Rear radius arm/ trailing arms done, but odd steering?

Hi all, another question for you all...

The other day the offside trailing arm snapped as I was driving along. I got a replacement arm for that side, and had it fitted along with the bushes and bolts for both sides. The mechanic who did it is a good friend of my fathers, and has been working on our cars for years, so I'm absolutely confident he would have done a good job, although he did comment that when he fitted it, it 'really pulled the rear axle into line'.

The trouble is, now my steering seems a little dodgy, and the steering wheel points to about 2 oclock, instead of 12 all of a sudden. Also when I let go of the steering wheel when it's at 2 oclock travelling straight, the disco wanders to the left quite badly, and the steering wheel turns itself to 12.

Anyone got an explanation for this? or is it just a case of taking the steering wheel off and re-aligning it?

Cheers

PS before the old arm snapped, the bushes on both sides were really badly worn, but the steering was straight and true.

How is shifting the steering wheel over, gonna stop the disco from wandering to the left? you have a major steering problem get it sorted before ya crash into something At a guess I'd say you're axle is skewed. measure the distance between wheel centres front to back on both sides of the car.

where did the trailing arm snap?
be worth getting the tracking checked.

Steering wheel at two o'clock and the cars is running straight. Let it go and the steering returns to twelve o'clock and the car vias off to the left.

Answer.
When you let go of the steering wheel, it returns to centre because that's what the front wheels want to do. It's normal.

Steering at two o'clock to keep the car straight, that's because the nearside rear wheel is closer to the front axle than the offside. Keeping the steering wheel at two o'clock is effectively steering into a slide.

Are you sure it was the offside that went and not the nearside, the kerbside. This is the only way that messing with the trailing arms you would get this. It's not unusual for people to mix up the NS and OS.

A quick check is to do the following.

Drive the car forward with the front wheels at the twelve o'clock position. The way the ont axle wants to steer.

Now run a tow rope or long washing line from the centre of the front bumper, or tow eye, around the front tyre, at its middle intersecting the axle and off pass the rear wheel, again at axle height.

With the line just touching both front and rear side walls of the front tyre, the line should be nicely touching the rear side walls too. The rear side walls should be perpendicular as well. If not then you have an issue.

Do the same the other side and you will quickly see if the axle is out.

I use this technique to quickly set up toe in and out and tracking front and back on my lotus 7

a bit like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8qFjAB67vk

It was definitely the right hand (offside) trailing that snapped as it had completely sheared about an inch from the arm-chassis mounting.

The only thing worth mentioning is that the arm was a second hand one, and I'm not sure what year disco it was off, although I was assured it was from a 300tdi, and was the hollow type (as opposed to the pre 300 solid type). (Mine is a 96 300)

I did wonder if when the trailing arm snapped (very small pothole followed by sharp braking), it broke something else which I havn't yet identified, but I doubt that, because even when I was limping home with the steering arm snapped, the steering was mostly straight until I braked or tried to turn at a junction, then it was like being on ice. So the dodgy steering must have occured during the attaching of the new arm.

Unless there is another problem, or it's something simple like tracking (which I don't think it is from what greenhornet has said), the only thing I can think of is that one arm is longer than the other or something.

I'll go on out and measure the gaps between tyre and wheel arch shortly, and then have a look underneath to see if anything is obviously out of place. If that reveals nothing I'll look at the toe in/ out alignment.

I was planning to go and get the tracking done first thing this morning, but if it's the rear axle that's pulling the car to the left, then the tracking won't make much difference will it.

if the rear axle's out of line, then as you say setting the tracking wont make a difference. however, in checking the tracking, either with string or with 4 wheel alignment gear at a garage, it will highlight any potential rear axle issue.
its then finding out whats causing the issue.

reason i asked where trailing arm snapped was cos if the bracket on the axle needed renewing and had been welded on in wrong place.
time to get the tape measure out!

out of curiousity, is it the bolt thats pulled out of the end of the arm?
has the nearside arm been altered in the past?
are they standard arms?
pics would be good!

Hi again

Well I've measured the distance between the tyre and the wheel arch, and on the left (nearside), theres about a 500mm gap to the front of the wheel, and the rear. Wheras on the right hand side theres about a 800mm gap to the front and a 200mm gap to the rear.

This would account for the steering problem, but I'm not sure what's caused it.

There's a few things which I'm wondering if it could be;

1. Could it be that the trailing arm needs to be bolted tighter through the new bush where it meets the chassis? Perhaps it's just a matter of tightening the nut on the end of the captive bolt to pull the axle further towards the front?
2. Could it be that there is an offside, and a nearside trailing arm? and I have the wrong one?
3. I bought it off Tim Fry whose service was very good, and am pretty sure it's an orginal LR one not an aftermarket, but I was warned by my uncle who has met Tim Fry that he can be a bit of a shark, so perhaps one of his salesman sold me a dodgy one (off a defender or something???)

Take the 'new' arm off and measure it against the existing to see if there's a difference.

Frankly, if one of mine snapped, I'd replace both as a pair, same as discs, pads, wheels, springs, shocks etc as soon as I could and all associated nuts & bolts and bushes both sides.

ReadySalted said:

Hi again

Well I've measured the distance between the tyre and the wheel arch, and on the left (nearside), theres about a 500mm gap to the front of the wheel, and the rear. Wheras on the right hand side theres about a 800mm gap to the front and a 200mm gap to the rear.

Click to expand...

not disputing the wheels not central, but 500mm is half a meter!
between the wheel and the arch?

For gods sake take some photos and post them up. We may be able to help more