Freelander 1 Horrid clunking noise from front. Now with added sound!

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Alibro said:
Now he tells me! :mad:
I just spent over an hour taking the bush apart then another thirty minutes getting the new bush into the alloy cradle and it made no difference. Grrrr
To be honest I'm not surprised, the rear bush was in good condition (until I butchered it) so my money was on the strut. It is the only thing left unchanged on that corner.
Top tip. DON'T BUY A BARE BUSH! If you value your fingers, tools, time and sanity buy the bush and alloy cradle complete.
Click to expand...
I did say my money was on the shock at 10:52 this morning. How was I to know you'd be up with the Lark!! ;)
I still think it's the shock though. I had a similar knock on my ZS180 that I simply couldn't trace. Eventually I had to change shock because of a leaking seal. Once the job was done, it occurred to me that the knock had vanished!! So I set the old shock in the vise and yanked on the rod. There was the knock, although softer because I'm not as strong as the car!!. I decided to cut the shock open to see what was up with it. It turned out to be play between the piston and the rod. This play allowed the rod to move almost 5mm before the piston moved, making a knock when the rod contacted the piston.
Yes those bushes are a challenge to change. Cutting the old one out is the best way. Refitting requires a press or very a large vise, but a threaded rod and some spacers will also work, just.
 
Alibro said:
Nobody likes a smart arse!

LOL, Yeah I knew it would be a pain to change but I didn't think I would need them, the were only there 'just in case'
BTW I had another listen to your sound clip and your noise is almost identical to mine (if you mean the occasional sound I hear mostly at around 1:04 + 1:36/37 and not the continuous mixer noise). My money is defo now on the strut.
BTW why does your car sound like a cement mixer? Have you a dodgy wheel bearing as well?
Click to expand...

Haha. I just couldn't resist that one. Read too many horror stories of people using blow torches to melt the rubber ...

Just relistened to the clip. 1:36/1:37 is the exact noise.

"BTW why does your car sound like a cement mixer?" - Haha. I like the description!. Rear prop shaft bearing. Took the shaft off yesterday and took it for a spin and said noise is gone.

If it is the strut then you'll make my day and I'll buy you a virtual beer as I cannot be bothered to keep replacing stuff on a whim.
 
Nodge68 said:
I did say my money was on the shock at 10:52 this morning. How was I to know you'd be up with the Lark!! ;)
I still think it's the shock though. I had a similar knock on my ZS180 that I simply couldn't trace. Eventually I had to change shock because of a leaking seal. Once the job was done, it occurred to me that the knock had vanished!! So I set the old shock in the vise and yanked on the rod. There was the knock, although softer because I'm not as strong as the car!!. I decided to cut the shock open to see what was up with it. It turned out to be play between the piston and the rod. This play allowed the rod to move almost 5mm before the piston moved, making a knock when the rod contacted the piston.
Yes those bushes are a challenge to change. Cutting the old one out is the best way. Refitting requires a press or very a large vise, but a threaded rod and some spacers will also work, just.
Click to expand...
I wasn't up early, just didn't bother looking for new posts before starting.
Shock is next on the list of things to change.
As for the bush, I drilled, cut, hammered, chiselled and swore it out. Then to get the new one in and ended up pressing it in with a bottle jack. I had to nail a long piece of wood to the door frame of the garage so the top was against the lintel and the bush fitted under it but above the jack. Then put an old bearing on the bottle jack so the centre shaft had clearance and pushed it in.
 
flanagaj said:
Haha. I just couldn't resist that one. Read too many horror stories of people using blow torches to melt the rubber ...

Just relistened to the clip. 1:36/1:37 is the exact noise.

"BTW why does your car sound like a cement mixer?" - Haha. I like the description!. Rear prop shaft bearing. Took the shaft off yesterday and took it for a spin and said noise is gone.

If it is the strut then you'll make my day and I'll buy you a virtual beer as I cannot be bothered to keep replacing stuff on a whim.
Click to expand...

I'll hold you to that beer.
 
Alibro said:
I wasn't up early, just didn't bother looking for new posts before starting.
Shock is next on the list of things to change.
As for the bush, I drilled, cut, hammered, chiselled and swore it out. Then to get the new one in and ended up pressing it in with a bottle jack. I had to nail a long piece of wood to the door frame of the garage so the top was against the lintel and the bush fitted under it but above the jack. Then put an old bearing on the bottle jack so the centre shaft had clearance and pushed it in.
Click to expand...
Fingers crossed for the shock then. There's nothing left to change now anyway I guess.
Is this the car you keeping or selling?
 
It was the shock absorber after all. I bought a used one from a scrapper this morning (complete with spring etc) and the noise is gone. :)
 
Alibro said:
It was the shock absorber after all. I bought a used one from a scrapper this morning (complete with spring etc) and the noise is gone. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. Any idea what was wrong with the shock?

