Looking for suggestions as to what work my official unofficial kid sister should get done to cure recurring failure of the front lower arm suspense bushes on her 2003 TD6. She got the car 2 years ago with around 53,000 miles on the clock. Its now up to about 84,000 miles and is on the third set of front suspension lower arms in her ownership.

First set were fitted shortly after she got the car and lasted about 6,000 miles. Second set lasted around 22,000 before the clonk became seriously objectionable. She said the clonk from the front was back when arriving for a fortinghts visit. Quick trip to the my local 4x4 specialist confirmed that the bushes were starting to go already. Apparently the new tyres I had fitted at the same time have significantly reduced the clonk which may mean something.

All the replacement arms were Delphi brand. First set was fitted by a local to her Land Rover independent apparently, from her immediately previous dealings, busy trashing previous reputation for good work so I assumed things were tightened up unloaded. Second set fitted by an inspector meticulous type, I'm pretty sure that work would have been done well. Third set fitted by a small 4x4 specialist close to where she lives who appears to tick all the boxes for doing things right.

I've had a quick crawl underneath and everything looks OK with no strained bushes. But I run a P38 so lack appropriate experience. She lives over 100 miles away, I don't really plan on doing any of the work either. She isn't the most patient of drivers so the car does get hoofed on occasion. I don't think she really accepts that its legitimate for a Full Fat Range Rover to take longer to get places than her Hayabusa!

I'm told that Range Rover Sport bushes are stronger and can be pressed into a set of Delphi made arms. She has kept one defective set so that would be pretty easy to do.

Thanks for any advice

Clive

I would think the only "normal" thing that would accelerate wear is continued dry steering...

The alignment could be out, that wouldn't do them any good but you would usually see that in the tyres first... Pete

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Hi - I did read that when fitting these whoever does it needs to just loosely fit the bolts while the car is on the axle stands - then when the weight of the car is back on the wheels you can tighten the bolts up to spec - this stops the bushes "twisting" under load - this leads to premature wear, could this be the problem?

Darren

^this is true, and I have had a set go because of it. 4 post ramp is a must!

But to have 3 sets fail what are the chances that they were all fitted with the wheels hanging.

Have you checked the ball joints on the large arm? These can wear too, so can the drop links. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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It says in the post that the first set may not have been tightened like that but the second and third set were....... Pete

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2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
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Can't see it being a steering alignment issue as the tyres that were on it when she arrived were merely very worn. Far too worn but evenly so.

I think she has remarked that the latest mechanics thought things in the steering were a bit dry so maybe that has been attended to.

It does seem unlikely that all three sets were incorrectly fitted. However I'm certain that the guy who did the second set took much more time and care than is normal in a vehicle workshop so its possible that he got the best life out of them despite extra loads from wearing ball joints, drop links or whatever. That said I'd have expected my local 4X4 guy to have spotted any such excessive wear.

Not in a position to do any work or serious checking on the vehicle myself but I would like some ideas for her to throw at the mechanics.

Thanks

Clive

Dry steering means turning the wheels when the car is stationary, with power steering this puts a lot of stress on the suspension arms, you should be moving, even very slowly before you turn the wheel....  Pete

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Haylands

Thanks for explaining what dry steering means these days. I'm old enough to associate it with forgetting to go round witht eh grease gun every few months!
Anyway she claims she doesn't try to turn the stearing unless the car is moving.

Clive

Id maybe go for a long drive with her and see what she's like. Maybe there is a certain bad road thats hammering the bush in a weird way but to me it sounds like they may need fitting as above and a proper 4wheel laser alignment done as well. FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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It could be a country road, the road I used to drive down to site had terrible potholes on the N/S. Used to eat ball joints on the transit and Renault vans. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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Bumping this thread as she has gone through two more sets of lower arms and the knock is still there.

Last set, fitted by yet another indy and said to be "much better than Delphi" lasted about 1,000 miles before knock came back! Said indy now proposes to do a warranty fix by pushing out the standard bushings and shoving in poly-bushes. In other words bodging it! Given that said indy charged her over £1,000 for a service and replacement lower arms then over £300 to remove the EGR valve and replace a broken parking sensor I figure he owes her more than a bodge! Like fixing the real fault.

I get the feeling that the knock isn't lower arms despite 4 "said to be good" mechanics claiming that to be the fault. So where does she go from there. Is there anyone known to be competent in the Welwyn Garden City area I can send her to? I gather lower ball joints, anti-roll bar bushes and upper arms can also produce such knocks.

If push comes to shove and it doesn't get fixed how practical, and roughly how costly, is it to do the nuclear option of replacing all reasonable suspects without access to a ramp? I'm guessing nuclear option is both arms, all ball joints and anti-roll bar bushes. Not something I want to do but if needs must she can borrow my P38 for a week whilst I get it done.

Thanks

Clive

May not be related but do you have Dunlop struts ?

Far as I know they are still original ones on there. Car has done 89,000 (ish) miles and I'd have probably have heard if they had been changed.

Clive

Last edited by Clive603 on 6th Feb 2017 11:41am. Edited 1 time in total

I have a knock that is coming from the OSF on mine and it is definitely not bushes but probably the strut.

Might be worth going to LR for their opinion and ask to test drive it with one of their techs to see what they think before shelling out any more money

cheers and good luck Alex

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^^
Could be a possibility. I changed my front struts just over a year ago and there was a knock developing on the front offside which disappeared after fitting the new struts.

The front struts are really,IMO, a service item and, at 85,000, might be due for a change. John
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