freelander td4 2002 steering shake when going uphill?

My freelander td4 manual gearbox year 2002 with 150k miles. It has a problem which started today. When accelerating uphill at 30mph the steering wheel shakes about 1 inch . this stops when on the flat. I have put it on a two post lift, and all wheel bearings seem fine. There is slight play in the front driveshafts, but no different than i have felt in the 5 years I have owned it. The propshaft when twisted seems to have a slight clunk at the engine end. also the rubber donut type bushes have play up and down, which I think is just on the edge of being ok. Could failure of the propshaft bearing and rubber cause this steering shake? any ideas on what to try?
I could take the propshaft off and drive it in 2 wheel drive to see if this stops?
is this a good idea
Cheers for your respones

Lower tie bar has probably gone soft, coupled with the inner drive shaft joints stiffening under load due to wear.

Nodge68 said:

Lower tie bar has probably gone soft, coupled with the inner drive shaft joints stiffening under load due to wear.

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Do you mean the drop link at the front? or the front arm? sorry to ask. cheers david

frenchdave said:

Do you mean the drop link at the front? or the front arm? sorry to ask. cheers david

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No. The lower engine tie bar. These are known to soften, which exaggerates worn drive shafts.

thank you
will be ordering one of these, and maybe a pair of drive shafts

An inch of movement on the steering wheel is a huge amount of travel!

Has the steering wheel adjustment lock lever been locked undone or summat?

As the steering wheel is connected to a shaft, split with a UJ, to the steering rack - and that is bolted to the bulk head. I'm not sure how the engine/box/IRD floating around could cause that amount of travel in steering wheel.

Or are you talking an inch of rotation movement?

I'd suggest doing a 1 wheel up test.


Its been proven that on a level wheel speed rotation front to back may be the same (given tyre conditions), accelerating up hill the axles want to turn at different speeds. If you're VCU is stiff, this will cause wind up and problems.

I'd have thought if this were a problem, it would gradually increase though, not jump straight to such a major symptom. Mind you, that is also the same with something like the lower tie bar.

Its a shake side to side on uphill acceleration. I first thought drive shafts, but the idea that its the engine mount tie rod sounds more likely. I brought a MGZT cdti a few years ago, had similar issues at anything above 40 mph. The rear lower tie rod bushes were shot. A new one with poly bushes sorted it and lasted the car till it died. So for £30 will try that first.

Finally got the new tie rod from UK, very slow delivery waiting since 27th March. But good news it cured the problem Thanks for your replies