under brakes look at the right side would be the normal way to diagnose but if the radius arm to chassis bush is crushing or split it could be steering it that way , not the steering as such but the axle movement on the left side .

I recently had a wheel alignment by Tyrepower,16/16 Salpietro St,Bibra Lake[94342323] using their Hunter Aligner.Mine was only a smidgeon out on the rear,so no help for me in chasing down some rotational noise in my D4.They should be able to help you if yours is way out.They also have a new Hunter machine which can balance/diagnose wheels whilst under load.

Often, if it's pulling to one side like that, it's the swivel pins. One, (or maybe both), is loose or too tight. They are supposed to have some damping effect on the steering. They're usually set up during an axle rebuild with the hubs, brakes, and the CV joint removed and the steering disconnected, but you can do it by just having the wheel and steering removed. You need a spring scale to check the resistance and if it's off then you start adding or removing shims from under the top pin. Unfortunately it's messy and a bit complicated with the brake pipes in the way, and I don't know what resistance you'd be looking at without everything stripped. However, with a bit of experience, you can do it by feel, the point really being to not have the swivels flopping around or, on the other hand, grinding the poor swivel bearings away.

Hi 87 County - the dampener I have has a large external spring thats wound around dampener.
I believe with large wheels / tyres the large spring assist to bring the steering from turning back to centre.
As the collar had slipped from its set up .. my thoughts was to get someone whos familar with both to take a look.

Davo - You tube has quite a selection of do it yourself checks for wheel alignment ....I check a few out and see which is suitable for
the Rangie and I'll start with that first before going down the path of checking shims.

PLR - When I do my own assesment of current wheel alignment set up I'll also check the bushes for wear though my initial inspection
the steering componentry looked all in good condition .... I'll report back on whether where's too much toe in on either wheel.

Eddie - Thanks mate ..... I'll check my set up and I'll give them a ring once I get my head around the issue.
Getting first hand advice from knowledgable Landrover owners and where to go for such things is a big part of the value of this site.

Bigjon - your input & knowledge is always valued.

One other thing to throw into the mix that I hadent mentioned earlier was the steering wheel seems to point off centre (to the left) ...this causes
the right indicator to naturally turn itself off rather than stay on.

I believe in hindsite its all part of the same issue ..... I originally tried to use a cheap puller to remove steering wheel (to no effect) as I thought the
previous owner had removed it and not replaced it correctly.

I'm away this coming weekend .... I'll see if I can check the allignment during the week .....


Thanks for all your thoughts


Cheers

Baggy