Hi, my D2 has been driving really funny lately. It’s all over the road at speeds above 45-55 MPH or so. The steering wheel doesn’t feel hard and I don’t feel bumps coming through it, but it doesn’t want to drive very straight and seems to take a lot of very careful minor adjustments to stay on course. It’s very sensitive to the road and input... I wouldn’t want to take it offroad like this, so I haven’t. Is this just an alignment issue or more likely worn out parts, like tie rod, etc? Is there a good order of operations to take when looking into this? I bought a new steering damper, Terrafirma unit, before I began thinking it might be something else - the car has stock suspension and tire sizes. I’ve also read that these gas dampers can cause the car to pull one direction or the other. Was it a mistake to buy this part? I haven’t installed it yet - lots of issues with my D2 lately :/ It looked like a lot of the rubber bushings and such were pretty worn out. There’s also a funny squeaky sound that can be heard somewhere around the front-left while driving over bumps. Any ideas would be highly appreciated!

 

It could be anything suspension and/or steering related causing your problems. For safety sake, go get an alignment.
If the alignment doesn't help, jack up your Disco, put it on stands, crawl underneath with safety glasses and a crowbar and start prying away to see what gives. Grab each wheel and give 'em a good shake to feel for loose wheel bearings or other linkages.
Let Eric show you how...

 

Hi, I just wanted to update with this: I had an alignment done - they said the wheels were balanced with weights that are already on there - and it's driving better, but still feels a bit off to me... I don't know if it's just that this is how it always was and after I had some issues and hadn't driven it in a while it just feels strange.. The ball joints are worn, but not horrible, just that it can't be aligned perfectly. I have a new steering dampener, which the folks are Atlantic British told me needs to be replaced every 5 years or so. I'm considering replacing it to see if it helps with any of this. I'll have to get the vehicle up on a jack and start prying to see what wiggles. I had my friend crank the steering wheel back and forth while I was underneath to see how things were looking and to me, things seemed more or less OK (not perfect of course, just acceptable), with some worn seals, bushings and maybe boots... Anything else I should look for? I noticed that one of the steering knuckle mounts on the driver's side wasn't attached to anything, while both were attached on the passenger's side. Do you know if this is normal? I created another post about that, but I'll add the same image I added there just for reference in case this thread ends up helping anyone further along.

 

If it is original equipment the steering damper will indeed transmit road bumps to the steering, not that you feel the bumps but the bumps will turn the wheel. Replace it. Also OG springs could very well be worn out. I'm on my fourth set of shocks so, yes consider that as well.

You don't mention how many miles you have...

The steering knuckle issue is for left hand versus right hand drive, The steering will connect to the proper one depending on which side your steering column is on. The other will be empty.

Replace springs if OG, Replace shocks after springs so you don't prematurely wear out new shocks by beating them to death with old springs. While you are at it check your front shock towers. In rust areas they can deteriorate at the base.

Also tie rod ends can make that squishy squeak over bumps. Examine carefully the joints at the end of the drag link and the track rod.

 

Thanks for all this excellent information, Dave - I'm glad to know everything is normal for a left-hand drive vehicle with the steering knuckles. One less thing to worry about.

I'll try to replace the steering damper tomorrow, if I can, or this weekend. I bought a Terra Firma part for about $55 - hopefully it'll be alright. I'm using standard size tires.

When I'm underneath the beast again I'll check out all the joints to see how they looking. I don't think I've heard the squishy squeaky Cheech and Chong's van sound on this one yet, but hopefully it doesn't appear as soon as I start listening!

Thank you again - I'll update again soon with some images and progress if all goes according to plan.

 

all over on bumps: check rear caster rod bushings or watts link bushings........one worn bushing is all it takes