I purchased my first LR3 on Saturday. 2008 with 70K miles. It is in perfect condition, with the exception of tight steering (lower steering shaft U-Joint?). and the fact that when they swapped the wheels they forgot to replace my spare, so I will be making a trip back down to get it. I bought this for my wife for her daily driving. She promptly named it "Cordelia" after her tour guide in London, since the Sat Nav has British accent.

I will be picking up a set of 18" wheels with more aggressive tires for our off-road excursions. Next purchase in the next week or so is a Disco II for my 15 year old so he will have a ride for his 16th birthday. It will be my turn soon!!!

 

What do you mean they forgot to replace your spare? Unless you had the H-D / locking rear diff package you wouldn't have a full size spare anyways. Are those stormers 20's?

Also "tight steering" is incredibly vague and could be caused by any of a hundred different factors. These have variable ratio ZF racks which should generally provide a consistent (ie. sporty) firm feel most of the time - I've driven and owned many and they're all like this. If something like a u-joint failed it wouldn't become firm, it would just become sloppy and have big "notches" in the rotation. FWIW I've never heard of the joints failing, maybe the rubber seal (squeaky noises) or the bearing (vibration/loose) but nothing directly related to steering rotational friction. If that is indeed a symptom it may be related to something else or a PS-system failure.

Congrats on the purchase. If I was your son I'd rather have a higher-mileage '05 V6 LR3 than 03/04 DII (don't tell my DII I said that!!)

 

They apparently we're gonna put a 20 under the back and it didn't fit.....so.....I gotta go get the original full size. Or some kind of excuse of the sort.

 

As far as the lower steering u-joint...it was pretty rusty...so I hit it with some CDC spray lithium and it freed it up a little. Couldn't really get to it to soak it. Will try that this weekend. Definately not pump or rack. ZERO slack when up on stands. And the pump is working great. I WILL, however be flushing the steering system with Royal purple and probably change the oil over to RP as well. They are 20" stormers OEM and I hate them. My wife loves them though. I told her it's hard to play in "high heels"

 

I'd have no reason to doubt them - the OE full size in HD package is the largest spare the LR3 can accommodate at 255/55/19 (30" overall dia) so depending on your tire choice, you may be over that.

If those are actual OEM LR 20's they're worth like $600 a piece!! I don't mind them but you can go much larger on the tires like I did, or just get a set of 18s for the trails lol.

Good luck with the steering - is it doing anything else specific or giving you specific symptoms?

 

When I turn at low speed it is tight, loose, tight, loose. Like a bound up u-joint. The joint is pretty rusty so I am gonna kill it with WD40 until I can get shaft replaced.

 

When I get mine later this year, I won't "rollin on DUBS" if you know what I mean. I have a Disco to buy for my kid in the next week or two, then I can go out and get mine. An you can bet I will be looking for 18s so I can have a little sidewall and room to "air down".

 

Is it just me or do you not have the stock front seats? I'm not seeing the trademark handles on the headrests from that photo.

 

Whoa.....

 

I am not sure. They have monitors in head rests and they look EXACTLY like Rover seats minus handles and the leather is impeccable. I just assumed they didn't have handles because of monitors as I have seen several LR3s at our dealership without handles when they have monitors in them. But I cannot honestly say.