Snatching Steering

muddy_v8 · Nov 22, 2010

hi i am new to forums, i have recenlty purchased a '86 SWB Defender which is heavily modified i believe it to be an old vehicle of an editor of a well known LR magazine. My main concerns of the defender is it has extensive body roll, the other main problem is when you accellerate the steering snatches left and right, as you accellerate more the wheels straighten, but when you come off the gas it snatches left and right again.... It has detroit lockers front and back and 2" lift procomp springs and shocks amongs many other mods, roll cage, 2whinches, full underbody protection uprated steering dampers etc. some of my friends have said they think it snatches because the springs are so soft other people have said its the lockers?? not sure what to do its is almost undrivable on normal roads but is ok on motorwar sitting steady at 65 doesnt snatch etc.

would really appreciate if anyone has a bit more insight into this than i do!

buckshot · Nov 22, 2010

muddy_v8 said:
hi i am new to forums, i have recenlty purchased a '86 SWB Defender which is heavily modified i believe it to be an old vehicle of an editor of a well known LR magazine. My main concerns of the defender is it has extensive body roll, the other main problem is when you accellerate the steering snatches left and right, as you accellerate more the wheels straighten, but when you come off the gas it snatches left and right again.... It has detroit lockers front and back and 2" lift procomp springs and shocks amongs many other mods, roll cage, 2whinches, full underbody protection uprated steering dampers etc. some of my friends have said they think it snatches because the springs are so soft other people have said its the lockers?? not sure what to do its is almost undrivable on normal roads but is ok on motorwar sitting steady at 65 doesnt snatch etc.

would really appreciate if anyone has a bit more insight into this than i do!

the steering snatching is a locked up front diff (either the locker is fooked or the diff is)

19MART82 · Nov 22, 2010

Detroit locker front????i had a locker in the rear of mine and broke an half shaft,this caused it to swerve on acceleration and decelaration,also check your radias and trail arm bushes,if there perished you will have slight axle twist causeing swerving

Ryder · Nov 22, 2010

I'm no expert but I have read that if there is no anti roll bar fitted then the body roll will be more pronounced. Not sure how true that is but I know that with mine removed my disco rolls a lot more than it used to.

khaos · Nov 23, 2010

Ryder said:
I'm no expert but I have read that if there is no anti roll bar fitted then the body roll will be more pronounced. Not sure how true that is but I know that with mine removed my disco rolls a lot more than it used to.

Most never had anti roll bars. Mine doesn't.

muddy_v8 · Nov 23, 2010

it feels like the diff is locking when you accelorate, when you come off the gas it feels like it unlocks and causes it to swerve i have only just brought the defender so i only have to go on what i ve been told that it has lockers front and back. @ Buckshot you say the locker is fooked or the diff is fooked are these 2 seperate things? i thought the detroit locker was a complete diff unit ? but i dont know a great deal about lockers. Could that just be the characteristics of the detroit locker??

bmp42 · Nov 23, 2010

check your rear axle bushes first as my 110 suffered with the same steering pull as you have - they where shot, the lockers will only work when 1 road wheel looses traction on that axle. If it was locked all the time you would have badly scrubbed tyres within no time and not be able to steer much

19MART82 · Nov 23, 2010

muddy_v8 said:
it feels like the diff is locking when you accelorate, when you come off the gas it feels like it unlocks and causes it to swerve i have only just brought the defender so i only have to go on what i ve been told that it has lockers front and back. @ Buckshot you say the locker is fooked or the diff is fooked are these 2 seperate things? i thought the detroit locker was a complete diff unit ? but i dont know a great deal about lockers. Could that just be the characteristics of the detroit locker??

does it swerve one way on acceleration and then swerve the opposite way on deceleration?if so and you have a detroit locker check one of your halfshafts have'nt snapped,if they ok check your radious and trail arm bushes

muddy_v8 · Nov 24, 2010

19MART82 said:
does it swerve one way on acceleration and then swerve the opposite way on deceleration?if so and you have a detroit locker check one of your halfshafts have'nt snapped,if they ok check your radious and trail arm bushes

it tends just to swerve all over the place on deceleration on acceleration it pulls itself straight, i will check all the bushes this weekend. I also spoke to a guy from challange 4x4 in surrey he informed me that it would have a detroit locker in the back and a truetrac in the front, he said one of two things could be causing my problem: that the 2 lockers are the wrong way round or that its stuck in central diff lock- now im not sure if the lockers are the right way round but the central diff stick is extremely stiff to move in and out of position.... but a light comes on when its in c/dlock and the light is not on and still get the problem. I will check all bushes this weekend though.. thanks

Snatching Steering

muddy_v8

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buckshot

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19MART82

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Ryder

Having a senior moment

khaos

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muddy_v8

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bmp42

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19MART82

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muddy_v8

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