Hello all,

My brother and I, recently did a lot of suspension work on the 2007 LR3 V8 SE.

1. changed the rear half shaft. Forgot to strap the steering wheel down. When I was done, the steering wheel was no longer straight. The left side of the wheel was in the 9:30 position.

2. Change the lower control arm on the passenger side because the old lower control arm was splitting due to rust. We did the job on a lift. Once the lower control arm was installed, to set the 485mm height we jacked up the knuckle while the car was in the lift and measure the center of the hub to the lower trim piece of the wheel well.

3. Change the right front air strut because it was leaking. We purchased Maxspeedingrods. Holds air fine.

4. Leaking center valve block. We purchased Autohaux block not oem.

5. Replaced the left rear toe link. The nut was frozen due to the rust.


The following problems occurred:

After step 3, the car felt like it was swaying from side to side from the rear. When you turn left the back right loses traction. Both my wife and I drive it frequently. My brother drives it infrequently and he thinks it could be possibly from the front.

- I have an Autel. I check the reference voltage from the height sensors

All 3 sensors (normal) height, roughly 2.05V and the right rear 1.75V. The lower control arm we changed. To check to see if the reference voltage was working by raising the car, the voltage goes up on all 4 wheels (with the rear right 0.5V behind the other 3). I lowered the car to access height and the voltage lowered maintaining the 0.5V lower difference on the right rear.

After step 4, I noticed when I park the car. After an hour or so. The rear of the truck is raised as though it is in off road height. The front remains normal.

Remaining problem:

air compressor raises too slowly. I have yet to fix the problem.

The reservoir tank was replaced, the front valve block was replace, the front right strut was replaced and the center block. The truck no long sinks at night. At 160k miles and the original amk compressor, we decided to purchase an Arnott air compressor which we plan on installing.

Questions:

The truck prior to the suspension work ran super solid. Has anyone experienced swaying from side to side after suspension work?

Also, to set the 485MM should I be measuring this with the wheel on? I did it on a lift with the wheel off and measuring the center using the hub. The reference voltages from Autel lead me to believe we may have not made the right adjustment.

Plan:

Plan on replacing the compressor.
Align the truck
and reset the suspension using the Autel to normal tolerance

Any additional thoughts on the swaying would be very helpful as the truck does not feel particularly safe.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

1 - Rear half shaft would have nothing to do with steering. So not sure what ya mean?

2 - Yup, that is fine. Assuming you are talking about rear, front is 465mm.

4 - The center block rarely leaks. I guess if I did not go OEM, the center would be the one since it does the least.

5 - Always do these in pairs.


Before I even opened this and only read the title, my suspicion was the rear links. They should be replaced in pairs and even 1mm of play can result is lots of rear steer. But based on evening else you describe, you REALLY need to go over this truck and I suspect much more need replacement. If you had one rotted arm, both should be replaced. You likely have bad upper arm bushings in the read and maybe bad bushings in the front lowers. You also say one star was replaced, this is also generally a bad idea because you will have an inbalance from side to side. Generally this it more felt over bumps though, hit one and the vehicle will undulate from side to side more than it should. EAS will probably not cause the issue because of cross likening, which will balance out pressure side to side at low speeds. So unless the EAS is giving a code, I would dont suspect the system itself being an issue (less the one new and old old strut setup).

Also consider that you need an alignment, if you have not. That too can cause handling issues.

Your adjustment from hub center to fender edge is fine the way you did it. It is how people, my self included, do it.

Never drive in high tolerance. Always normal tolerance.

 

The AMK compressor isnt original, it would have been replaced some time after 2012 when the Hitachi was not available and LR switched to the AMK. Make sure your replacement is made to replace an AMK as the piping and bracket is different to Hitachi.
Should replace struts in pairs as likely the other shock will be weak and causing handling issues.

 

Thank you for the response. I wanted to be thorough and give a full picture of all the work that was done.

The spec for the rear per Alldata:

Set the height between the center of the halfshaft end and the edge of the fender trim to 485 mm (19.10'').

Question: why does the reference voltage on the ride height sensors show approximately 2.05V (+/- 0.10V) and the right rear where the control arm was done is showing 1.75V?

I tried using my Autel to rebalance the air suspension to normal tolerance but it did not take care of the problem.

Thanks again for your thoughts it helps me think about possible causes. I will most definitely post what I do and the resolution to the problem.

 

Thanks. Was not aware the AMK is was the replacement. I will report back once the air compressor is installed. Comes with new dryer and relay as well.

With respect to the front strut I will consider changing as well.

 

With respect to using an aftermarket air strut like maxpeedingrods, does it have full functionality with the EAS system?

I have a 2007 Jaguar XJ8 and the Bilstein air struts are the only one that are fully functional with the Jaguar ECATS system.

 

Not sure what you mean by functionality. Its just an air bladder around a shock. There is no wiring to them, so no ECATS, active suspension, etc. The differences will be with longevity, ride comfort (or lack of) and possibly travel distance of the strut itself. Since OEM are not too expensive (I paid $450/pair shipped) and since I plan to own the vehicle for years, that is the route I went. Aftermarket brands can be hit or miss. Arnott is probably the only aftermarket air suspension brand I would go with, but they are more expensive than OEM.

 

My confusion. Yes there is no electrical harness on the air strut. Since I changed it out.

Unfortunately, my LR3 has 160k miles and is a northeast truck. I plan on keeping it 2 to 3 years. I trying to keep the cost down. I use it as a daily driver. I prefer to go the OEM route when possible but this air strut I purchased is a third of the cost you mentioned. I understand that I may open some variables unbeknown which can be related to after market products.

 

Not sure of the quality of the maxspeedingrods strut but my dad has a Mercedes ML350 and he replaced the AMK air compressor with a maxspeedingrods one 2 years ago and no issues so far, the guy on Waffleaquare youtube channel used them and i meant to ask him how they are holding up after a year.

 

Funny you mentioned Waffle Square. I purchased the air strut because he mentioned it on the video and seemed to work fine for him. Lol