Been thinking about the Range Rover today...

Our local JLR specialist has quoted me £110 to do a full 4 wheel alignment. Last year I replaced all the bushes and ball joints on the front suspension.

I'm in the process of replacing the bushes on both rear wishbones and both rear hubs at the moment which are the ones that are adjustable for the tracking. The others I can't find any play in with a pry bar.

One thing that I've not yet changed in the time I've had the car are the track rod ends. I can't feel any play in them but I've decided that whilst I'm at it I'm going to replace both of them so that it reduces the risk of it needing to be aligned again if one of them starts to show signs of wear.

I've ordered a pair of them this evening so hopefully they'll arrive soon.

I was looking at wheel centre caps for it too... In 2020 I bought a set of these and they were £27 for 4. Today, they retail at £67 for a set of 4!  2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior

Hi David, how did you drive out the bush with one side having a flange on it and getting in the way. I'm thinking of doing mine soon. Do you also think a 10 Ton press will be up to the job?

Cheers, Paul. 2010 RR Autobiography 5.0 SC
2020 F-Pace SVR 5.0 SC
2018 RRS HSE Dynamic 3.0
2014 Disco XXV
2011 Disco 3.0
2009 RRS HST V8

The lower wishbones don't have the flange on them, that's only on the upper ones.

They were a sod to remove on my last car as you need to press them from the inside to the outside so you can't use a press on them.

From memory with the last car I burnt the rubber out of them and took them out with a hammer and a chisel.

Refitting the new bushes should be doable on a 10 ton press I'd think, removing the old ones might be a bit more difficult. If it is, heat the wishbone and take them out with a hammer and a chisel being careful not to bruise the bore of the arm.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior

Cheers for that David. At least I now know that there is no way of pressing them out. I will just go carefully when driving them out by hand. 2010 RR Autobiography 5.0 SC
2020 F-Pace SVR 5.0 SC
2018 RRS HSE Dynamic 3.0
2014 Disco XXV
2011 Disco 3.0
2009 RRS HST V8

Have a look at my post here from 26th March 2022.

https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic57991-315.html

You can see how I attempted it with some threaded rod. I couldn't use a lot of heat as I'd already painted the wishbone with a 2 pack epoxy paint which I didn't have any more of.

I reckon if you put some heat into the arm and tried that method with the threaded rod you'd probably get one of them out. Then blank the hole with a piece of metal and try the other side.

A little heat into the wishbone makes a huge difference. I just did my lower rears that way after warming the wishbone with oxy/acetylene before they were powder coated.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior

Great reading. many thanks!  2010 RR Autobiography 5.0 SC
2020 F-Pace SVR 5.0 SC
2018 RRS HSE Dynamic 3.0
2014 Disco XXV
2011 Disco 3.0
2009 RRS HST V8

Managed to get the rear wishbones refitted tonight.

Put some wing protectors face down on the ramp so the wishbones sat on the soft side which allowed me to secure them to the hub and rest them on the ramp so I could refit the airbag into them and position the drop links, etc. before lifting them up and putting the rear bolts into the subframe.

Really pleased with them, they look great.

Oh yea... I found a pair of genuine Land Rover keyrings that I bought from Duckworths Land Rover years ago so put one of them on the key for this RR tonight.

Finished cleaning up the steel behind where the jacking points are mounted today. Quite pleased with how they've both turned out.

Another job for this afternoon was to change the track rod ends.

The drivers side went off without a hitch and was changed without any problems at all.

The passengers side was a nightmare! It was seized solid. I got the oxy/acetylene out and heated it until it was glowing and then tried to get it undone again. It started to move but very quickly bound up and got stuck again. The spanner then started to slip on the tie rod. I gave it some more heat but it made no difference.

In the end I had to get the angle grinder out and cut a slot down both sides of the track rod end. Once I'd done this I opened both slots up with a cold steel chisel and was finally able to undo the track rod end.



I then wire brushed the thread on the track rod, oiled it up and used the impact gun to run the nut that locks the track rod end up and down it a few times. It cleaned up nicely and the new one went back on nicely. Typical though as it should've been a quick job that turned into a pain.

Thankfully I noticed it before sending it in to the specialist as there's no way they'd have been able to track it like it was. Between that and the bolt that was seized in the rear toe control arm they'd have never been able to align it if I hadn't have given it all a good going over.

Final job for today was to take all of the tyres off all of the wheels as I've had enough of the finish bubbling on them. I'd been meaning to get them sorted at the tail end of last year but figured there wasn't much point before the winter so I let them take the salt before getting them done. The wheels were a bit scabby when I bought it so they're overdue a refurb. I'm desperately hoping they can match the original shadow chrome finish though!

Annoyingly, the finish on them was OK, it was all corrosion under the finish. The backs were a right mess too so I don't think the weights would have actually stuck to them for balancing.

Top jobs as always David, those wheels were on my S\C when I bought it, mine were diamond cut which always leads to corrosion, looks like yours have been painted or powder coated over the top...!!!

Hopefully they will a be well when done properly...

Love the look of the jacking points, great you caught them in time, never seen such clean ones.

 Pete
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Thanks Pete.

There’s were 2 finishes on these wheels available from new.

Diamond cut was one of them and shadow chrome was the other one. Having had diamond cut on other cars I’m glad these were shadow chrome as they work well against the silver and it should be a harder finish. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior

Outstanding work !!

Yes David, you need all the help you can get with the winters you get up there...  Pete
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Thanks

Wheels dropped off this morning. They've photographed the spare which had the best representation of the factory shade of shadow chrome which they reckon they'll be able to match which is great news as I really want to keep it original.

Looking at £5-600 to refurbish the set of 5. They're going to check them for buckles before they start the refurb, if they're buckled they'll straighten them all out but that of course comes with an extra cost of £70 per wheel so we'll see what this ends up costing by the end of the week

The wife doesn't even know they're not on the car at present so this might take some explaining when they're all immaculate.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior