Suspension / steering / bushes questions

My Landy is a 1995 300TDi van fitted with winch bumper, half roll cage, tree/rock sliders and shortly tow bar.

I've fitted a Britpart +2" suspension kit (light/medium +40mm front and +50mm rear) which has obviously replaced the damper bushes at the same time all round.
I then fitted 275/75R16 tyres the next day.
I can confirm that the A frame ball joint IS faulty with about 8mm of travel.
I have ordered a Britpart bush kit http://www.britpart.com/parts/suspension-and-axle/bushes/bush-sets-kits/defender/dc7010/ @ about £60 (not had bill)

1) - The steering has become a little vague (following the suspension and tyres change) and is now prone to change direction with road undulations/bumps.

Is this likely the remaining bushes? Could steering damper cause this? Could it be steering damper bushes (only a fiver DA2425)

2) - How do I support the Landy to remove the entire A frame as I need to change the ball joint and the forward bushes? I'm fitting a Lemforder ball joint.

OR should I leave it fitted whilst doing the front and then do the rear?

3) - What do I need to support to remove panhard rods to replace bushes?

4) - What do I need to support to remove radius arms to replace bushes?

5) - On absolute full lock (right hand down) the tyre lightly rubs on something. Are the bump stops the bolts which stick out of the hub and if so which one do I turn and in which direction?

6) - Once I've replaced the steering damper bushes, the front and rear suspension damper bushes, the A frame bushes, the panhard rod bushes and the radius arm bushes are there any other things that need to be done in order to get the steering and handling as good as I can?

7) - Is it normal for the rear springs to dislocate when you lift the Landy using the chassis? When I lower it the springs do not go back into their seats correctly.

8) - The frame front turrets.... I'm looking at the tube ones and I can see standard and +2 versions. I have +2" suspension now so do I need +2 turrets or does that increase the height by another 2" meaning I should get the standard ones?

Thanks everyone...... Electrics is my bag and I have to learn most mechanical jobs as I do them. I managed to change the rear discs/calipers, cam belt, all the suspension etc so I'm ok when I have all the information.

I did this about two years ago. To replace the bushes and ball joint on the rear A frame I did it piece by piece so that the A frame was still in situ when I did the trailing/radius arms, and these were in place with their fresh bushes when i did the ball joint. That way, there's always something holding the axle in place and it doesn't get the chance to move around much so you can get the bolts etc back in without having t waggle things around too much. I put a bottle jack under the nose of the diff in case the axle wanted to twist, but it stayed pretty much in one place. I jacked up the car and put my axle stands under the chassis rails so the axle was free to dangle. If you can get the tapered bolt on the ball joint out of the hole in the bracket on the axle, it's easier to take the A frame and ball joint out as a whole and At the chassis end, the 10 mm bolts that hold the brackets to the chassis are a lot easier to get undone lying on your back than the big ones (3/4" UNF, I think) that the arms pivot on. It's easier to get he whole lot out and then you can struggle with the big pivot bolts when you're the right way up and can get some leverage on them. The bolts that hold the fulcrum bracket to the arms are sometimes hard to release as they tend to rust into their holes, so working on these when they're out from under the car is a bit easier too. Yes the springs at the rear can tend to come out when the axle drops. Hence offroaders using spring relocators. I find I have to lower the car a little, check the springs in relation to the top spring seats, lever them around to go in properly, lower it a bit more and so on.

The panhard rod at the front I just took out, re-bushed and put back in. Nothing in particular needs supporting. I had to waggle the car around a little in relation to the axle with a big screwdriver to get the holes to line up, and then the bolts just tapped in. The hardest thing was getting the old bolts undone. If the panhard rod is in place you can take one front radius arm off at time and replace the bushes without the axle moving around as the panhard rod, the shock absorber and the other radius arm tend to hold it in place. Once again, a little levering around might be needed to get the holes to line up but it will go in again sooner or later. You will need to undo the anti roll bar and track rod to drop it out.

Longer spring turrets allow you to fit longer shock absorbers to enable more axle movement, if you do a lot of off roading that needs major axle articulation. Or if you're one of those people who likes to take pictures of your Land Rover with one wheel posed casually on top of an oil drum and the other three on the ground. It doesn't make any difference to the height of the car in a resting position as such. If you got + 2" shocks to go with your +2" springs then standard ones will be fine. The tubular ones are a bit wider than the standard conical Land Rover ones so I had to modify the inner wings a little. However, everything fitted eventually and the inner wings still look fairly standard.

Here's me doing mine: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/springs-and-things.239690/

Brown,

Thanks for taking the time to give me such a long and detailed reply. I'm off to my local Landy specialist tomorrow to collect the bushes and plan the work. For the cost of it I'll probably order the matching steering damper bushes and if after everything it needs a better damper I can use them on another.

