suspension and steering rehab

[jkempf]

Hello all,

My wife has a bone stock D2 02 that I have been maintaining for a while now. I am up against doing all the suspension and steering parts. I have put a spreadsheet together with all the part numbers because I couldn't find an accurate list to work from. The parts list are a bit confusing but I think I have sorted out bushing and hardware part numbers and sizes.

It seems I need at least a 12 ton press and a huge pile of parts like $500 or so to get this done. These bushings seem like they are just old stock simple eurospares type parts. I find it amazing that a few bushings especially for the Watts assembly are hundreds of dollars.

Seems like there should be a kit but I cannot for the life of me find anything other than junk urethane aftermarket stuff.

This forum doesn't take Excel files. I will share my parts layout if I can find a way to do it.

Any BTDT or good sources would be appreciated.

 

[discostew]

Why are you going to replace every bushing on the truck ? I don't think your gonna like doing that watts link.

 

[jkempf]

Why are you going to replace every bushing on the truck ? I don't think your gonna like doing that watts link.

First reason is 150k miles in Vermont. Second reason is I have a bad clunk front left and I am starting to get some swimmy steering. I want to do at least the all the radius arm bushings and the sway bar bushings minimum. I will look at the lower shock bushings up front, as well as all the sway bar links. I am going to inspect the Watts linkage but I am not sure the center part of the linkage is loose but the rubber bushings on the ends of the rods outboard might be suspect.

So I plan to remove the sway bars and radius arms to inspect and refresh.

 

[jkempf]

Oh, and the clunk seems to be when I hit a diagonal ditch or depression, not necessarily turning. Sort of when the truck gets shook from side to side it clunks on the left front somewhere. Haven't been able to find it.

 

[discostew]

Oh, and the clunk seems to be when I hit a diagonal ditch or depression, not necessarily turning. Sort of when the truck gets shook from side to side it clunks on the left front somewhere. Haven't been able to find it.

I would just go looking for the clunk . Is your panhard rod tight ? What about the shocks ,that could be making that noise as well . just fix your clunk . the miles would make me start saving for my next truck and just fixing whats broke .

 

[K-rover]

Sway bar bushings and sway bar end links make a clunk when they're bad. Cheap fix. Just grab the swaybar and push/pull. Do the same with the end links.

 

[jkempf]

I would just go looking for the clunk . Is your panhard rod tight ? What about the shocks ,that could be making that noise as well . just fix your clunk . the miles would make me start saving for my next truck and just fixing whats broke .

I have pried and prodded everything. The only thing that might be a bit soft is the front left radius arm bushing at the chassis. But it isn't in bad shape, just a bit squishy if you put a ton of load on it. I can't make any metal to metal noises at all unless I am driving the thing. Makes me crazy. Diagonal clunking normally says sway bar to me but I can't find anything wrong with anything. I have had all apart and not found a thing loose.

My wife really likes this thing (it was her first and only new car bought it for cash) and I am on a mission to keep it going for a long time. The truck is in pretty good shape for it's age and we use it as a sports rack for kayaks and bikes and such and for a ski area commuter. It has been pretty reliable thus far. I have no problem throwing parts at it to keep it tight and safe. Just bought a track rod and drag link assembly. Couldn't get the tie rod end out of the track rod. That was definitely loose.

I am a mechanical engineer and I have a massive heated shop and tool set so cycling through some parts is OK if it means the truck will be tightened up. I usually work on obscure German stuff. The Rover is by comparison pretty impressively rugged. I use more 3/4" drive stuff and the torch on this thing than any other vehicle. Just did an entire upper intake off job on it, coils, wires, plugs, all the rubber around the motor. Also have done brakes recently and expunged all ABS gremlins. NO AMIGOS for a while.

 

[Tugela]

If you can find a local shop with a press you might get them to press in your new bushings. Just remove your radius arms and trailing arms from the truck, cut/drill/burn the stock bushings out, and take them to a shop with the new ones to install.

 

[jkempf]

If you can find a local shop with a press you might get them to press in your new bushings. Just remove your radius arms and trailing arms from the truck, cut/drill/burn the stock bushings out, and take them to a shop with the new ones to install.

I have a friend with a 30 ton hydraulic and a full machine shop. So I have that covered. But I need a press. All I have is a C frame and a front end bearing press (threaded rod through hole type). I'll get a 12 ton on sale and if it can't handle it then I'll work the favor curve to do the big force stuff.

 

[jkempf]

I think I found my clunk. Driver's side lower shock bushing is loose. So I am going to try to just do that before doing any more suspension fixes just to see if the noise goes away. Nothing else seems loose.

Anyone have a stateside source for ROA100040? There's a bunch on Ebay from the UK.

 

[jafir]

I think I found my clunk. Driver's side lower shock bushing is loose. So I am going to try to just do that before doing any more suspension fixes just to see if the noise goes away. Nothing else seems loose.

Anyone have a stateside source for ROA100040? There's a bunch on Ebay from the UK.

If you search for it on rovahfarm it shows up, but I cannot seem to find it by browsing.

 

[DiscoPhoto]

First reason is 150k miles in Vermont. Second reason is I have a bad clunk front left and I am starting to get some swimmy steering. I want to do at least the all the radius arm bushings and the sway bar bushings minimum. I will look at the lower shock bushings up front, as well as all the sway bar links. I am going to inspect the Watts linkage but I am not sure the center part of the linkage is loose but the rubber bushings on the ends of the rods outboard might be suspect.

So I plan to remove the sway bars and radius arms to inspect and refresh.

Where in Vermont are you? Sounds like your watts is bad.

 

[jkempf]

I'm in the People's Republik of East Warren!

Watt's linkage is fine I think. So are all the radius arms I think. I just put on a new track rod and steering link. Swimmy steering went away. I can see the end of the shock moving on the driver's side and with just hand pressure bouncing the suspension underneath you can hear a faint clunk. Course I screwed my alignment up yesterday by not measuring well enough. Will dial that in today. Found a bunch of things like the steering damper are good.

 

[jkempf]

Can the shock come out the bottom by just removing the shock bush bolts and jacking up the frame off the axle? That's how I did the spring change. In other words just remove the spring, collapse the shock and remove the top bolt and drop it out the bottom? I don't want to have to press that thing in place with my Cframe.

 

[jafir]

Can the shock come out the bottom by just removing the shock bush bolts and jacking up the frame off the axle? That's how I did the spring change. In other words just remove the spring, collapse the shock and remove the top bolt and drop it out the bottom? I don't want to have to press that thing in place with my Cframe.

Undo the bottom bolts, and then remove the 4 bolts holding the shock tower, and you can pull the whole thing, shock and tower, out from the engine bay.

 

[jkempf]

Undo the bottom bolts, and then remove the 4 bolts holding the shock tower, and you can pull the whole thing, shock and tower, out from the engine bay.

Those 4 bolts have never been touched in 160k Vermont miles.

 

[jafir]

Those 4 bolts have never been touched in 160k Vermont miles.

Then you'll need a couple of these too:

http://www.roversnorth.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=PLS039&type=0

Though rovahfarm sells it in a kit with new nuts too: RNJ500010K for about $4