I have a couple of questions about my Disco. It is currently all stock and seems to be running pretty good.

1. clunking noise from steering. replaced steering gear box due to severe leak and crossbar/drag link and all tie rod ends. I only get the clunking noise when making hard turns either right or left. I am also going to replace the sway bar bushings/ball joints is what the rover book calls them. I have panhard bushings coming, but is there anything else I should look for? A local Rover specialty shop says the cv joints are good and not to worry about them.

2. Clunking when shifting into reverse. I think it is probably the u-joints. Are all the u-joints on the front and rear propeller shafts the same?

3. I am a tall guy and I constantly feel like I am going to fall out of the seat on my disco. Plus I have to lean sideways to see the stop lights, is there anything to do to lower the seat and or replace seats to change that? Or do all disco's the same and everyone feels like they are going to slide out of their seats?

Thanks
ed

 

1 have someone listen or drive it for you in a parking lot to narrow the clunk down.

2 a little driveline clunk is common. All of the u-joints are the same.

3. power seat is adjusted wrong and seat part needs to be tilted back. As for the height, adjusting the seat will help, but I have manual seats and have to duck to see lights. I usually just look through the gl
ossy hood for lights now...

 

Steering clunk-check your shocks and springs for looseness or brokenness.

Yes all the u-joints are the same.

Stay father back from stop lights.
I am 5'5" and even I have to do that.
No I do not feel like I am going to fall out of the seat.
You can take the seat out and reverse the seat rails and the seat will move farther back.

 

1. Have had a indy specialty shop look at it and they said um tie rod ends are not 100% lined up. So they said one is slightly rolled back and the other is straight and to take it back. But this same shop said the slack in the steering was the tie rod ends too, when it was the gear box all along. But I will have my wife drive it around in circles in an empty parking lot so I can try and watch/listen to what it is doing.

2. I am the 3rd owner into this rig and it looks like all is stock. I think I need to replace all the u-joints especially with 165k on it. If it clunks really hard after that then it is either bearings in rear diff or in tranny/transfercase?

3. I have seat lowered all the way and tilted back. Just feels like the seat pan is not all that large or I am just use to the wife's minivan or my suzuki car. does the seats in a disco 2 fit in a disco1?

But thanks for the responses I will look into. I am probably not going to do much with the steering/suspension until I get my TerraFirma Medium weight 2" lift in 2 or 3 weeks. I ordered it 4 weeks ago but springs have been on back order *sigh*.

 

If you havent yet changed the oil in the diffs and transfer case you mite want to do that also. If you change up to 90w140 oil itll usually quiet the driveline clunks down a lot (not saying you ujoints arent bad its just a lot easier to change the oil)

 

Being a full time 4x4 you will always have some clunk in the driveline, thats just the way it is.

And just a reminder these trucks REQUIRE premium fuel.

 

When I changed the fluids in my diffs and t/c it got a lot quieter and smoother.

How tall are you? I have mine all the way back and tilted some, it is a little different to get used to, but I am only 6 ft. Short of getting some aftermarket seat or severely modifying the mounts or something like that, there's not a lot you could do.

Look at Arm and Hammer's thread, he cut out the floors due to corrosion and mounted seats from a Isuzu Trooper donor I think it was.

The D2 seats won't fit without severe modifications they say. You may find something to fit in there but it won't be very easy unless you're pretty clever with mods.

Welcome to the World of Discovery..............

 

wrong post

 

As for the driveline clunk, if it's like my 98, it's more wear in the transfer case and rear end than bad U-joints. Bad U-joints that are worn to the point of making clunking will vibrate the vehicle unmistakenly as you drive down the road. If you detect severe harmonics/vibration while 45-55 then, yeah you probably have bad U-joints. Of course, you can/should inspect them. Put in Neutral and grab the shafts hard and wiggle with all your weight ...look at the joints. Use a screwdriver to pry up/down if you need to drill down. My hunch is it is the transfer case chain or gears that are worn.

As for the seat height adjustment, I've always said that these rigs are among the worst designed from an ergonomical standpoint. In the mountains, ya can't see the hills/peaks at all, and yeah, stoplights either. OTOH, if you are cruising across the Sahara in the evening, the low windshield will keep the sun out of your eyes. I bought a windshield for mine that does NOT have the shaded part across the top. That makes it even worse. Secondly, I agree the seat doesn't go back very far. At it's furthestmost point there isn't hardly any room for rear passengers (or kids) feet. Heck our Jeep G/C has more foot room than the Disco. Still there is a certain charm to them.