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Thread: Vagueness in steering at straight ahead

  1. #1
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    Vagueness in steering at straight ahead

    Hi
    my 300k Disco 300tdi has started to get a bit vague in the steering at straight ahead which requires too frequent steering adjustment now to drive comfortably.
    There is very little kickback/shudder - not an issue.
    The steering box is about 50k old.
    The swivel housings/swivel bearings were inspected and adjusted a couple of years back but are original afaik.
    I have never replaced the panhard rod bushes
    It has quite fresh balljoints on the front end.
    The wheel bearings felt ok lat time I had wheels off only a few months back.

    Where would you start looking?

    thanks

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by edddo View Post
    Hi
    I have never replaced the panhard rod bushes
    Where would you start looking?

    thanks
    I would start with the Panhard rod bushes. These cause your symptoms. Have a look underneath changing steering and see if there is play.

  3. #3
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    Agree
    It may be that the bush bolts are a little loose as the inner steel tubes of the bushes should be tight and the bolts should be bust a boiler tight to achieve this. The bushes are designed to twist . If the rubber has deteriorated and separated from the inner tube or the outer sleeve then it will also cause slackness. IMHO the best bush in this location is an OEM type metalistic bush.

    Regards Philip A
    BTW fit new bolts also if replacing bushes.

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    Also:
    tyres, pressures/wear? I have a cheapo Chinese TPMS off ebay .. works perfectly. low tyre pressure on one side seems to cause more vagueness in mine than pulling to one side.
    (These Yokohama tyres I currently run are driving me completely nuts .. always losing pressures, far too many leaks than any other tyre I've had in the past 20 years or so)

    radius arm bushes not quite badly worn to cause major issues, but softened just enough to cause vagueness.

    shock rubbers and steering damper bushes(but if badly worn would also give steering wobble/kick back over bad bumps) could be wearing/worn shocks. Maybe even steering damper getting on too.
    Do you have any oil leaks? if any, more than likely dripping/spraying onto steering damper, and hence bushes.

    Everyone has different opinions on rubber vs poly bushes, but my preference is for poly's ever since my RRC days many years ago.
    I have heaps I still need to fit to my D1, but slowly doing them as I find worn bushes here and there.
    Arthur.

    '99 D1 300Tdi Auto
    '03 D2 Td5 Auto

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by AK83 View Post
    Also:
    tyres, pressures/wear? I have a cheapo Chinese TPMS off ebay .. works perfectly. low tyre pressure on one side seems to cause more vagueness in mine than pulling to one side.
    (These Yokohama tyres I currently run are driving me completely nuts .. always losing pressures, far too many leaks than any other tyre I've had in the past 20 years or so)

    radius arm bushes not quite badly worn to cause major issues, but softened just enough to cause vagueness.

    shock rubbers and steering damper bushes(but if badly worn would also give steering wobble/kick back over bad bumps) could be wearing/worn shocks. Maybe even steering damper getting on too.
    Do you have any oil leaks? if any, more than likely dripping/spraying onto steering damper, and hence bushes.

    Everyone has different opinions on rubber vs poly bushes, but my preference is for poly's ever since my RRC days many years ago.
    I have heaps I still need to fit to my D1, but slowly doing them as I find worn bushes here and there.
    Tyre pressures I do actually need to check will do on way home.
    Radius arm bushes have been renewed in the last few years but a tighten up might not hurt.
    Newish Bilstein steering damper so should be ok.
    No oil leaks..yes I know weird but true.

    I was actually thinking that swivel housing recesses and/or bearings might be showing wear from age - but I will get to that after I check out the Tyres and panhard rod bushes.

    thanks

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    Quote Originally Posted by edddo View Post
    ....
    No oil leaks..yes I know weird but true.

    ....
    Not as weird as you think.
    I think I finally sorted my oil leak(of late) .. was the oil drain tube from cyclone to block. Hose hardened. Got a replacement, damn ugly thing to fit(harder than it really should be) .. and oil leak stopped.
    The oil leak on the drivers side totally chopped out the RHS steering damper rubbers.
    I thought this was the cause of a death wobble I had recently, but I replaced bushes with the set of polys I had .. and felt like it made it worse.
    In the end it was the fairly new steering damper that caused the death wobbles, got a std Armstrong branded one .. perfect now.

    Could be slightly worn swivel bearing/preload, but I'd have thought that would come with some additional steering kickback too tho(dunno).
    Arthur.

    '99 D1 300Tdi Auto
    '03 D2 Td5 Auto

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    another easy bit you could check are the steering column uni/rubber mount parts.
    Check for ease of movement, or whatever.
    If seized will make steering feel vague. If loose should cause kickback.
    Arthur.

    '99 D1 300Tdi Auto
    '03 D2 Td5 Auto

  8. #8
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    With someone turning steering wheel back and forth with engine running on smooth concrete surface, there was discernible movement in panhard rod bushes but I don’t know if it is significant..it might be around 0.5mm?
    What is too much?
    The drop arm ball joint has slight play in it which definitely should not be there. The others seem good.
    Will have closer look at wheel bearings in the next few days.

  9. #9
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    IMHO there should be zero visible slop in the Panhard rod bushes. As with the radius rods, check the bolts through the bushes for tightness.

  10. #10
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    yes. Should be no perceptible movement on panhard bushes. Also, note that rear suspension bushes can lead to wandering. But panhard would be the first thought, or possibly loose steering box.
    John

    JDNSW
    1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
    1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol

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