help my discos wants to fly

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mudrunnerv8

New Member
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16
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devon
hi can some one help me.my landy which i have just bought becomes very uncontrolable if i got over 50 and try and take a bend feels like it trying to spin in mid air.it actually ended up nearly sideways doing about thirty.scared the crap out of me.it feels very unstabe and not safe to drive.its a k reg 200tdi.i was told that a they shouldnt have a rear anti roll bar(which i think is strange) and i was aslo told that the shocks on that year and the l reg were crap b4 they came out of the factory and was advised to change them to m reg shock....dont know if thats true or just a load of bull....i really want to get this sorted as the engine is a rite power house in a straight line but i would really love to go round bends with out it trying to flip itself over or try to throw its self into a tank slapper...only my bike can do that lol.any ideas will be he;pful;.many thanx guys mudrunnerv8....or should i say mudcrawler if theres any corners lol
 
I own a K reg and it sounds familiar lol, how about maybe its an old landy that was not fitted with anti rolls, everything has aged, live with it or buy a new one!

Oh and :welcome2:
 
mudrunnerv8 said:
hi can some one help me.my landy which i have just bought becomes very uncontrolable if i got over 50 and try and take a bend feels like it trying to spin in mid air.it actually ended up nearly sideways doing about thirty.scared the crap out of me.it feels very unstabe and not safe to drive.its a k reg 200tdi.i was told that a they shouldnt have a rear anti roll bar(which i think is strange) and i was aslo told that the shocks on that year and the l reg were crap b4 they came out of the factory and was advised to change them to m reg shock....dont know if thats true or just a load of bull....i really want to get this sorted as the engine is a rite power house in a straight line but i would really love to go round bends with out it trying to flip itself over or try to throw its self into a tank slapper...only my bike can do that lol.any ideas will be he;pful;.many thanx guys mudrunnerv8....or should i say mudcrawler if theres any corners lol
Click to expand...

If my landie tried to fly I would stop the drugs right away.
 
as with every land rover i have bought the first thing i do is replace all springs, shocks, bushes, ball joints and links.
If you try and arrow it down to one thing you will be chasing the problem all over the vehicle. If you can afford it go through the whole lot and it will feel like a new vehicle.
Not talking all fancy stuff, just new good quality stuff. Standard springs are about £30 a pair. Good shocks like decarbons are £35 each but well worth the money and bushes will be £50-£130 depending on quality.
I have driven plenty of old discos, many with the same symptoms, very scary but purely due to the whole suspension/steering system being old, tired and worn.
Tyres also play a part in it. tall thin tyres will make it worse also. I have 235/85/16 diamonds on my 90 and sometimes its like driving on ice as theres not much surface area of the tyre in contact with the tarmac. why are they road legal i dont know!
 
Tig9619 said:
as with every land rover i have bought the first thing i do is replace all springs, shocks, bushes, ball joints and links.
If you try and arrow it down to one thing you will be chasing the problem all over the vehicle. If you can afford it go through the whole lot and it will feel like a new vehicle.
Not talking all fancy stuff, just new good quality stuff. Standard springs are about £30 a pair. Good shocks like decarbons are £35 each but well worth the money and bushes will be £50-£130 depending on quality.
I have driven plenty of old discos, many with the same symptoms, very scary but purely due to the whole suspension/steering system being old, tired and worn.
Tyres also play a part in it. tall thin tyres will make it worse also. I have 235/85/16 diamonds on my 90 and sometimes its like driving on ice as theres not much surface area of the tyre in contact with the tarmac. why are they road legal i dont know!
Click to expand...

I think if you get somebody to wiggle the steering you will see if anything is worn, if you get under with a big bar you can check the bushes, check the ride height compared with a good one and that should rule out springs, if none are broken etc, but a visual aswel, hard to tell if shocks are good, but if you take off one end you can compare them by hand.

You can also get somebody to shunt it back and forth, you lay at the side and look for bits flapping about, its not unusual for leaf springs to move within the U bolts, centre pin gone and so on.

Jack it up check all hubs for play etc.

But you sometimes need the eye of a mechanic, however it does no harm to start here first.

