Shoring up my steering!

lynden

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2005
58
0
Hey all,
It has come time to rebuild my front end, after 200K miles, my steering has become a loose as a two-bit hooker. A little advice is sought. What is a list of parts that I should be thinking about? I know people here have waaaaay more experience in this category than I do, I just don't want to start tearing stuff apart and then try to order the right parts. If you could run down the parts I'll need, I would be grateful!!!

Thanks in advance!

Sorry- 96 DI, cheap bastard lift (switched rear springs to front, old man emu springs in rear)...
 

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
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La Jolla, CA
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If you haven't done anything at 200kmi, you are looking at doing everything.

Radius arms bushings - 4 of them at the axle side, and 4 at the frame side.
Panhard rod bushings - 2 of them.
Tie rod ends - left/right-threaded on the drag link, right-threaded on the tie rod, 4 total.
Swivel bearing preload, both sides.
Adjust the play in the steering box (in the straight-ahead position only).
Adjust or replace wheel bearings.

At 200kmi, I'd also be looking at replacing all bushings on the rear trailing arms, and the big mama ball joint on the A-arm. I have never replaced the bushings on the A-arm frame side, don't even know how fast they wear out.

You can look up part numbers at AB site (roverparts.com).
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,766
566
Seattle
Peter's list is pretty comprehensive; I have only two additions to suggest. As part of the swivel rebuild you should consider new swivel pins and bearings, as well as seals. You'll also want to include lubricant of your choice for the swivel internals. The two main options I'm aware of (although there may be others) are oil and grease. I've heard arguments for both and used the one-shot grease when I rebuilt my swivels. Soak the tube in some warm water before opening it to reduce viscosity and make it easier to apply. The swivel rebuild was fairly straightforward and I was able to do both sides in less than a day. The result was much improved handling. That project, coupled with the bushings, bearings, and TREs will get you many miles of safer and more responsive handling.

Having done all these repairs at various points in my Disco's life I'd recommend planning to have your truck off the road for a few days. If I was going to tackle all this at once I'd probably approach it in this order (once all parts and tools are on hand):

1. remove radius/trailing arms and do bushings. If you don't want to do this yourself find a local auto shop with a hydraulic press. They can press out the old bushings and press in the new ones faster than you'll be able to do this with home tools. Although you can do the removal yourself without specialized equipment. While the arms are at the shop you can continue to work on the other tasks.
2. at this point the order doesn't matter - hubs, swivel rebuild, TREs. You have to remove the hubs to rebuild the swivels and you need the steering links off to do the swivels, so you can pick the sequence once everything is apart.
3. after putting it all back together again it's a good idea to get an alignment done. Again, this is something you can do yourself but for the $70ish a shop will charge you can decide whether the time or money is worth more to you.

There are some good write-ups on this site that can get you through these projects, plus the technical manual is a good resource if you don't already have it (RAVE) for torque values, diagrams, sequence, etc. Use anti-seize and threadlock as appropriate so you'll have an easier time servicing these parts (or reducing the need to do so) in the future.
 

lynden

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2005
58
0
Again, many thanks!!! Lots of things I hadn't thought of. Luckily, my truck gets little use so having it out of commission for a weekend or two isn't a huge deal :)

I have the haynes manual that is useful only as a spot to set you beer...
 

4Runner

Well-known member
May 24, 2007
665
113
Boise Idaho
Depending on how rusted your Rover is , you might want to just get the tie rods and bars together and not even try to remove the old ones. Mine didn't look that rusty but I twisted the end of one side trying to get it to move.
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,766
566
Seattle
That's a good suggestion. Now that you mention it, I had the same experience and ended up purchasing a new drag link because I couldn't get an old TRE out. They aren't very expensive and can be purchased as a kit from some retailers.
 

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
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La Jolla, CA
www.3rj.org
Alignment on a D1 takes a 30-ft length of string, jackstands under the front axle, and about 10 min of time. As simple as it gets.
... if you can turn the tie rod.
Alternatively, it is a good investment in your sanity to procure a new-ish or aftermarket tie rod and brand new TREs.
 

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
Terrafirma sells a heavy duty drag link and track rod kit. The big selling point is that the tie rod ends have grease nipples

I did my steering job, and replaced
Steering box - adwest
Drag link / track rod - Terrafirma
Adjustable panhard - Terrafirma
Steering damper - Terrafirma
Caster corrected radius arms- Terrafirma
All power steering lines (genuine)

And I dissembled the intermediate steering column, cleaned it up, and regreased the u-joints

Land rover also recommends replacing the PAS reservoir every 150k miles as it has an integrated filter.