Rear axle out of alignment (polybush replacement time?)

fishsponge said:

fantastic - great guide too, but the pictures are mostly broken! lol

i notice the images are hosted on photobucket... if photobucket ceases to exist some day, or goes offline temporarily (like today it seems!) all your guides will become useless

As i have my own web site, would you like me to host the guides and photos (credit given to yourself, of course!) so if photobucket ever disappears forever, you know the images are safe??

obviously the guides could still remain here on landyzone, but a backup copy could exist in my site, and the images from my site could be referenced here on landyzone (to replace the images from photobucket).

I have had my web site since 1998 and intend to keep it for the rest of my life, so they would be pretty safe with me.

Anyway... I think i'm gonna have to buy a larger socket - my largest one doesn't come close to the nut holding the trail arm in place! Cheaper than paying a garage to do it though.

And I think i'll hav to use bricks and wood to block up my vehicle, as my axle stands are rusty as hell and have a completely unknown history. I wouldn't trust them with a 4 wheeled vehicle, I don't think! We recently blocked up a 13-ton steam engine with wooden blocks though, so I should know how to do that safely

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Aye, nae wurries Just had a look and the photies are fine at my end.
Thanks for the offer, but ah really must get around to doing one of those website thingies meself one day. My mother in law has one so ah'll probably pick her brains and see how it's done

Can't quite remember just now if it's a 30 or 32mm socket that you will need.

HEEHEHE! Nothing wrong with bricks and wood, worked for me when ah changed the back axle..

right... been to RJ Land Rovers and paid £30 + VAT for 2 bushes! Also been to Halfords and paid £7.99 for a 30mm socket!

Bit dark out there to attempt this now, so I think i'll wait for tomorrow (unless it snows for a change!).

Interestingly, the Haynes manual doesn't mention jacking up or blocking the chassis for this procedure - only the axle.

Surely if the trail arm is removed, the axle is free to swing backwards and forwards, thereby letting the vehicle fall of the jack/blocks??

Anyone know how many foot-pounds to torque the fat nut back up to? my Haynes doesn't say...

fishsponge said:

right... been to RJ Land Rovers and paid £30 + VAT for 2 bushes! Also been to Halfords and paid £7.99 for a 30mm socket!

Bit dark out there to attempt this now, so I think i'll wait for tomorrow (unless it snows for a change!).

Interestingly, the Haynes manual doesn't mention jacking up or blocking the chassis for this procedure - only the axle.

Surely if the trail arm is removed, the axle is free to swing backwards and forwards, thereby letting the vehicle fall of the jack/blocks??

Anyone know how many foot-pounds to torque the fat nut back up to? my Haynes doesn't say...

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Best thing ye can do with the Haynes book of lies is throw it in the bin!You can download or buy a proper workshop manual

If you think about it, the axle won't really move that much becase it's still being held by the upper link (A-frame)... and your only doing one side at a time anyway

The workshop manual says to "jack up the rear of vehicle and support on axle stands", but go with whatever you feel safer with.

When ye say the "fat nut", do ye mean the one that holds the trailing arm at the chassis end? If so, then it should be 130lb/ft or 176Nm

I think i'll jack up the chassis and the axle, then put it on my two crappy axle stands and put some bricks & wood underneath it. If in doubt, massively over-engineer it!

As for 130 lb/ft, didn't you say that was for a Defender and may or may not be the same on a Disco, or cna you confirm that's for a Disco now too?

fishsponge said:

I think i'll jack up the chassis and the axle, then put it on my two crappy axle stands and put some bricks & wood underneath it. If in doubt, massively over-engineer it!

As for 130 lb/ft, didn't you say that was for a Defender and may or may not be the same on a Disco, or cna you confirm that's for a Disco now too?

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Do not use bricks

fanatic said:

Do not use bricks

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even with wood on top to spread the load?

bricks are obviously built to take compression, but presumably they are too unstable and might fall over??

I was gonna put two next to each other, two more on top the other way around, two more on top of those (again the other way around) and then some good strong wood on top...

