Disc shaped thing

Morning all,under the o/s front corner of my V8 disco1,between the long radius arm and the axle diff. housing,there is a strange vertical disc shaped thing.Though shown on the underbody photo in the haynes manual,it is not named,and (as usual) there is no mention of it in the manual. Anyone know what its called and what it does,its got me beat. Also noticed that access to starter looks very difficult.Is it as bad as what it looks? Cheers.

1 damper
2 yes

Not sure on the disc shaped thing....but the starter motor is very awkward to get at, but only the one nut on the top side which is a complete pain.....Good luck

Thanks everyone,starter is ok at the moment,just hope it stays that way.

It sounds like youre talking about the harmonic balancer. A steel disc bolted to a bracket that is attatched to the diff casing. It is there to damp out any vibrations that may come from the axle, there is normally one on the back too.
Mark