Freelander 1 Drop links fitted correctly?

I have a knocking sound coming from the near side front I think. It happens when I go over drains, bumps, pull away and brake, from memory. When driving through a river it goes away afterwards. So this made me think, is was a bush. Noise has been there for over a year (don't do many miles) and even the mot chap couldn't get it to show up. But it has got worse in the last 2 weeks. Going off road last weekend made it a bit worse, so now it's frequent enough for me to find, or so I thought.

Had a go at pulling/pushing the drive shafts. Bit of play in them both, in both sections, but not much. Not sure if that'’s how they are, or they're starting to wear. 1 of the anti roll bar clamp things looks worse than the other, so I'’ll change them both. Have pushed un pulled about with wheels etc. Also a length of wood to lever it underneath to move it up un down to get the suspension moving. Noise went away after I removed the sump guard before all this, so now it's gone back a bit tighter. Noise has now gone.

However, when looking at the drop links I noticed one faces the wheel, and the other doesn't. Is that correct, and is that the same on your Freelander? Mines a 2001 v6. Looks like the off side one has been hitting the metal next to it.

Edit: to confirm - you should fit the nuts on the wheel side.

Off side


DSCN2030 znD6zhg

Near side


DSCN2027 KOpNHDW

Hippo said:

I have a knocking sound coming from the near side front I think. It happens when I go over drains, bumps, pull away and brake, from memory. When driving through a river it goes away afterwards. So this made me think, is was a bush. Noise has been there for over a year (don’t do many miles) and even the mot chap couldn’t get it to show up. But it has got worse in the last 2 weeks. Going off road last weekend made it a bit worse, so now it’s frequent enough for me to find, or so I thought. :doh:

Had a go at pulling/pushing the drive shafts. Bit of play in them both, in both sections, but not much. Not sure if that’s how they are, or they’re staring to wear. 1 of the anti roll bar clamp things looks worse than the other, so I’ll change them both. Have a pushed un pulled about with wheels etc. Also a length of wood to lever it underneath to move it up un down to get the suspension moving. Noise went away after I removed the sump guard before all this, so now it’s gone back a bit tighter. Noise has now gone.

However, when looking at the drop links I noticed one faces the wheel, and the other doesn’t. Is that correct, and is that the same on your Freelander? Mines a 2001 v6. Looks like the off side one has been hitting the metal next to it.

Off side

Near side

Click to expand...

hi the last photo the drop link is faceing the wrong way the bolts should face towards the wheel hope this helps

OOOPS!
Mechanic at work swapped mine a few weeks back, still didnt cure the knock, nor new bushes,ball joints etc. Was about to start blaming things such as a broken spring, loose upper turret mounts..........
Then I saw your pics.
Guess what? One fitted nut inboard, one fitted nut outboard. Mechanic certain he just replaced like for like!!
Will swap the one that is knocking tomorrow, yes its the one with the nut facing away from the wheel!!!!

if your knocking does not go away try the wishbone I had a knocking on my TD4 auto in the end swoped the wishbone and bingo mined you it was the lorry that sat on my bonnet that did it i swear he was on the phone while reversing a delivery man from B&Q

If it's not the drop links it could be your track rod end ball joints. They can rattle like mad going over potholes, drains, etc, when worn. Dead easy to change - one LH thread, one RH. Undo the pinch bolts and count the number of turns on each so you know how far to wind the new ones in.

The drop links are completely **** as well though. Yes, your n/s one is incorrectly fitted, but if the noise has been there for over a year then the links are probably due for a change. Totally crap parts - just done mine as the MOT back in June warned me the n/s one was wearing. One month on, and the knocking was outrageous. By this point, the o/s one had a split gaiter on one ball joint, and the n/s one had bad play in both ball joints. Both were 18 months old!!

I'd replace the drop links first, and if that doesn't sort it out do the track rod ends.

Good luck.

Thanks all. Will fit it correctly and see what happens. Anti roll bar bush dun't look good on one side so I'll replace them both. Will look again at the other stuff too.

The incorrectly fitted drop link hasn't been removed or messed with since the auto gearbox was replaced. They took out the engine/auto/ird and replaced the auto on the floor. Hence the roll bar and chunk of metal by it would have been removed for access.

Thank you Land Rover main dealer fer not putting my Freelander back together correctly, yer f***in ***tids.

