Thread: Steering Disco series 1

Originally Posted by luke68

Had another good long look underneath and can't see anything wrong. checked all the bushes/ rubbers and they seem fine apart from 13yrs of wear and tear. Mainly the rubber boots at the tie-rod ends are split but still have ample grease inside them strangley they do not have grease nipples on them. they must have come out later on in life. A few of the bushes on the Sway bar link set have turned to putty and the bolts thru them are a bit loose.

Boofdtl,
Would this possibly cause the rear axle to move forward/backward and force the front to veer right???

Got the beast booked in at Pedders suspension to see if they can tell me whats happening. Spoke to the guy on the phone and he seems very cluey on these disco's. Time will tell. Got the Sway bar link set ordered for the rear, the front are still ok??

Hard to say mate but it may be part of it..

Got back from Pedders and they have found/shown me the radius arm bushes on the drivers side is cactus, hence the axle moving forward/backward.
Oh well,
I sort of knew they would need replacing, but was avioding it as I don't have a vice or a hydraulic press to change the bushes.
Waiting on a quote from Pedders to do the whole thing. Hopefully not to many $$$$$$$ otherwise I'll do them myself...

Quote from Pedders was $1500. $880 was labour. Bugger that. It's cheaper to get the parts myself AND BUY a Hydraulic press from Supercheap!!!!!!
My worst prediction was true. The front axle is moving inside the Radius arm bushes. Hopefully I'll have photos of the worm bushes to show later on if I don't have to butcher them to get them removed!!!

Originally Posted by luke68

Got back from Pedders and they have found/shown me the radius arm bushes on the drivers side is cactus, hence the axle moving forward/backward.
Oh well,
I sort of knew they would need replacing, but was avioding it as I don't have a vice or a hydraulic press to change the bushes.
Waiting on a quote from Pedders to do the whole thing. Hopefully not to many $$$$$$$ otherwise I'll do them myself...

Quote from Pedders was $1500. $880 was labour. Bugger that. It's cheaper to get the parts myself AND BUY a Hydraulic press from Supercheap!!!!!!
My worst prediction was true. The front axle is moving inside the Radius arm bushes. Hopefully I'll have photos of the worm bushes to show later on if I don't have to butcher them to get them removed!!!

I've gone to Pedders for their $14 suspension check on a few different vehicles. Much easier for them to check bushes on the hoist with a decent lever than trying to do it on your back on the driveway.
Haven't had one yet that came back with less than $1500 quote to repair everything

Good thing is they will usually give you a bit of feedback as to how knackered the various bits are. Especially when you give them the "how am I going to eat for the next month if I have to do all that" look.

Definitely much better off spending a couple of dollars on a small press and doing it yourself. I've got one of the 6Ton supercheap ones and its been great. Similar ones on eBay which might be cheaper if you are near somewhere to be able to pick up yourself and save the freight.

Steve

Thought an update was in order.
Over the last few weekends I have juggled house opens (Trying to sell house and move back to Vic) and kids sports, finally got all the suspension bushes changed. Guess what? the steering still is the same. I checked the bushes on the radius arms before I changed them and they looked ok with a little bit of peeling?
As I removed the front Right tyre I could not get it to stand on its tread? So rolled the tyre a few times and noticed that it was stuffed. ie; EGG shaped. just like the old dunlops from years ago..

see attached photo.
Tyres are MAXXIS AT-700 BBRAVO 245/70/16. tracked down the reciept and they are 3yr old and about 60K on them. There is still enough tread on them for another 60K but they are crap now. Also noticed the right rear is getting the same so I need two new tyres. i am going back to Bridgestones. Never had a problem with them before.
Tyre history.
Michelin Originals XPC? - 110K
Birdgestone D693 - 45K
Bridgestone HP Now fitted to X5's etc - 80K

Got to love a tyre sepo caused by the belts braking when you get back to vic give me a ring and pop down to work and we will go over it together..

Thanks Boofdtl. Will do. Hope to be in Melb by the end of Jan '12. think I might take it easy on the trip down and get a new set of Bridgestones when I'm down there. Will be cheaper as well.
Got quoted $279ea for 245/70/16 LT D694's. Is this a good price??

Originally Posted by luke68

Thanks Boofdtl. Will do. Hope to be in Melb by the end of Jan '12. think I might take it easy on the trip down and get a new set of Bridgestones when I'm down there. Will be cheaper as well.
Got quoted $279ea for 245/70/16 LT D694's. Is this a good price??

So you are going to drive Darwin-Melbourne in the middle of summer on two known delaminating tyres

Hope the RACV/AANT is paid up.

I wonder what two 245/70R16s will cost you in Tennant Creek

Tony

Not two. at the moment the Worst one is the SPARE (the one in the photo) and it's not delaminating just egg shaped. The spare was a Bridgstone Dueler H/P (D680Z) and is now on the front right and doing very well considering it's been the spare for the last 6yrs I've been in Darwin.
Middle of Summer? It's been 37-39 degrees up here for the last 2 months(Don't believe everything the weatherman says) We are out in Palmerston which is approx 25km from the ocean and a lot hotter (No sea breexe)
For piece of mind I'll probably change the two culprits or all five tyres if I get ****ed off enough between now and then.
The tyre problems started about 2 months after a road trip to Melb back in June/July. Maybee the MAXXIS AT-700's don't like long trips.
The Bridgestone D693's made it to the Flinders, Innaminka and back to Melb without a punture or getting stuck considering the amount of rain we had then! (OCT 2003).