Thread: Steering maintenance - rubber bushes to change?

P.S. Standard suspension, no lift.
245-75 tyres.

check your bushes, swivel preload, tightness of wheel bearings, tie rod and ball joint ends, play in the steering box, steering colum uni joints, could be a number of things, my 300 tdi disco has had all of these replaced or repaired and it makes a difference, drives straight for hundreds of meters with no hands on the steering wheel until succumbing to the camber of the road, just depends on whats worn on yours

As above. Check for free play in the steering and suspension - get someone to rock the steering wheel back and forth while you look for where there is free play. The most, likely, from the descriptions, are the tie rod ends, panhard rod bushes, or rear lower link to axle bushes or a combination of these - there is likely to be more than one fault, so don't stop looking at the first problem found!

But it could be any of the suspension bushes, the steering box, swivels or wheel bearings, or even a loose wheel. Although swivels usually make themselves felt first by wheel wobble, and loose wheels or wheel bearings are usually noisy, and a fauklty steering box usually starts leaking first.

John

Thanks guys. Never done any of those things before, but they sound obvious enough. Only question is, if I'm prying away at the bushes, how hard should I pry and how much movement is OK/bad?

Originally Posted by JDNSW

there is likely to be more than one fault, so don't stop looking at the first problem found!

I've known this one for quite a while now, thus my approach of maybe just changing all the bushes if I don't come up with anything obvious on my inspection/prying.

Drag link tie rod end (connected to steering box end) is the most likely worn part.
The next is the track rod, connects the wheels together at the rear of the axle these tie rods wear at about 25% of the rate of the drag link in my experience.
Keep in mind that you will need a wheel alignment once you change any of these parts out.
I have managed in the past to do a reasonable job with a tape measure and rule and a pair of string lines.
If you have less than 250k on the RR i would say most of the bushes are not too bad i have 330k on mine and im just looking at replacing a few bushes.

Panhard rod bushes are what i'd check first as these tend to go first, then radius arm bushes and tie rods/ drag link tie rod and swivel pre loads. A worm rear A frame balljoint also gives wandering symptoms.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Panhard rod bushes are what i'd check first as these tend to go first, then radius arm bushes and tie rods/ drag link tie rod and swivel pre loads. A worm rear A frame balljoint also gives wandering symptoms.

I replaced my Panhard bushes about 10,000k ago to be honest i only changed them because i had new ones for the job.
The old ones had over 300,000k on them and i could not really see any signs of wear.
Radius arms will be changed very soon as im making a dolly to press the old ones out with. But again without removing them i cant see too much sign of sag or wear here either.
I replace my drag link probably 3 times to one for the track rod.

Originally Posted by Judo

..... Only question is, if I'm prying away at the bushes, how hard should I pry and how much movement is OK/bad?
.

None of the rubber bushes should show any actual movement other than flexing of the rubber no matter how hard you pry. What you are looking for is either the rubber having failed or the inner steel sleeve actually moving on the locating bolt (it should be clamped between the end bits). Failed bushes are often obvious just by looking at them, and inner sleeve loose on the bolt often show a rust trail from them. The bolt should be visually centred on the bush.

Tie rod ends should show no movement whatever. As mentioned above, tie rod ends and panhard bushes will show any movement when the steering is moved from side to side. If inspection shows the rubber boot is damaged, then failure is imminent even if it has not already happened.

John