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So they say there are no stupid questions so here we go:
I have a new to me '97 Disco.
It has a 2" lift so I've been told.
The steering wheel is off to the left from center about a 1/2" or so going down the road and there is a bit of play in the wheel. Again, about a 1/2" of play.
I was told I needed a panhard rod as the bushings are shot and to get a heavy duty adjustable one. It's on it's way as is an OME dampener.
My question is how do I know how much to adjust the panhard rod?
I promise I searched around before I posted this but now that I have I see the "Related Topics" below my post and it looks like I've found my answer there.
Last edited by dcphotos; Mar 22, 2022 at 04:28 PM.
I put a straight edge on my tire and measured from the frame out to the straight edge on both sides. Found the difference and adjusted accordingly. When you lift the truck it always moves to the drivers side.
The pan hard bar will do nothing for you wheel being off. That will get fixed with an alignment.
To adjust the steering wheel to center, the track rod (front steering linkage) can be adjusted. To adjust toe-in, the drag link (rear steering linkage) is adjusted. There are other adjustments that can impact steering wheel position, but yours is not off by much.
To adjust play, the steering box can be adjusted, but yours doesn't sound too bad.
Turns out, the issue with the play in the steering wheel was cause by the lower steering link that connects the steering shaft to the steering box. It had a alloy one and when I bought the Disco the guy gave me what looked to be an old OEM one.
I wondered why till I grabbed the steering shaft and saw it move back and forth before engaging the splined shaft out of the steering box. Turns out the splined female end was wallowed. This was the problem all along.
Also, I realized that whoever installed the h/d alloy one didn’t bother to center the steering wheel. I fixed two problems by installing the factory coupler.
Nice to hear a happy ending. Good lesson in persistent troubleshooting, paying attention to basics, and using all your "clues". Seems that's how it is with Discos.