Just noticed today when changing the incorrectly fitted drop link that the TR end on that side is weeping a tad of grease from a tiny tear in the gaiter. Swapping over the drop link made an improvement, but the knock is still there. Niticed that there is a definite clean ring on the driveshaft directly in line with the anti roll bar, so it is making contact momentarily and causing the knock, any ideas??
regards

Interesting .
When I first changed my DL's nearly two years ago I was certain that they were fitted as per Hippo's . I fitted them both with the nut facing outwards . I fitted new Poly ARB bushes at the same time and the knock got worse. A quick visual sowed that the ARB had shifted to one side due to the new bushes not anchoring the ARB . I made up a couple of plastic curved spacers and inserted them between the bush and X member and that solved that problem. I replaced the DL's last week and found that there was still a slight knock . Fitted two new Quintin Hazel TRE's and that has solved it .
DL's quality is questionable but I got nearly 20 months of very hard use out of ours ( FAI ) for about £15 and it only takes minutes to change both.

they are fitted with nuts facing outwards on both sides otherwise bar will move and can knock they do seem to move even when fitted properly let alone wrongly

Noises less today, so wondering if ARB has / is realigning itself in the D bushes now the links are fitted correctly. In reply to Creeg, my noise is more of a "groan squeek" rather than a metallic rattle or heavy clonk. Hith hindsight, the marks on the driveshaft could well be as a result of driving for a few days with a snapped drop arm before they were changed, the noises then were much more metallic knock scrape in nature.

Well fittted my drop links as advised in the pics in this thread and in one week there broke they rub against the bottom of hub mount . After a bit more research I've ordered a new set and will be fitting them the correct way. Thanks

freelandbob said:

Well fittted my drop links as advised in the pics in this thread and in one week there broke they rub against the bottom of hub mount . After a bit more research I've ordered a new set and will be fitting them the correct way. Thanks

Click to expand...

Are you saying my pic's are wrong? I've done about 10k miles on them since fitted correctly as per the pic's.

freelandbob said:

Well fittted my drop links as advised in the pics in this thread and in one week there broke they rub against the bottom of hub mount . After a bit more research I've ordered a new set and will be fitting them the correct way. Thanks

Click to expand...

Could you be a bit clearer. Bit confused on this one

Did you follow Hippo's pictures and F+ck it up, or are you now going to follow the pictures as you did f+ck it up.
And as it says in the text 'nuts to the wheels'

Mike

Skinny Mike said:

Could you be a bit clearer. Bit confused on this one

Did you follow Hippo's pictures and F+ck it up, or are you now going to follow the pictures as you did f+ck it up.
And as it says in the text 'nuts to the wheels'

Mike

Click to expand...

hi
can you confirm do the nuts face the wheels on both sides when fitting droplink my nearside passenger side faces inwards to engine my offside drivers side rhdrive faces wheels

alex 1 said:

hi
can you confirm do the nuts face the wheels on both sides when fitting droplink my nearside passenger side faces inwards to engine my offside drivers side rhdrive faces wheels

Click to expand...

There's conflicting information on that. I've only ever seen the nut on the wheel side of the bar. So that's the way i fit them.

alex 1 said:

hi
can you confirm do the nuts face the wheels on both sides when fitting droplink my nearside passenger side faces inwards to engine my offside drivers side rhdrive faces wheels

Click to expand...

Fitted with the nut on the outside also keeps the drop link straight up. If it's fitted nut in, the link is at a cocked of angle.
It's not often that Hippo was wrong, but he was on this.
Sorry Hippo.

always replaced mine same as previously fitted.... do one side at a time and you have the other side as reference

The Mad Hat Man said:

always replaced mine same as previously fitted.... do one side at a time and you have the other side as reference

Click to expand...

Quite correct MHM.

For reference, I've just checked this out the LR FL1 manual. It clearly shows the droplink nut on the wheel side of the bar.
Here's a screen shot of said LR manual

Oops

It would seem the original pictures are wrong (now corrected). The pic's were questioned previously but I had no response and forgot all about it.

My anti roll bar was bent when I took it oft some time later so I wonder if the dealer fitted the drop link wrong on one side to offset this. This would explain why fitting them wrong stopped the knocking, and fitting them correctly made it worser.

Pic's in the first post have been updated.

Thanks fer pointing this out

Hi, I've just had a look at mine after a couple of months of gradually increasing clunks. Very, very difficult to locate by ear - could be coming from anywhere. Front nearside a/roll bar link nylon bush, pretty good for 155,000 miles I think, but I don't go bush-bashing like some. OEM build (so it should be correct (?)) has the nuts to the outside as discussed above, links sit vertically. Bottom nut is 19mm A/F with a handy 17mm flat for gripping. Top nut is 15mm A/F with a very thin 19mm flat. However, hidden under the grime (on the OEM units anyway) are 5mm hex holes in the stud end. So you can back-hold with an allen key. They are not tapers, which surprised me, so no hammer rash required. Just need to trot off and buy a pair of replacements.