Got a heavy knock from the front nearside, suspension not drive train, only apparent over bumps, drains, manhole covers etc etc.

Seems have got worse quite rapidly, not there at all 4 weeks ago, but now a bit alarming.

Also one time, on exiting a roundabout quite enthusiastically, got a bit of understerr then a series of rapid knocks through the steering wheel. Bad enough to make me stop and check the wheel nuts!

Feels like a bush or ball joint badly worn. Any suggestions where to look first?

Ta

David

2005 SC

Most likley lower ball joint/susp arm (£20) or track rod end (£15), I have replaced quite a few. jack up the side concerned an rock the wheel vertically then horizontally. side to side movement - track rod end, up and down movement - ball joint. If you can get someone to do it as you watch it helps positive identification. Hope this helps! 2003 Vogue TD6 - Adriatic Blue - 2010 Facelift & 2010 20" wheels
1996 90 Tdi soft top gone
2003 HSE TD6 gone
2005 RRS TDV6 HSE gone
2007 Vogue SE TDV8 gone

Drop Links? Mine got really bad really quick, then stopped. That's when I found one had completly broke and was no longer attatched at one end! Was an easy change though. Reformed

Yea, change the anti roll bar drop links, £15 from ebay, 4 bolts to change and you don't even need to take the wheels off the car, easy. 2004 black Vogue TD6

Finally got a chance to get her up in the air on a ramp tonight, with very inconclusive results.

Loaded or unloaded, I just can't feel any play in the ball joints, bushes or anti-roll bar links.

I THINK I can feel something in the strut itself. I can kind of recreate the knock I hear by tapping(!) the top of the tyre with a club hammer, and by putting a side load on the strut with a tyre iron the knocking goes away.

Car has 88k miles. Is there any history of strut problems? Anyone agree with my diagnosis?

Can I change the strut myself? Obviously the air spring will have to be disconnected, can this be done without a diagnostic tool?

Can I just change one side? Effectively it is the shock, which usually would be changed in pairs

Anyone know the best place to buy a strut ( or 2!).

2005 supercharged.

David

David, ideally strutts get changed in pairs... Land Rover prices are around £700 each! Island 4x4 are less than half that price for original delphi parts...


Craig

Had exactly those symptoms on my TD6 front nearside wheel recently. THink it was caused by a large pothole that I hit.

Needed a replacement Bottom ball joint (£100) a new track rod end (£30), tracking (£25) and about an hour's labour (£35).

BTW, get it done today/Soonest as the mech said the wheel could have come off at any time!!

Its unlikely to be the strut. The balljoints wear pretty quickly on the front and its more likely to be them as already said.

If the car is on the ground, and the suspension loaded with weight, its very hard to see if the ball joints are loose / worn.

You need to get the weight off the suspension and test it then - with crowbars etc. Also you can sometimes see the wear if the wheel is off, and you get someone to wiggle the steering, you can often see the play in the balljoints that way too.

If you're doing one, you may as well do the whole lot. In for a penny in for pound type thing. It is a DIY-able job. I've done it a couple of times now ( both arms, the ball joint in the hub and the anti-roll bar links ) V8 or else ...

Thanks for all the comments.

Did check for clearances with the weight both on and off the wheels, but really hard to tell where it is coming from.

Can't find anyone on the web who has cured a knock by changing struts, so suspect I may be barking up the wrong tree.

Quote:

If you're doing one, you may as well do the whole lot. In for a penny in for pound type thing.

Quite like this approach. Have ordered all the arms and joints for the nearside and both drop links. The lower arm on the offside is new and that side is quiet anyway.

Got a price for bits from our favourite forum dealer, but unfortunately OEM parts from Island came in at a very significant discount, sorry Dan

Figured I can do all these parts for about half the price of the strut from Island, so worthwhile investment even if it does turn out I still need to do the struts.

Will keep you all posted.

David

if you're up to it david, maybe some pics and a write up..

Don't pay any attention Stan. Just what we need....... another joker!!

(only jokin'.... took me a while to understand what the pics meant. Velly clever!!)

no problem at all David,

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I had exactly the same problem... I cured it with new control arms. There was a great post with lots of photos. I bought the control arms on eBay for about £30 each I think.. Britpart? They work well and the were a direct swap.
Here is the link for the guide on how to do it...
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic1632.html . Thanks to dan_uk_1984 and fisha.. Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI


Last edited by Contraband on 17th Nov 2011 6:19pm. Edited 1 time in total

I think the post you're trying to link to is a guide that I did a while back for rr.net and Dan copied over here. ( which doesn't bother me in the slightest )

In those photos I use things like large spanner to try and pull apart the ball joints ... I've since bought a ball joint splitter set like this - note you need a wide splitter - this was the only cheap set with a wide fork I could find.


http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...litter-set

and along with one of these:



it is infinitely easier at bursting apart the ball joints ... but its a destruction method of doing it.

Its also easier to put the steering on full lock to get better access at the ball joints.

The hardest part is getting the large ball joint out of the hub itself. For me, I take the brake caliper and brake disc off and zip tie it out the way which gives you a line of sight to the top of the ball joint. ( I also have removed my brake disc shields - they rusted at the mounting points ) I use WD40 to penetrate the whole area. Once you get the bolts off for the ball joints ( see note below ) , you can then use a chisel as a drift to hammer out the ball joint from the top downwards.

It can take a considerable amount of force to hammer the balljoint downwards if its never been done before. To counter this, I put a jack or a jack stand under hub to take the weight of the hub. i normally support just under where the wheel studs stick out. That way, you're not hammering against the extended bumpstop of the strut.

Once out, the new one should pop in ok. I used new bolts ( see notes below ) to pull the ball joint up and into the hub. Refit the ball joint with lots of copper slip around it. the next time you do it, the ball joint will pop out easy ( it did for me )


Some notes about the bolts for the ball joints:

The bolts that hold the ball joint have a larger than average torx head - which is probably rusted.
If you cant get the ball joint bolts out easily, I resorted to using somethings like these


http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...%20remover

which are frankly the dogs danglies - however they destroyed the bolt head. The bolts are 10mm bolts and can be replaced with standard 10mm bolts from the hardware store. I did this and used plenty of copper slip when refitting.

If you dont believe me about destruction, these were mine once they were removed. the holes in the top are from a pointed masonary chisel.

Click image to enlarge