No problem, my pleasure. I've enjoyed your electrical explanations so it is the least I can do.
In answer to the other issue you raise about the steering being vague, I found the biggest difference was when I replaced the bearings top and bottom in the steering swivels. The old ones weren't loose exactly, but they had a kind of notch in the straight ahead position where the rollers had started indenting the races. It is now a lot steadier-feeling at motorway speeds.

Yes, the steering stops are those bolts that stick out of the outer part of the swivel housings at the front. Wind them out a turn and see if the tyres are still fouling. They tend to be very firmly rusted in so are apt to snap off. Penetrating fluid over a long period of time and gentle easing with a long breaker bar are the order of the day. Here's me doing something similar: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/axle-refurbishments.272149/. It starts with the back axle and then the front is depicted further down. Naturally, James wasn't entirely happy with my technique, as you'll see, but I've put nearly another 12,000 miles on since then and all seems well.

It sounds like you should have done some proper reading and research before buying tat to stick on your vehicle.

Not meaning to be harsh, but it beggers belief that people buy mods without even knowing why they are buying them or what they will do.


Vague steering could be bushes, worn box, damper or just the castor change caused by lifting the vehicle. Big tyres will only help to exemplify this. And lifting a vehicle will tend to show up all the knackered bits.

I'm not against lifting a vehicle, but you need to know:

a) why you are lifting
b) to achieve what
c) what the downsides will be

For the record you can fit 33" tyres on a stock height Defender. You don't need to lift them. And certainly not using a Britpart lift kit.


As for the dislocating suspension.

You could fit longer springs.
Retain the spring at the top and bottom.
Fit a dislocation cone, to relocate the spring again.

There are pros and cons to each solution. If you plan to off road, it's best to read up and understand the differences and the affect they could have both off road and on.

300bhp/ton said:

It sounds like you should have done some proper reading and research before buying tat to stick on your vehicle.

Not meaning to be harsh, but it beggers belief that people buy mods without even knowing why they are buying them or what they will do.


Vague steering could be bushes, worn box, damper or just the castor change caused by lifting the vehicle. Big tyres will only help to exemplify this. And lifting a vehicle will tend to show up all the knackered bits.

I'm not against lifting a vehicle, but you need to know:

a) why you are lifting
b) to achieve what
c) what the downsides will be

For the record you can fit 33" tyres on a stock height Defender. You don't need to lift them. And certainly not using a Britpart lift kit.


As for the dislocating suspension.

You could fit longer springs.
Retain the spring at the top and bottom.
Fit a dislocation cone, to relocate the spring again.

There are pros and cons to each solution. If you plan to off road, it's best to read up and understand the differences and the affect they could have both off road and on.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure you've got the point of the thread to be honest. The tyres I've fitted are 31". The kit I bought was advertised as +40mm and only when I got it did I realise it was 40/50mm. There are serious issues with some Britpart stuff but their suspension is absolutely fine. I've fitted a lift kit because I want a lift kit and like the look of it. I appreciate that there will be more body roll. I understand the downsides and I am happy with them but the thread is due to a couple of issues which have appeared since I fitted the kit but have not affected other +2" Defenders I have tried (the rear spring dislocation and vague steering). They are minor issues and likely to be sorted by the list of extra fixes I'm doing. I've redone the tracking and ordered new bushes plus a Lemforder A frame bearing kit. Once these are fitted I'm hoping that the problems will go. Almost all of the above questions are to help with me doing the fixes which would really have been needed even without the kit but have been highlighted by it's being fitted. The car is 21 years old so all the bushes are past their best and I know the A frame bearing is knackered.

As said, you can fit 33" tyres to stock Defender. You most certainly don't need a lift for 31's.

And the steering will never be 100%, and is well documented across the internet. This kind of proves you've not done any reading up on this. Or to what you've actually changed.


As I said, I'm not against lifting or modded vehicles. But you really should have some concept of the impact of your modifications -- and of course why you performed them in the first place. That's basics 101.

300bhp/ton said:

As said, you can fit 33" tyres to stock Defender. You most certainly don't need a lift for 31's.

And the steering will never be 100%, and is well documented across the internet. This kind of proves you've not done any reading up on this. Or to what you've actually changed.


As I said, I'm not against lifting or modded vehicles. But you really should have some concept of the impact of your modifications -- and of course why you performed them in the first place. That's basics 101.

Click to expand...

The steering is a bit vague. I've driven other +2" Defenders and this is not the case so there is an issue with mine. The bushes and bearing are worn so it's reasonable to suggest that fixing that should hopefully rectify the issue. I didn't fit a +2" kit because I wanted larger tyres! I fitted a lift kit because I wanted a lift kit. I do have a concept of the impact of the mods and having driven others with the same lift the biggest issue is a little more roll and speedo inaccuracy (which I've got covered). If there is any residual steering issue and it is inherent then it will also be on the others which I didn't have an issue with!

I've just found this thread again whilst looking to find what sized tyre I put on my landy as I need to order a spare

The issues were all fixed by the bush kit, RTC steering damper and correct tyre pressures.

It's great now.