The Wanderer

[DiscoBlanco]

Our local Disco Club had a garage day and we knocked out 3 complete suspension jobs and a "Tune Up" inside of 16 hours On the way home, I was please with my ride on new Terra Firma HD springs and OME Shocks. Very nice ride. However....... I still have sterring issues. I was suspect od the vague steering and was hoping that my 15 y/o shocks and springs were the cause of most of it. I would get a "floating" sensation at high speeds. Now the the suspension is firmed up, I no longer that that "floating" feeling, but it is more like I am wandering all over the road (probably exaggerating). I find myself doing a lot of sterring corrections, especially in wide sweeping turns or going flat out at 70 mph. With the car jacked up, the ball joints seem solid. I have not really done a thorough chassis inspection, but on first impressions, I am thinking that it needs a steering box. Should there be other parts prone to failure that I should look for? fyi - IIRC, there is now steering damper on the truck. But I cant see how that matters in this case....

[Savannah Buzz]

Steering damper makes no change, except when you hit a big rock on the trail, and the damper takes the lick instead of breaking your thumbs. Sounds like a worn steering box, there is an adjustment that is on the attached page from the RAVE. It may improve things while you decide on rebuild or replace.

Seems like the club photos of wrench party would look good posted here....

[leadfoot]

D.Blanco, have you tried a good aligment bench? it should point out what's wrong other than the steering box.

[DiscoBlanco]

Have not done an alignment yet, but I am sure it needs one. I was waiting for the new suspension and altered ride height before spending the money on it.... It seems that time is now!

Savanah, thanks for the writeup. I did not know that procedure exists.

[Danny Lee 97 Disco]

What about worn out suspension bushings?

[fishEH]

Originally Posted by Savannah Buzz

Seems like the club photos of wrench party would look good posted here....

Since you asked.....

[DiscoBlanco]

Originally Posted by Danny Lee 97 Disco

What about worn out suspension bushings?

I wonder that. IDK how this suspension works exactly.

I replaced the upper sway bar bushings and I have new(er) shocks with new bushings.

I am going to try the steering box trick that savanah suggested.

[Danny Lee 97 Disco]

Research "Death WOBBLE". I have seen writeups on here and other LR sites concerning how worn out suspension bushings result in the vehicle shifting around on the worn bushings as it travels down the road.

The more worn the bushings are the more slop there is for the vehcile to shift around on the suspension. It is merely oscillating around it's mounting points. It will shift more the more wear that exist.

[DiscoBlanco]

The steering box trick worked a little bit. It did stop some of the wandering but mostly just tightened up the steering over all. But there was a few degrees of slop in the steering wheel.

You will need a socket wrench with an 18" extension, 19mm deep socket, 19mm open end wrench, and a T30 torx bit.

I did not think of the death wobble syndrome since I am really not experiencing that, but it makes sense that I should probably just replace every bushing and end link on the truck. It seems as though I will never find the "Holy Grail" of problems that will solve everything. But it does seem that every part I change makes a noticeable, but slight improvement.

Bushings make sense since sometimes I notice that the rear end "kicks out" when I make sharp right hand turns. The suspension is probably shifting around back there.

Now on to the next decision.... Standard rubber? Or Poly?

[slanginsanjuan]

Funny how Have no steering on My Disco I ??? is the thread right below this and that guys steering went bonkers turning a corner in town.

Great pack of Discos. And super cool that you guys got together and did that work.