But dont go replacing everything, seems crazy, and thats not mechanics.
 
depends on the person. if they want to make sure everything is all in order and reliable they will replace it all at once. If you like chasing problems round a vehicle for the next 6 months then thats fine but i dont i like to know its ALL ok. who knows what is on there, how long its been there and what life its had.
It could be a combination of everything worn a little bit, or one thing worn a lot, yes it is best to check everything first but i like to stop them driving even more boat like, so usually do the lot.
 
Have you tried another one. If you're used to a modern car, they will feel different.
Or have you found the real reason for it being sold!
 
A good mechanic worth their salt will:

find the problem,
Find the cause of the problem,
cure the cause of the problem,
cure the problem and give everything a once over thats what you pay for some mechanics are useless most car mechanics do not understand land rovers my local Mot man especially.

Real fault diagnosis is what is needed.

On here you will far too often find people replacing the problem part and not actually curing the fault that has caused the worn or broken part to fail. what LZ is excellent at is its a great resource of people with actual faults and cures to explain what they found.

Example how many times do we get this kinda thing? landy wouldnt start battery flat will get a new one. A week later another post new battery flat will get another one when funds allow? Some simple 10 minute checks could save you ao absolute fortune.

what are the nessasary checks and replace what is faulty dependant on item.

Yes it is nice to have all new components and yes it will get rid of your fault probably but wouldnt you like to know exactly what it is and mabe save some money along the way? What happens if it re occoures in a years time will you replace everything again? Jai
 
Last edited:
mudrunnerv8 said:
hi can some one help me.my landy which i have just bought becomes very uncontrolable if i got over 50 and try and take a bend feels like it trying to spin in mid air.it actually ended up nearly sideways doing about thirty.scared the crap out of me.it feels very unstabe and not safe to drive.its a k reg 200tdi.i was told that a they shouldnt have a rear anti roll bar(which i think is strange) and i was aslo told that the shocks on that year and the l reg were crap b4 they came out of the factory and was advised to change them to m reg shock....dont know if thats true or just a load of bull....i really want to get this sorted as the engine is a rite power house in a straight line but i would really love to go round bends with out it trying to flip itself over or try to throw its self into a tank slapper...only my bike can do that lol.any ideas will be he;pful;.many thanx guys mudrunnerv8....or should i say mudcrawler if theres any corners lol
Click to expand...


You need to get under the vehicle and start checking for wear.

I would start at the rear axle:

1. There are long connecting rods that go from the rear axle to the chassis, are the mountings on the axle strong and secure? On our TDi200 they had rusted through and eventually gave way - scary results !!!

2. Using a long screwdriver or similar, check all the joints where there are rubber bushes. These will no doubt be worn and allow for some flexing.

3. Check for play in the 'A' frame balljoint.

The handling experience you describe sounds so extreme that I would have thought that there will be something which is pretty obviously broken, underneath.

Good luck

Dave
 
My J reg TDi feels the same :D
I've just checked the rear lower links and one moves up and down so the bushes are shot (just orderd 2 sets) allowing it to rear steer ?
I'm expecting to follow slackness through the whole lot TBH, i'm new to LRs but that's the way it goes with any older vehical in my experiance.
Mind you the parts are so cheap i actually enjoyed finding sumnik wronge :D
 
jai_landrover said:
That Will change! Jai
Click to expand...

Compaired to old ford parts the money goes 3 times as far and more importantly the bits are easyly available :D
I expect some bits will be pricey but oh the joy of turning on ebay and getting what you want when you want it :cool:
 
Just changed the front bushes on the rear lower arms and it's transformed it really, much more stable in the bends you can brake mid bend (ok i know you aint sposed to but it does have to happen) with no arse end trying to overtake the front and no wagging the tail when you pull away :)

Also rebuilt the rear calipers but that's another storey :)
 
i know im a bit late but been a way for a while thanx for all the answers it was the suspention that was knackered i sold it to a mate as i didnt have the cash hes put lift kit on it with insa tyres and its 1 lovely motor i now have a l reg with non of the above problems as to dateso fingers crossed and once again many thanx
 
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