Not a job I really wanted to do, but I suppose I have no choice. Did you replace just the one side or do both as they seem to recommend?
 
Thanks for your advice Nodge. I kinda thought it must be the shock but it helps having advice from a third party.

Regarding changing both, I didn't. The car will be up for sale by the end of the week so I just did what was necessary. In any case the strut I fitted came off a K series with a similar mileage to mine so it shouldn't cause any issues. Certainly didn't when I took it for a test drive on main roads and country roads up to 80mph.
I guess it is up to you whether you go for two matched struts from a scrappy (good luck with that but they will come with spring etc so easy to fit) or pay a bit more for struts from the likes of Carparts4less. They were £74 each when I checked but can be cheaper from Rimmers and you will need spring compressors to change them.
You'll need a long breaker bar with a 21mm hex socket to get the strut off and then drop link, TRE and top mounts and it pops out.
 
Alibro said:
Thanks for your advice Nodge. I kinda thought it must be the shock but it helps having advice from a third party.

Regarding changing both, I didn't. The car will be up for sale by the end of the week so I just did what was necessary. In any case the strut I fitted came off a K series with a similar mileage to mine so it shouldn't cause any issues. Certainly didn't when I took it for a test drive on main roads and country roads up to 80mph.
I guess it is up to you whether you go for two matched struts from a scrappy (good luck with that but they will come with spring etc so easy to fit) or pay a bit more for struts from the likes of Carparts4less. They were £74 each when I checked but can be cheaper from Rimmers and you will need spring compressors to change them.
You'll need a long breaker bar with a 21mm hex socket to get the strut off and then drop link, TRE and top mounts and it pops out.
Click to expand...

Decisions, decisions. I think I might buy some coil spring compressors for £20 and strip the shock down first to see if I can see where the problem lies. I really cannot face another significant purchase without being 100% sure it will sort the issue out. I'll need to replace both as we are keeping the vehicle.

Glad you got it sorted out though!
 
flanagaj said:
Decisions, decisions. I think I might buy some coil spring compressors for £20 and strip the shock down first to see if I can see where the problem lies. I really cannot face another significant purchase without being 100% sure it will sort the issue out. I'll need to replace both as we are keeping the vehicle.

Glad you got it sorted out though!
Click to expand...
I did that before buying the replacement one. Couldn't see anything obvious so greased everything thoroughly before refitting. Made no difference at all. I paid £40 from the scrappy but I saw the car it came off and even helped remove it so was happy the car it came from was similar age and mileage to mine.
 
Alibro said:
I did that before buying the replacement one. Couldn't see anything obvious so greased everything thoroughly before refitting. Made no difference at all. I paid £40 from the scrappy but I saw the car it came off and even helped remove it so was happy the car it came from was similar age and mileage to mine.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks. It's no good, I'm going to bed as the stress of it all ...
 
It's strange only a few shocks are affected. I'm sure I have one knocking too. Although mine stops knocking on braking which is odd. I'm going to change the ARB bushes before I consider swapping shocks out.
 
Just wanted to post this one final observation before I go stripping down the vehicle. I drove it this week when we had a very cold / frosty night and the knocking was really bad. Come the afternoon and the temperature increase, the knocking cannot be heard.

Does that possibly change the diagnosis or do we still think its a shock?
 
My knock was almost silent one day and terrible the next so it sounds as if it is the same.
BTW changing the strut should only take an hour or two depending on whether you have a problem getting the big bottom bolts out or not. A longish breaker bar and hex sockets should sort it.
You'll have to disconnect the battery and unbolt the fuse box which sits above the strut then just pull it out of the way so you can get to the top bolts.
With the right tools it really is an easy job.
 
Alibro said:
My knock was almost silent one day and terrible the next so it sounds as if it is the same.
BTW changing the strut should only take an hour or two depending on whether you have a problem getting the big bottom bolts out or not. A longish breaker bar and hex sockets should sort it.
You'll have to disconnect the battery and unbolt the fuse box which sits above the strut then just pull it out of the way so you can get to the top bolts.
With the right tools it really is an easy job.
Click to expand...
Should be pretty straight forward as I had it out not long ago to replace the strut mount top bearing. A local garage put the new top mount bearings in mind and I just refitted the whole unit.
 
My TD4 has a front suspension "knock" when cold, especially on cold and frosty mornings. The knock disappears later in the day when it has warmed up!
I thought it just didn't like the cold like me.....
So will be really interested to find out the proper reason and fix!

Chris
 
I think the noise in the video was the same as mine but it is hard to be sure, If the new strut fixes your too then I guess we have a new common fault in Freelanders.
As if there weren't enough already! :eek:
 
@Alibro - When you removed your strut could you see anything wrong with it?

Reason I ask is that mine all looks fine and the only thing I notice is that if I retract the piston the whole way and then press the piston in, the first 10mm of travel happens with no resistance and then I feel / hear the fluid causing resistance.

I think I read on here somewhere that is not correct.
 
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