LWB Classic Front Wheel Hopping

gl4x4

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2010
141
0
Layton, UT
Kind of hard to explain what is going on. But its as if when I hit a small imperfection in the road my front end starts hopping.

I'm running a dual set of shocks up front. Two sets of OME shocks. Plus HD Front springs with a Terrafirma axle spacer. Its giving me about 3 inches of lift, because I have a 6.2 GM diesel engine, RTE Front bumper and a winch.

I replaced the track rod bushings about 500 miles ago as well.

Everything was fine, but my old tie rod ends were toast. I replaced everything with new Terrafirma HD steering parts, including the steering dampener. I just had it aligned yesterday hoping that was the problem. It didn't fix anything. Well, that's not true, by steering wheel is lined up right again.

I also checked the pitman arm, and its tight as can be. I even took the nut off and put some lock tight on it when I reinstalled it.

I've been told to throw some new radius arm bushings on it, and also to set the pre-load on the swivel balls. If I'm going to do the swivel balls, I might as well go with a rebuild kit. All those are pretty inexpensive things to fix, if I do it myself.

A picture of my beater.

21687493_10155091059945028_3242423380478751479_n.jpg
 

p m

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Apr 19, 2004
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No it isn't. It was offline for half an hour, that's all.

Do look at your swivels' preload. It is easy to do (ignoring for a while all factory recommendations), just take the top swivel pin out; there is usually one thick and a few thin steel spacers. Take off the thin ones and put it back with one thick spacer.
You may end up over-loading the swivel pin bearing, but it is not very likely. I found that, by the time I decide to get into it, I already need spacers thinner than the thick one left from the factory.
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
561
Seattle
If you are going to go to the trouble of getting into the swivels, you might as well do a full rebuild. You don't say what year, but the youngest the truck could be is 23 years and if you don't have the service history who knows when was the last time this part was serviced. I did a complete swivel rebuild on my Disco a couple years ago. It was straightforward and not very time consuming. The handling improvement was well worth it. And spend the extra few cents for a selection of preload washers of different thicknesses. PT Schram sent me an envelope full of them for a couple bucks. Some jobs you can cut corners on, but when it comes to steering I'm a believer in spending a little extra time and money to do it right the first time.
 

gl4x4

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2010
141
0
Layton, UT
Cool, The swivel balls look okay. I'll see if PT has a seal kit with new races and bearings.

It has 193K on it so far, well, that's where it was before I put the engine and crap in it. So, they may be dead. Believe it or not, but I'm the second owner. I've had it for about 2.5 years now.
 

Shiftonthefly1

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2014
433
14
Las Vegas
I ran into to this same issue w my D1. The swivel rebuild and arm bushings fixed it.

Btw how do you like the 6.2? Is there a build thread somewhere on the swap? I’ve seen the red one on you tube but that guy doesn’t go into much detail about the technical bits. He’s has longer videos of him filling it w old oil etc. while cool...I’d love to see what it took to get it going. Thanks in advance
 

p m

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Apr 19, 2004
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Let's make some distinction: it takes about 30 min to tweak the swivel preload (per side, including taking the wheels off and putting them back on).

Full swivel rebuild is a far more involved job. Count on a full day for both sides, if you take time to clean the crud off the parts.
 

Shiftonthefly1

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2014
433
14
Las Vegas
Let's make some distinction: it takes about 30 min to tweak the swivel preload (per side, including taking the wheels off and putting them back on).

Full swivel rebuild is a far more involved job. Count on a full day for both sides, if you take time to clean the crud off the parts.

Agreed. I like the idea of doing this on the fly just to see. Especially if you plan to do a full rebuild in the future. Who cares if the bearing gets overloaded temporarily. It'll get replaced in a full rebuild anyway
 

gl4x4

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2010
141
0
Layton, UT
Best thing by far I have done to the range rover. I've owned quite a few with 3.9's and 4.2's and a P38 with a 4.6.

The 6.2 moves this thing pretty good. Its more reliable than the 4.2 and so much easier to work on. Because I never have to do a thing to it. It just runs. Fuel mileage is between 15-22 mpg. Yes its louder than the old engine. But who cares.

Here's a couple videos of it. I need to get some more going, but just haven't had the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huk00836V2k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV2PpT4cJ5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWqYgtRs-6A&t=52s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWybH2OCRf0&t=126s


I ran into to this same issue w my D1. The swivel rebuild and arm bushings fixed it.

Btw how do you like the 6.2? Is there a build thread somewhere on the swap? I?ve seen the red one on you tube but that guy doesn?t go into much detail about the technical bits. He?s has longer videos of him filling it w old oil etc. while cool...I?d love to see what it took to get it going. Thanks in advance
 

Shiftonthefly1

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2014
433
14
Las Vegas
Wow thanks for posting that. Sorry to hyjack your thread. I have about 10,000 questions for you. Haha. Hopefully you get a build thread or something going one day so I don't have to stalk you online. My Anemic Alloy Wonder has shit the bed and I've been tossing around an engine swap a lot lately. I'm sick of the fragile 160hp (on a good day). A bit of balls and increased reliability are my goals.
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
561
Seattle
Let's make some distinction: it takes about 30 min to tweak the swivel preload (per side, including taking the wheels off and putting them back on).

Full swivel rebuild is a far more involved job. Count on a full day for both sides, if you take time to clean the crud off the parts.

No question the two approaches have different time commitments, although it took me less than a day to rebuild both sides and I am a slow worker. My point is that it's a question of individual priorities. Do you want a quick fix or do you want to do a thorough job? It's a question every owner has to answer for him/herself. The 30-minute "tweak" may address your handling issues in the short term, but a rebuild is a good investment in time for the long term. What you choose reflects your own situation.
 

gl4x4

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2010
141
0
Layton, UT
I think what I'm going to start with is the bushings, they look a little dry rotted. So I think I may go with poly bushings.

Here are a couple links to a couple build threads.

Basically I just took and removed all the land rover engine crap, emissions and put in the 6.2, 700R4 and the NP242HD. Then had custom driveshafts built. Cleaned up the frame, deleted anything I didn't need anymore. Made the fuel fill hole bigger and called it a day. Besides the custom exhaust I built 95% of it. It took me two years, but that was because I started with a OM617 that wouldn't run. Ditched it and went 6.2

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/145085-Bringing-Sexy-Back-AKA-93-LWB-RRC
 

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
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No question the two approaches have different time commitments, although it took me less than a day to rebuild both sides and I am a slow worker. My point is that it's a question of individual priorities. Do you want a quick fix or do you want to do a thorough job? It's a question every owner has to answer for him/herself. The 30-minute "tweak" may address your handling issues in the short term, but a rebuild is a good investment in time for the long term. What you choose reflects your own situation.
Nick, he doesn't even know if that's his problem!
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
561
Seattle
I never said it was. My observation (see post #4) is that if you have a 23+ year old truck with unknown service history, rebuilding the swivels is neither a bad idea nor an overly difficult project.
 

Va_Disco

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2014
106
6
Hampton Roads, Va.
I chased this same problem for what felt like forever. Changed panhard bushing many times, tie rod ends, radius arm bushings, and finally found a worn bearing race in the upper pin for the swivel housing. That was the end of the problem. But Damn was is frustrating to find. Good luck in fixing yours. Its no fun driving around waiting for the truck to try to kill you because you go over a random bump.