Thread: P38 severe death wobble

Dont forget if a particular part is very expensive the UK is full of breakers yards with cheap second hand parts. There must be quite a few in the US as well.
Make sure your tools are good and strong and get yourself a long breaker bar as some of the nuts are very tight. Working on these P38`s is mostly straight forward with no surprises.

Perhaps you should purchase a workshop manual first so you can identify the parts you need. See "shop" tag above. Maybe someone here could link a front suspension detail drawing?

Glenhendry is rght, besides the panhard rod is bent, the steering link (Drag link) and antiroll bar right end are bent as well. I have to replace the panhard rod, link and antiroll bar. The track rod looks fine though. I down loaded a P38 rave workshop manual. Although the manual looks quite imple but I think there is plenty information provided for the service needed. I am now looking for the parts. Thanks!

Give Peter an email with your "shopping" list, he did some great deals for me recently and I can highly recommend him. Most of the parts you will get are from "bearmach" which are very good aftermarket parts, and he generally wont be beaten on price, even after freight...
peter@autoparts-onlineuk.co.uk

Good luck

Lap, BE CAREFUL with the Panhard rod. The Left Hand drive models are different ( see the parts list I pointed you to)

Have a look at this seller on e-bay, might be worth trying for a job lot deal if he has all the bits. He`s in the US so LHD parts


LAND ROVER P38 FRONT ANTI ROLL SWAY STEERING BAR | eBay

Man, it irritates me how some workshops will try to fool unsuspecting and trusting owners that their vehicles are in much worse condition that they really are.

The air-springs are the most flexible part of the system. I find it hard to believe that they would be damaged by a 20kph bump with a kerb. I have done much worse to mine and they are still going strong.

It would be worth checking in with Scotty at So. Cal. Used Rover Parts in California for the new or used bits you are looking for.

Justin at Lucky8 LLC in NY can help with bushes and (adjustable) panhard rods, plus other cool stuff for your P38.

Tell them Paul from Hard Range http://hardrange.com sent you. Might not get you a discount, but might help me get a better price next time I want to buy stuff from them

Best wishes sorting your P38 out yourself. You will be pleasantly surprised how easy they really are, and save yourself a heap of money in the process.

Cheers, Paul.

Hi Lap
been following your story . As you are spending some money anyway, see if you can purchase one of those electric rattle guns which plug into the cig. lighter socket. Probably around $50 US. They're good for 250 ft lbs (about 330NM) and are invaluable for undoing big nuts and bolts in confined spaces. Excellent for undoing stuck wheel nuts as well!

Good luck with it...I sincerely hope you have a heated space to do this work!!

Hi Paul and everyone!
The story gets much more frustrated. Due to busy schedule I took the P38 to a workshop to fix. They replaced the pan hard rod including bushing, the right anti roll bar end, the drag link for me. Although the P38 was on bump stop, I asked them to leave the EAS suspension. I know the compressor was weak due to the worn cylinder. I planned to change it once I located a SS one (now everyone is out of stock and I ordered a special one from Netherland via EBay). The workshop fixed the rods and I took the P38 back last Friday, I installed the emergency raise kit ordered from Paul of Hard Range. The installation was easy following the instructions from Paul; I thought I can raise the p38 immediately and drive my son to ski. I drove to a nearby gas station to fill the tank, no raise at all; I pumped direct into the air springs, I heard hissing from the two front and left rear springs! The three springs are punctured! I can't believe the three springs were damaged by the <20km/h collision especially the air springs were replaced with new two years ago. I drove the p38 to the dealership without problem with the air springs and EAS. The EAS was on normal ride height. I remember the day I when I was in the dealership trying to inspect and discuss what were really needed to be replaced. The technician of the dealership told me the front air springs were mandated to replace. “What I quoted on the list is mandated, there is no room for discussion” he said. I told him the slow raise up is because of a worn compressor cylinder. I told him it may take 45 min to rise. He replied he had tired longer than that and smile mysterious. Since he said there was no room for discussion including the expensive radius arms(quoted $3200) needed to be replaced although no damage was observed. I surprised the tech by taking the P38 back instead. There was 20min wait when they required me to sign a document to acknowledge the p38 is not safe to drive before fixed by them and pay the inspection fee prior to release the car. I now think there was perhaps enough time to puncture the air springs. When I drove the p38 back from the dealership, the car was on bump stop and I thought that the dealership may depressurize the system... I am ordering the air springs from Arnott Industries as per the recommendation by Paul.

I now have an urgent question before I take the P38 back to the workshop to install the air springs:

After replacing the pan hard rod by the same workshop specialized in Land Rover, I notice the:
1. The front wheels are still shifted 2" towards the driver side (LHD here). There was 3"to 4" in the same direction after the impact and the pan hard rod was bent. (the impact was at the left front wheel to the curb)
2. The rear wheels are app. 1' to 2" shifted to the same direction. I didn’t notice the rear wheels are shifted after the impact.

I would like advise to whether this is normal if the air springs are damaged and the car is on pump stop?
Will the chassis be centered if the it is raised by the air springs?
I did some trigonometry calculation and the result is opposite. The calculation shows if the chassis is raised, the wheel will shift further towards the driver side. My LHD P38 links the pan hard rod to the chassis at the driver side. Can anyone tell me why the wheels are still shifted to the driver side after repaired? Was the repaired done incorrect?
Thanks so much.