Disco 2 Steering lock stop bolt?

Folks,

I need to reduce the turning circle of my disco, as a previous owner stuck larger tyres on the wagon, when he also increased the height off the deck with new shocks and springs. The existing lock stop bolts show about 18mm of length, so does anyone know where I can get longer ones? Failing this, does anyone know the size of thread inside the bolt cavity?

Cheers in advance,

Roger

Number 7 I believe

That's the part (FTC5151), but the supplier I talked to (Craddocks) couldn't tell me if they had long or short versions, as apparently Rover or whoever they get their stocks from only supply the single length part.

WHich leaves me to the second half of the question. Does anyone know the thread/pitch etc of the bolt, so I can bastardise a more normal bolt to do the job?

Longer lock stops will increase your turning circle - if the tyres currently don't rub on the radius arms at full lock. Or they may prevent the tyres rubbing & have small increase in turning circle.
Is that what you mean to achieve?

Hi,

I am not sure of the thread size,

It may be easier to take one of the bolts out. If you do not have a way to measure the thread pitch and dia, then go down your local bolt store, at least you can get exactly what you need.

Cheers

Pawl said:

Longer lock stops will increase your turning circle - if the tyres currently don't rub on the radius arms at full lock. Or they may prevent the tyres rubbing & have small increase in turning circle.
Is that what you mean to achieve?

Click to expand...

Yes. As a result of the previous owner installing the larger tyres (265 instead of the original 255), the inside of the tyres begin to graze the radius arms at close to full lock; hence my seeking to reduce the lock. Yes, it'll increase the turning circle. Yes, it'll make performing a 3-point turn a right pain in the backside (probably more like five or even seven point turns will result, who knows?!), but short term, it's what I need to do to get the wagon through the MoT. Longer term, I'll just stick spacers on the hubs, add wider wheel arches to conform with the width requirements, and possibly have to have the rear brake lines extended to cope with the increased articulation lengths due to the spacers and other additions of the P.O.

neilly said:

Hi,

I am not sure of the thread size,

It may be easier to take one of the bolts out. If you do not have a way to measure the thread pitch and dia, then go down your local bolt store, at least you can get exactly what you need.

Cheers

Click to expand...

It's a thought, but my experience of local hardware shops around here is that they're crewed by production-line format shop assistants who wouldn't know a specific thread if you smacked them about the head with an M60 bolt The only shop I know of that's even got a clue about threads is down in Eastbourne, and that's a bit of a stretch when the wagon's off the road. Kind of catch-22, that

THis said, if anyone knows of a decent nut & bolt shop with a half a clue or better in the South London area, I'm all ears

I can't be sure with the thread size - it might be m12, thread pitch is maybe coarse. Have you thought of using a couple of washers under the head? I think you'd get 3 or 4 mm thickness in without concern - especially if only short term.
Beware when loosening the lock stops that some people have sheared the head off due to rust in threads. It could be worth soaking in wd40or or similar for a few days (obviously not good access to the thread). Alternatively, apply some heat to the housing locally around the thread. May help free it more easily.

Pawl said:

I can't be sure with the thread size - it might be m12, thread pitch is maybe coarse. Have you thought of using a couple of washers under the head? I think you'd get 3 or 4 mm thickness in without concern - especially if only short term.
Beware when loosening the lock stops that some people have sheared the head off due to rust in threads. It could be worth soaking in wd40or or similar for a few days (obviously not good access to the thread). Alternatively, apply some heat to the housing locally around the thread. May help free it more easily.

Click to expand...

That's a rather good idea, I'll give it a shot, cheers I've got some GT85 penetrating oil I can use, which is miles better than WD40 for this kind of thing (I'm not going to get into the argument on what WD stands for!). Again, cheers for the idea

Other option to identify it,

Take it out, measure the OD, count the amount of threads over a given length. Then you can identify the thread size and the pitch.

Cheers

neilly said:

Other option to identify it,

Take it out, measure the OD, count the amount of threads over a given length. Then you can identify the thread size and the pitch.

Cheers

Click to expand...

I think I'll do both; try the washers idea, and, since the bolts have to come out anyhow to do that, your idea on guestimating the thread/size of the bolts Cheers

Little squeeze to tighten before loosening always helps

PS - Always thought it was Water Dispersant and the 40 was the amount of tries they had prior to perfecting the recipe

If what I have read is correct, it was on the interweb, so must be true, apparently land rover do make a different length of lock stop,

It would appear the std length is 23mm and the increased length is 28mm.

Cheers

Could you not just remove the existing, then get a bolt just smaller than the hole?
Stick a nut on the bolt, either side of the hole and you then have an adjustable stop.

biggeeeee said:

Little squeeze to tighten before loosening always helps

PS - Always thought it was Water Dispersant and the 40 was the amount of tries they had prior to perfecting the recipe

Click to expand...

Mate of mine gave me the skinny on nuts & bolts a while back. "Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey". Damn near spat me coffee all over the floor He also, by the by, mentioned the "tighten it a tad before loosening it" bit, too

And as I said, I'm NOT getting into that things about WD

neilly said:

If what I have read is correct, it was on the interweb, so must be true, apparently land rover do make a different length of lock stop,

It would appear the std length is 23mm and the increased length is 28mm.

Cheers

Click to expand...

That's what I heard too, but Craddocks appear to have only the one length, and they didn't have a measurement for it, they just said "It's what our supplier gives us" (or words to that effect). Catch-22

biggeeeee said:

Could you not just remove the existing, then get a bolt just smaller than the hole?
Stick a nut on the bolt, either side of the hole and you then have an adjustable stop.

Click to expand...

In an ideal world, yeah, but the Disco2 has a different set-up than the Disco1, in that the bolt goes into a hole with no exit (not drilled through). Kinda annoying, but there y'go

Do you have a drill?

biggeeeee said:

Do you have a drill?

Click to expand...

Yes, but as this is to be a temporary solution, I really don't want to muck about with the steering knuckle

biggeeeee said:

Could you not just remove the existing, then get a bolt just smaller than the hole?
Stick a nut on the bolt, either side of the hole and you then have an adjustable stop.

Click to expand...

or use the proper size bolt but set screw type with a nut to adjust ie lock the screw off, no problem with a blind hole then