100k Mile Club - High Mileage Observations & Maintanance
#11
Update at 102k miles. My front end has developed some horrendous popping and creaking noises when turning at slow speeds. The front lower control arms are very easy to move by hand. I haven't had it off the ground yet to check all bolt torques and better inspect the arms, but my guess is they need replacing. They are the same design as the l405, l462, etc., which fail regularly. I replaced all four on a D5 and it isn't too difficult with a good ball joint separator.
#14
Update at 102k miles. My front end has developed some horrendous popping and creaking noises when turning at slow speeds. The front lower control arms are very easy to move by hand. I haven't had it off the ground yet to check all bolt torques and better inspect the arms, but my guess is they need replacing. They are the same design as the l405, l462, etc., which fail regularly. I replaced all four on a D5 and it isn't too difficult with a good ball joint separator.
You running stock tire size? Hit the trails often? Wonder what other factors can impact this.
#16
Thanks for the update, will be interested to hear the outcome. My lower control arms also wiggle a bit when tugging on them (109k miles currently) but I assumed that was somewhat normal? I should have tried the same thing with lower miles for comparison. I haven't experienced the popping/creaking noises, yet.
You running stock tire size? Hit the trails often? Wonder what other factors can impact this.
You running stock tire size? Hit the trails often? Wonder what other factors can impact this.
I just pulled a wheel off and the arm that the air strut connects to (front, lower, rear) seems solid. The front lower with the large bushing has about 10mm of movement perpendicular to the bolt. This is with a pry bar and about 5lbs of force. That movement translates directly to the hub. The entire hub assembly moves back and forth. I'm not sure how much movement is acceptable, but it seems excessive to me.
#17
Originally Posted by ryanjl
100k-plus miles is an improvement.
The lower control arm bushings on the LR4 had a lifespan of 70k miles or less.
The lower control arm bushings on the LR4 had a lifespan of 70k miles or less.
#18
At the same time, Land Rover generally uses softer bushings to make the suspension ride better. You can replace them with poly bushings that will last a lot longer, but the ride suffers.
#19
Tires are 265/70r18 Toyo at3. No serious off roading, but I do a decent amount of gravel roads to get to dirt bike and MTB trails.
I just pulled a wheel off and the arm that the air strut connects to (front, lower, rear) seems solid. The front lower with the large bushing has about 10mm of movement perpendicular to the bolt. This is with a pry bar and about 5lbs of force. That movement translates directly to the hub. The entire hub assembly moves back and forth. I'm not sure how much movement is acceptable, but it seems excessive to me.
I just pulled a wheel off and the arm that the air strut connects to (front, lower, rear) seems solid. The front lower with the large bushing has about 10mm of movement perpendicular to the bolt. This is with a pry bar and about 5lbs of force. That movement translates directly to the hub. The entire hub assembly moves back and forth. I'm not sure how much movement is acceptable, but it seems excessive to me.
Ok some interesting differences here and something I've been hoping to see what the long term effects would be, I've been running the stock size, 255/70r18 with K02's for comparison. I wonder if the increase in tire size, although minimal, had any impact over the long term wear? I considered switching to the same tire size you have last time I changed my tires but was hesitant knowing the amount of off-road travel we were going to do over the next 1-2 years, suspension wear-and-tear being my main concern.
Would love to hear from anyone if they think this small increase in size, over a long period of time, might have had more of an impact on the bushings vs. keeping stock size.
Also, if anyone out there with fewer miles is reading this post (let's say 15-30k), it would be awesome if you can give your lower control arm a wiggle so we can maybe draw a comparison between new-ish vs. high-mile!
#20