Trouble is, my axle stands are very old indeed and probably can't take the weight themselves...

fishsponge said:

even with wood on top to spread the load?

bricks are obviously built to take compression, but presumably they are too unstable and might fall over??

I was gonna put two next to each other, two more on top the other way around, two more on top of those (again the other way around) and then some good strong wood on top...

Trouble is, my axle stands are very old indeed and probably can't take the weight themselves...

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bricks shatter no warning!!wood will split and splinter so you get some warning.

fishsponge said:

even with wood on top to spread the load?

bricks are obviously built to take compression, but presumably they are too unstable and might fall over??

I was gonna put two next to each other, two more on top the other way around, two more on top of those (again the other way around) and then some good strong wood on top...

Trouble is, my axle stands are very old indeed and probably can't take the weight themselves...

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not all bricks will "take the load" normal "common/regrade" bricks are not that crush resistant , engineering bricks are but the small size of bricks in general make them instable for the purpose.
if i need to hold the axle up and no stands about i use 4" or 6" concrete blocks , but always put a good bit of wood between the blocks and axle

hmm...

my bricks are from the wall of my garage (where I knocked them out to put a door in). They are therefore presumably designed to be load-bearing, but who knows.

Given that the axle stands are likely to be crap as well, i guess i'm at a dead end again! Bugger.

I do have wood lying around, but not enough to support that weight at that height.

I see Halfords have a pair of 3 tonne stands for 20 quid, but i'm out of money this month now... I could borrow some from someone, but at 25p per mile it'd be cheaper to buy them unless you were less than 50 miles away!

I guess i'll have a look around my garage tomorrow and see what else I have in there... I suspect not a lot though!

just read the last couple of posts.....wtf using bricks to hold up a landrover! i wouldn't use bricks to hold up a reliant robin and i can puck up one of them ****ers ffs!!!!


i have 2 sets of stands low ratchet type ones and high pin type ones for when i need to drop an axle off

ok, so i'm not a mechanic! lol

i was applying basic (and clearly flawed) logic - bricks are made to take compression, but not tension. Push a nail into a brick and it'll split, but spread the load across a brick and it'll take it. That's why houses don't crumble around the base too often.

Now I understand that using crap axle stands and bricks is a really terrible idea, I know where I stand (never blocked up a vehicle before!). I've txt'd a couple of local friends to see if they have any axle stands I could borrow...

what's wrong with your axle stands?

they were given to me for free about 8 years ago, they were almost rusted through then, there's no way of knowing what they were once rated for let alone what they'd hold now. I could probably kick the bottoms of them apart with my steel toe boots on and enough force. I use them for keeping the motorcycle upright under the foot pegs when the stand is up!

i don't think they're really suitable for holding up 1/4 of a land rover, sadly. better than nothing, but far from ideal...

sealey have a 2ton set on offer for £18 inc vat (thats 2 ton per stand) vs2002 the 3ton ones are about £20 inc vat part number vs2003

halfords are a slightly more expensive, but a similar price range. sadly have no more money this month though, so i'm either borrowing or doing the bushes next month!

well, what a failure!

I decided to stick a pair of 3 tonne axle stands on the credit card and attempt the re-bushing today! I have, however, failed.

I jacked it up, one stand under the axle and another under the chassis. I slackened off the fat nut at the chassis end and then attempted to remove the nut and bolt at the axle end.

Well... not a hope in hell. I don't have any metric spanners that fit, the 1/2" Imperial spanner isn't quite right (it must be a 13mm nut), and the adjustable can't give enough leverage.

The nut and bolt are way too tight to loosen by hand or by whacking the spanner with a hammer, so I decided to put a jack under the spanner and go carefully (*very* carefully indeed!). This didn't work either, it just bent the adjustable open until it wasn't gripping any more. I guess I could do with some adjustables with less play in them perhaps.

Anyway, given that there was nothing else I could try, I re-tightened the nut and bolt (just in case), torqued up the fat nut to 130 lb-ft & put the wheel back on!

Kinda annoying, actually.

