110 csw handling issues.

Hi all. I've recently managed to join the club after buying my first defender a fortnight ago. '97 110 csw that needs a lot of love and attention. After the initial excitement I've noticed a nasty little handling issue. Once up to about 30mph the nose starts to pull down and to the left and the back end to the right. It only happens as power is applied. The more power, the more the pull and the more I have to turn to compensate for it. At 40-50mph the steering wheel will be about an eighth of a turn off centre. When the power is let off it goes back to straight and stops pulling. I've read a lot of technical posts and have tried looking at the toe in/out angle etc using a peice of string. Seems to be about a couple of mm toe out. I've checked distances from front to back wheels using same method. I've had the missus rock the steering so I could check all the linkages etc. Does anyone have any suggestions where to look before I head to a garage. Many thanks for reading this far.

Sounds like axle steer, have a good look at your axle and chassis bushes.
The axle bolt holes go oval sometimes as well( the bolts that go through the bushes)

if you can get a couple of large axle stands and a jack, lift one end of the car so the wheels are off the ground, but support it by the chassis not the sxle. Get a crowbar or similar and check every joint there is for any play, especially the panhard rod. Make sure both wheels spin with equal resistance, brakes not binding etc, soak all your nuts and bolt etc with penetrating oil while you're under there. Then do the other end. Check the rear a-frame, and inspect the main suspension mounting points on the chassis for serious corrosion. See what you find. Worn bushes can be cut/burnt out and replaced with poly bushes if you wish as a cheap DIY repair with no special tools.

Just a thought, have you made sure your not in Diff lock !!

Oh, and welcome to the club. I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of you on here. Defenders dp take a bit of getting used to.

If it's only happening when you apply power, it's most likely bushes, as above. In particular, look at the radius arm bushes.

Hi Gents
Many thanks for the good advice. Gonna dive under this weekend and have a good old rummage around now i've got a better idea where to look. Sure the missus will have something to say about the weekend being written off but i'm sure she'll survive lol. NO doubt you'll be seeing a lot more of me in the coming months and years.

Welcome, 110 CSW is a great choice

doriz said:

Welcome, 110 CSW is a great choice

Click to expand...

Thanks. It was the only one I could justify to the other half. We got four kids between us and camp a lot. She couldn't argue when I showed her the boot space plus room for six in front. Plus I always wanted one lol.

Just wanted to say a big thanks. Replaced lower link bushes at the weekend. Working my way round all of them slowly but it solved the problem. Thanks for the tips. Very much appreciated.