So, when I turn a hard left or right the Rover is acting like a four wheel drivetruck in four wheel drive. You know, pop, pop, pop. There is also a conciderable amount of suspension noise from under the front end. Could this possibly be worn ball joints? Thanks for any ideas.

 

Stop driving it now! What you're describing, ajerking, stuttering, grabbing of the front tireswhen turning corners, sounds very much like a bad constant-velocity (CV) joint. It could also just be wheel bearings but less likely based on your description. If you're not familiar with the CV it is the assembly which is like a universal joint in function and is the pivot point in the front axle shaft. It has caged ball bearings in it, and if it is worn can give symptoms you're describing just before it completely self-destructs. The other possible causes of the stuttering could be afrozen center differential or itsviscous coupling unit (I'm assuming you have a Range Rover with the Borg-Warner transfer case rather than a DiscoII with a manual transfer case)

You need to put the front on jack-stands with the rear wheels chocked, and then with the front wheels turned first one way and then the other, rotate both the left and right tires and see if there is the grabbing, jerking movement or if they rotate nice and smoothly. CV problemsusuallywill be most pronounced at full steeringdeflection eitherone way or the other.If the rotation is rough or catches, or if you hear crunching or grinding then it is a CV joint. If everything is wonderfully smooth, then it still may be the CV but is more likely the viscous coupling in the transfer case. To test this, let down one of the front wheels keeping one jacked up. Have the parking brake off, and try to rotate the one raised tire vigorously by hand, applying a steady force for at least 15-30 seconds. If the wheel won't turn one bit, the viscous unit isprobably bad. The wheel should be able to be turned very slowly, but after 30 seconds should have only turned about 1/8-1/16th of a rotation.

Hope this helps, and of the two, a CV would be cheaper to fix.

Cheers;

 

Greg, thanks for your reply. I will perform those tests this weekend. We're running about 124,000 miles, so maybe it's time to do some underbody work. I replaced the airbags with coil springs about two months ago. This improved my ride, but I've noticed some front end vibration gradually getting worse over 70mph. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again. Chris