My garage would do it for around £50 inc. VAT, but I decided to spend £21 on a pair of 3-tonne axle stands, £7.99 on a 30mm socket and 1.5 hours outside in the snow all for nothing!

I don't want to admit defeat and take it to the garage after spending £30 on stuff so I could do it myself, but unless I buy a pair of huge spanners to give me some leverage on the nut and bolt, I'm kinda stuck...

tried WD-40 to no avail, and I suspect the nut and bolt will need replacing anyway, and i've no idea what they are to replace them until I've got them out, at which point i've no way of getting to a shop to buy replacements! lol

I think i'm gonna have a think about what to do next... might just wait until i've been paid and take the hit & take it to the garage, but i really don't want to! Some proper penetrating fluid might help, but I will never get around the fact that I can't buy replacement nuts & bolts until they're removed, at which point I can't get to a shop to buy any new ones!

fishsponge said:

well, what a failure!

I decided to stick a pair of 3 tonne axle stands on the credit card and attempt the re-bushing today! I have, however, failed.

I jacked it up, one stand under the axle and another under the chassis. I slackened off the fat nut at the chassis end and then attempted to remove the nut and bolt at the axle end.

Well... not a hope in hell. I don't have any metric spanners that fit, the 1/2" Imperial spanner isn't quite right (it must be a 13mm nut), and the adjustable can't give enough leverage.

The nut and bolt are way too tight to loosen by hand or by whacking the spanner with a hammer, so I decided to put a jack under the spanner and go carefully (*very* carefully indeed!). This didn't work either, it just bent the adjustable open until it wasn't gripping any more. I guess I could do with some adjustables with less play in them perhaps.

Anyway, given that there was nothing else I could try, I re-tightened the nut and bolt (just in case), torqued up the fat nut to 130 lb-ft & put the wheel back on!

Kinda annoying, actually.

My garage would do it for around £50 inc. VAT, but I decided to spend £21 on a pair of 3-tonne axle stands, £7.99 on a 30mm socket and 1.5 hours outside in the snow all for nothing!

I don't want to admit defeat and take it to the garage after spending £30 on stuff so I could do it myself, but unless I buy a pair of huge spanners to give me some leverage on the nut and bolt, I'm kinda stuck...

tried WD-40 to no avail, and I suspect the nut and bolt will need replacing anyway, and i've no idea what they are to replace them until I've got them out, at which point i've no way of getting to a shop to buy replacements! lol

So... any suggestions??

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single hex sockets and 3 foot breaker bar-yet to be defeated.
length of galv pipe to help if needed. (snapped several bars as they don't like over 350nm)

fanatic said:

single hex sockets and 3 foot breaker bar-yet to be defeated.
length of galv pipe to help if needed. (snapped several bars as they don't like over 350nm)

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that's what i need, i reckon... more expense though, which I definitely cannot afford now this month!

I guess this is how vehicle maintenance goes for the first few jobs though... doing it yourself often costs as much as, if not more than, the cost of getting someone else to do it!

The difference is, of course, that you then have the tools and skills to do it yourself next time.

I can see this bush replacement costing me near £100 when it's all said and done!

The bolts ye'll need are these ones...

BH610321L BOLT 5/8 X 4 HEX HEAD | Discovery 1 1989-1998: Suspension: Fixings | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series

and the nuts are these ones...

NY610041L NYLOC NUT | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series

If ye're really stuck, try cutting or chisel the nut off

bustersbus said:

The bolts ye'll need are these ones...

BH610321L BOLT 5/8 X 4 HEX HEAD | Discovery 1 1989-1998: Suspension: Fixings | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series

and the nuts are these ones...

NY610041L NYLOC NUT | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series

If ye're really stuck, try cutting or chisel the nut off

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Thanks for that!

Presumably, those are the nuts and bolts for attaching the trail arm to the chassis?

Do you reckon it's a good idea to replace the fat nut on the end and the three bolts holding the triangular bush plate to the chassis?

Also, they have "Genuine" for £1.24 and OEM for £0.44. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, as far as I know, so isn't that genuine as well?!? what's the difference?