Thread: Clunk under my Disco

Originally Posted by Scouse

If you have a D1, then you must have an A frame .

You won't have the load leveller (which is RR only) but the A frame will be there with the ball joint.

I know what the A frame is Had it on my Rangie. This car is a 1997 Discovery ES and it definatley does NOT have an A frame at all. It is stock standard from the factory too, so it hasnt been modified.

Don't laugh at this, but check for a loose towbar. A few months ago on my '04 Disco, I also had a very similar noise to the one you describe, had the stealer look at it, they diagnosed a loose towbar assembly, I personally though the sucker was welded on.

What ever they tightened it fixed the problem - very surprised !

I know what the A frame is Had it on my Rangie. This car is a 1997 Discovery ES and it definatley does NOT have an A frame at all. It is stock standard from the factory too, so it hasnt been modified.

Gee your axle must move around a bit. Post a photo! LOL
But does it have a ball joint on the top LH of the diff?
Regards PhilipA

Checked the Watts link today, unbolted it from the diff and to my untrained eye looks OK, bushes look fine with no movement, the centre bearing has no movement either, i had to replace the left shock though, it was weeping fluid

So i'm back to square one

I will check for a loose towbar tomorrow, never even crossed my mind to look at this

Any other ideas fellas

Baz, it may very well be the swaybar bushes when the swaybar mounts to the chassis. When these wear they knock around a lot. They don't wear through, the swaybar just gets sloppy causing the clunking. I repalced mine at about 70,000km after they were driving me insane. I found that when on uneven ground and particularly when changing direction that it would clunk. hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Baz, it may very well be the swaybar bushes when the swaybar mounts to the chassis. When these wear they knock around a lot. They don't wear through, the swaybar just gets sloppy causing the clunking. I repalced mine at about 70,000km after they were driving me insane. I found that when on uneven ground and particularly when changing direction that it would clunk. hope this helps.

Hey Simon, i pulled the swaybars off today and it's still there, tried to find it standing outside the car, only one thing wrong with that, you can't hear it from outside, only from inside.

It's more that you can feel it more than hear it

I had Kerry move the car up and down the gutter outside and i looked under the car, the Watts link seemed to have some movement and it seemed to coinside with the clunk.

Only thing left now

Gday Baz, hopefully thats what it'll be then. Its not a hard job, just a PITA. I've had to do the bushes in the watts link already with mine.

If your D2 has had a fair bit of off road etc, I would go around and tighten ALL the body mounting bolts, and check the bracketry for cracks. The D1 has heavier duty body mount bracketry and they break regularly. I had a clunk in a D1 once that was worse inside the vehicle than outside, after tightening all the usual suspension and steering suspects it was still there. After that I noticed some rusty powdery deposits around a few of the body mountings, which I duly tightened up ( Almost all required this) and that was the end of not only the clunk but some other little squeaks etc from the interior and dash disappeared too.

Just because these things have a decent chassis doesen't mean they don't flex it a bit.


JC