200Tdi 90, steering a bit vague.

Hi all again, I have had a bit of an issue with the steering on my 90 for a while. At first it had become downright bleedin dangerous to drive, checked all steering joints and found a slight play in the drop arm ball joint, replaced the joint and steering was a bit better, adjusted the steering box, again a bit better. Replaced the very tired suspension for new coils/dampers etc, a lot better but still not 100%.
While faffing about today with clutch problems took a big lever underneath and had a play about. panhard rod/ends seem perfectly tight, the 4 bushes on the 2 spanner arms have about 3 to 4 mm movement.

My real question here is, would this be normal with polybushes?
And if I do replace them are there any recommendations of manufacturer.

I've never used polybushes, but what I've read about them they seem to go more frequently than the original type. The trade off seems to be that the polybushes are extremely easy and fast to change.

Check the large nut that holds the bottom drop arm onto the pas box as it can come loose, mine actually jumped a spline!

Panhard rod to chassis bushes also cause weird steering.

Worth checking the rear axle bushes as well,wear here can result in unwanted rear axle steer.

tottot said:

Worth checking the rear axle bushes as well,wear here can result in unwanted rear axle steer.

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Plus one for rear axle, A frame ball joint and bushes

loose front wheel bearings can also make it feel a bit weird!

lynall said:

Check the large nut that holds the bottom drop arm onto the pas box as it can come loose, mine actually jumped a spline! Panhard rod to chassis bushes also cause weird steering.

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Pretty well 1st thing I checked, I have had this come loose before on a 110 I had years ago. Rechecked after I replaced the drop-arm ball joint. Panhard rod bushes nice and tight.

tottot said:

Worth checking the rear axle bushes as well,wear here can result in unwanted rear axle steer.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure the rears are all OK, rebuilt the rear arm/chassis connections when I replaced the mounting brackets on the axle 6 months ago. I will have a look at the A frame joints tomorrow.

landowner said:

Plus one for rear axle, A frame ball joint and bushes

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Answer as above thanks.

mojo247 said:

loose front wheel bearings can also make it feel a bit weird!

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Front bearings (and rears) are OK as are the swivels, and the pre-load.

Thanks to all for the comments.

Ordered a polyurethene bush set from Paddocks today as I was also ordering some clutch parts.
For the amount of work involved it just seems reasonable to renew the bushes anyway.
Anyway, this afternoon I had a phone call from Paddocks telling me that they were not sending me the "Flowflex" bushes I had ordered as they were having quality problems with them and they were stopping selling them, Don't know if it is just the 90 bush sets or the whole range, I was a bit lost for words at the time.
Going to trawl the net now looking for decent alternatives. Maybe "Polybush" Ltd if I can get them. The last lot from them have lasted 8 or 9 years with a fair bit of off-road use in our sandy mud. (Horrible stuff - sets like concrete, and its abrasive - have to get it off right quick)
I don't do high mileages in the 90, maybe 4k miles per year, but in a year I can easily do 4/500 miles off-road, so I suppose it's about time to swap them out anyway.

Cocked that up, photo was meant to follow text. Anyway here she is in her natural environment, shifting firewood.

I fitted floflex bushes to my 90 a few years ago, they werent on there long before I went back to rubber.

I'm using Super Pro bushes in my D1 - 20K miles and no issues yet - goes off road every day - but does get cleaned regularly, and pretty well underneath

They were quite expensive from the enigma that are Craddocks .... but so far, have been worth it ....

Have had Bearmach blue on my working 90 for fifteen years,off road farm work most day's.Have had to replace a some recently the panhard rod and axle end of one trailing arm. 5/6k a year.