Front left Suspension clunk

Hi All,

My first post, would introduce myself on the main forum, but cant really be arsed with all the "freelander's are ****" jokes, so here it goes,

got a 03 td4 kalahari, and am getting a strange noise from the front end when going over bumps..... can repoduce the noise by rocking it on the left foot board, but not on the right. only makes the noise when steering is straight, no noise when on full lock either side. have given the drop links a good "tug" and there's no play. the banging may be comming from the roll bar, but when i get under it and give the roll bar a shake, not getting any play from that either.....

Any ideas??

Cheers,,

Matt

no but Freelanders really are sh .....

yeh, i've tryed that sean...... no wait......... thats no use at all....
get bent

Worn drop links can be hard to spot, it only takes slight movement to make a clunk.
ARB bushes could be worn/facked.

have you checked your wishbone bushes?

Is the ARB central with the collars against the bushes, the roll bar can sometimes float and hit other components, for the cost of new bushes and droplinks it's worth just changing them.

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the wishbone bushes rusted solid onto the wishbone. A new wishbone at about £120 and all was OK. Quite easy to fit yourself.

I have had the top joint on the drop link go loose. Causes an intermittent cluck on uneven roads. Get some one to rock the car side to side while you get under the front and watch the joints. You'll sone spot the duff one. Cost me 42 quid for a replacement, although you can get them a lot cheaper. Fitted meself in 15 minutes.

Drop links, Wishbone balljoint, Wishbone bushes, Antirollbar mounting bushes & Central problem, Strut top mounting, Track rod end.

I had problems with nearly all of the above & it drove me nuts for months. Each time I replaced one it would improve it but not quite cure it. Do your drop links first, they are cheap & easy. For the wishbone forget faffing about with drilling out the balljoint to fit another, it takes ages & is a pain. Just fit a new wishbone, FAI do one & they are around £50. Make sure you have a good end bush & housing either new or used to bolt on to the rear. Forget buying just the bush & trying to press it into your housing. New strut top mountings are £50 from Famous Four or do what I did & get a complete low mileage used strut to replace the unit. Finally a track rod end isn't too pricey.

I got the same strange noise from the front n/s. It sounds in between a knock and a squeak. It only does it when its cold outside and not when its warm. I've tried to push down on the car when stationary but it won't do it. I was going to start with changing the wishbones with new bushes then the anti roll bar bushes and so on till cured.
Where is the best place to buy these parts by mail order?

meverett said:

I got the same strange noise from the front n/s. It sounds in between a knock and a squeak. It only does it when its cold outside and not when its warm. I've tried to push down on the car when stationary but it won't do it. I was going to start with changing the wishbones with new bushes then the anti roll bar bushes and so on till cured.
Where is the best place to buy these parts by mail order?

Click to expand...

I bought my wishbones off ebay from yescarparts who sell FAI wishbones. There are cheaper ones but when asked, they were reluctant to commit to the manufacturer & I didn't want Britpart rubbish. They come with the front bush already fitted but you'll need to source rear end bushes complete with housings. Famous Four do them for the early freelander up to around year 2000 but list bushes only for the later cars (you'll need your chassis number to check what you've got) Don't even consider buying them without the housings - I did & destroyed the bush trying to press it in with my vice. I then fitted used but good earlier bushes from the scrappie after drifting out the retaining dowel to my later chassis number car & they've been all good. The actual bushes & housings except for the dowel are physically exactly the same though the part numbers between early & late are different so I assume they also changed the rubber compound used. Another option would have been polybushes which I believe are easily fitted but you lose the suppleness that the standard bush provides. You could just remove your old bushes to check them, you don't even need to jack up the car. Two 15mm bolts hold them to the chassis & one 21mm (I think) nut holds it on to the wishbone. You may need a wood chisel with the flat edge against the collar of the wishbone given a couple of taps to free the bushes centretube off the wishbone arm as it can seize on. Mine did & I tried screwdirvers & everything but only a wood chisel gets in without damaging anything. You can then see whether you need new end bushes or just the arms & reuse your old bushes.
When you do your arms, you'll need to remove that dreaded engine undertray but once that's done the arms themselves aren't too difficult to change. You can loosen all bolts (they will be very tight) with the car still on the ground before jacking it up, removing the wheel & unbolting the arm. You need a large fork type balljoint splitter as the clamp type won't fit because of the hub (oh the fun I had when I first had a go & didn't know about that one) but the new arm comes with a new balljoint so don't worry about destroying the joint boot. Leave the front wishbone mount bolt (the extremely long one) & the rear wishbone bush nut (the 21mm one) loose by a couple of turns when refitting & don't tighten up till you've got the car on the road with the full weight of the car having settled the bushes into position ( I even opened the door & stood on mine to settle the suspension or you could leave it for half an hour or so). This is extremely important in order for the bushes to last a long time.

matt2871 said:

Hi All,

My first post, would introduce myself on the main forum, but cant really be arsed with all the "freelander's are ****" jokes, so here it goes,

got a 03 td4 kalahari, and am getting a strange noise from the front end when going over bumps..... can repoduce the noise by rocking it on the left foot board, but not on the right. only makes the noise when steering is straight, no noise when on full lock either side. have given the drop links a good "tug" and there's no play. the banging may be comming from the roll bar, but when i get under it and give the roll bar a shake, not getting any play from that either.....

Any ideas??

Cheers,,

Matt

Click to expand...

i got same prob if you find out let me know please , cheers

He's not been back since 2010 so he's probably not coming back.

ARB drop links are quite a common cause. But it could be any number of things that has already been mentioned in the thread.

It's normally polite to introduce yourself first. People will be more inclined to help out.

I've had the same problem in the past, and found that it was the drop-link. Seemed OK when on the car, but wear was evident when it was removed. It's only a ten minute job to take the link off to check it

Take the drop-link off and check it again. I've had this problem in the past, but wear was not evident until I took the link off