Got my series 3! :)

Just been and picked up my series 3 swb and Im well chuffed. The only niggle is that it tramlines really badly. It has chunky off road tyres on it. Is this the likely cause of the tamlining? If I reverted back to normal series 3 tyres would this help resolve the issue? Thanks guys.

Depends what you are used to to be honest. Some people will get into the tightest of landies and think there is something drastically wrong with it. How chuncky are the tyres? Unless they are super chunky I wouldn't have thought it would affect it *that* much. Perhaps its worn track rod ends etc.

Cool on getting your series, need piccies though

rustyrhinos said:

Depends what you are used to to be honest. Some people will get into the tightest of landies and think there is something drastically wrong with it. How chuncky are the tyres? Unless they are super chunky I wouldn't have thought it would affect it *that* much. Perhaps its worn track rod ends etc.

Cool on getting your series, need piccies though

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The tyre size is 235 70 17 and they are mud terrain tyres. I will get picks up over the weekend. First impressions are that it pulls like a train. It has a 110 engine in it.

Another point is the steering damper has been taken off. The guy said this helped minimise the tramlining, but in theory shouldn't the damper reduce the tramlining effect when fitted? Thanks.

sounds more like, a broken leaf or a center pin on one of the springs

What engine is it? 2ooTDI?

my s3 shocking compared to a modern car having to constantly correct the steering and my mates is exactly the same. i find it keeps you alert on those early morning were in your normal car you would be doseing off as its nice and warm and comfy

You get used to it after a while though...it is when you have been driving about in the landy for a few weeks and get back to a "normal" car that everything seems weird! I got into my GT4 after driving in the landie for 6500 miles and I was breaking way to early, overcompensating steering and generally doing the left-right-left-right thing when it wasn't needed! Proper newbie looking for a few miles.

rustyrhinos said:

You get used to it after a while though...it is when you have been driving about in the landy for a few weeks and get back to a "normal" car that everything seems weird! I got into my GT4 after driving in the landie for 6500 miles and I was breaking way to early, overcompensating steering and generally doing the left-right-left-right thing when it wasn't needed! Proper newbie looking for a few miles.

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I got in my beemer after driving the landy and i was zig-zagging up the road. lol hopefully get some picks of the landy tomorrow.

mickdj said:

my s3 shocking compared to a modern car having to constantly correct the steering and my mates is exactly the same. i find it keeps you alert on those early morning were in your normal car you would be doseing off as its nice and warm and comfy

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The need to constantly correct the steering is often caused by the steering being too tight, rather than having too play as most people assume. Possible causes:
Lack of oil in the steering box
Lack of oil in the steering relay
Track rod ends need greasing
Lack of lubrication of top swivel, no oil in swivel, using too thick grease instead of oil (some will disagree about this) freewheel hubs preventing lubrication of the top swivles.
Another possiblity is not enought shims in the top swivle, but this would be the result of incorrect setting up rather than wear/lack of maintence.

i've got my first ever landy series3 88 truck cab on the road about 4 days ago (my first landy ever 2.25 diesel) and i've found the steering "interesting" to say the least with some serious tramlining which even turned into a wild tank slapper of a steering shake late friday night coming down a really poorly surfaced road (i was probably doing 35-40mph)....

i am running really tired (hard and cracking) 750x16's (town and country)on it tho so i don't suppose those will help (looking for new/replacement tyres)it was on colway c-traks 205r16 before i collected a puncture, although before taking her for the mot i did go round every grease nipple with the gun, all the springs appear to have a correct curve (i'm oiling them to free them up and allow sliding of the leaves) with the shackles hanging just off vertical, i do have one worn bush in the nearside front spring both front bushes have been replaced when i replaced the dumbirons (jigged and measured)...

mostly she steers acceptably with the odd sudden lurch when i hit a change in tarmac curve/pothole edge/proud catseye, i do have fw hubs set to freewheel ...

i've no manual so didn't think about oiling the steering box or see any point to allow adjustment/oiling of the relay...

as per the original poster i'll be interested in any further suggestions as to possible causes/cures ...

a few pictures if you're interested...

Zebedee pictures by NiteMare_08 - Photobucket

The steering shake can be worn shocks as well,with my Series 2 it happend when I drove it around without shocks for a while,was thinking of fitting a steering stabilizer,but when I fitted the new shocks everything was normal again!

mickdj said:

my s3 shocking compared to a modern car having to constantly correct the steering and my mates is exactly the same. i find it keeps you alert on those early morning were in your normal car you would be doseing off as its nice and warm and comfy

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yep, i dont drive a car or van any more, just my 90 and series2, you get so used to having to correct the steering it becomes normal , then on the odd ocasion i drive the other halfs new car, i end up swerving everywhere out of habit, :doh:

then again if your series drove like a 08 plate bmw, you might as well not have one, it all adds to the charictor of a 40 or 50 year old landrover, i wouldn't change mine for anything

theres oil in my steering box ??

nothing wrong with that i would be very worried if it didnt have oil