Bad motorway handling - shxttin a brick!

Hi guys,

I've got a very nice disco 1. I use it to go up to london a couple of times a week from sussex.

I've noticed that the steering requires a lot of concentration to keep it centralised. This only seems to happen at speed on the motorway when I feel like I'm getting pushed and pulled all over the place....I regularly slow down to 50/60. 70 just seems too much for it!

I do have custom roof rack and wondered if this is the cause? Otherwise you guys may have come across an issue that I need to iron out....and iron out I must as my nerves are starting to go!

Cheers,

Marj

Oh dear, not much info there to go on, stay out of the near side lanes and don't drive on windy days.

It's not going to be the roof rack - my money is firmly on the radius arm bushes. I've just done mine this weekend to cure massive bump steer problems. Over 40mph it was decidedly dodgey unless the road was very flat and smooth.

Bit of a git to refit the radius arms to mine as I have a +2" lift and the axle is slightly tilted, but replacing the original rubber bushes is easier when the new ones are poly bushes in two halves.
Would say look at the panhard rod bushes, but the symptoms that I found with mine were extreme vibration of the wheels/steering above 35mph and when stationary and turning the wheel the steering caused the chassis to move side to side over the axle!

Check your bushes and if there's any sign of them less than perfect, chuck em and renew (unfortunately they need removing to do so).
Otherwise see if there's any play in the steering box. A good friend of mine had similar symptoms, but it turned out the steering box drop arm was just about to fall off as the nut had undone!! Get someone to wiggle the steering wheel while you look underneath for play in everything.

markbarnes said:

Hi guys,

I've got a very nice disco 1. I use it to go up to london a couple of times a week from sussex.

I've noticed that the steering requires a lot of concentration to keep it centralised. This only seems to happen at speed on the motorway when I feel like I'm getting pushed and pulled all over the place....I regularly slow down to 50/60. 70 just seems too much for it!

I do have custom roof rack and wondered if this is the cause? Otherwise you guys may have come across an issue that I need to iron out....and iron out I must as my nerves are starting to go!

Cheers,

Marj

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Ok, Is there any play in the steering when stationary? Is there any play in the steering ball joints? Are the swivel pin bearings becoming worn? Is the steering damper functioning correctly? Are the tyres properly inflated? Are the radius arm bushes worn? Vague steering and wandering could be caused by any one, or a combination of these things. It is mainly a case of going over all of the suspension and steering components looking for wear and excess play. A relatively small amount of excess wear in several components can lead to some quite scary handling characteristics. There are numerous threads on here that go into detail about servicing the various components.

Poly bushing turned my old Disco 1 from a Thames barge into a racing mini.

Bushes

:hijacked::hijacked::hijacked:

A quick hijack - apologies.



With Polybushes (genuine or otherwise), there is a collar that sits on the inside. My question is.....

On the bushes where there is rotational movement (rear of trailing arm, A-frame, etc), is the collar held in place and the bush rotates on the collar OR is the collar free to move and the collar rotates on the bolt?

Collars are usually tight for bushes to rotate on .. the collar shouldn't rotate on a bolt at all, metal to metal rotation is NOT a good thing ..

Oh, to the OP .. also check the swivels are to spec, you'll need to undo all the rods to them and use a fishermans spring to check their movement. See a manual for full instructions.

I'm assuming all wheel nuts, wheel bearings and running gear is in good fettle, but I'd check them anyway.

What tyres does it have fitted. My brother in law spent a fearful amount of money trying to cure a motor way wanderlust on his Discovery. Eventually he changed the obscure Asian made tyres that were fitted, and that did finally cure the problem.

Paul D said:

Collars are usually tight for bushes to rotate on .. the collar shouldn't rotate on a bolt at all, metal to metal rotation is NOT a good thing ..

Click to expand...

It's amazing how obvious the answer sounds when somebody else says it!

Thanks Paul.

Mine drives like sh*t too.

Silverlandy said:

Mine drives like sh*t too.

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fix it ?

jamesmartin said:

fix it ?

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I won't be, someone else will

Thankyou everybody for your contributions, this gives me a lot to work in and a better nights sleep tonight. Life in the slow lane till its fixed!

Silverlandy said:

I won't be, someone else will

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get him to get a move on