Land Rover Repair: Click in floor board upon braking, acceleration, wheel rotations, brakes rotors

Question
G'day, John-

I have a '96 Disco, 160,000 miles, A/T, 4.0 liter gas. Over the last 6 weeks, I replaced the radius arm and pan hard bushings. Also replaced the two links and all ball joints for the steering. Also replaced the brakes, rotors and calipers. The  only thing I did wrong was snug up the slack adjuster in the steering box when the steering was hard-over to one side. When I returned it to center, I had a lot of resistance, so I of course loosened it and re-adjusted it when centered.

Now, whenever I stop, I feel a "click" in the floor board. When start up again, maybe in the first 1/4 to 1/2 wheel rotations, I hear and feel the click again. If sounds like some metal-to-metal contact is taken up by braking, and then taken up in the opposite direction by accelerating. I cannot imagine what it is since I think that I shot-gunned the whole front end.

Can you suggest where I might look? I got all of my replacement parts from British Atlantic, and one of their guys suggested the brake pads were moving upon braking, and then breaks free and moves in the opposite direction when I drive forward the first little bit. But that seems to me then to be bad parts (all parts were purchased from them for the repairs I did) since I would seem to have more parts tolerance than I need between he brake pads and calipers.They further suggested that the rust normally found in the caliper/pad interface takes up that slack. The problem I have with that whole explanation is that this problem didn't materialize right after I did the brake job (I did the brakes, 600 miles later did the bushings and steering, 200 miles later first felt the symptoms).

Any help here would be gratefully received. Thanks

Greg Gosian

Answer
I agree with AB that the most common cause of this noise is the brake pads moving.  You might try new hardware.  On older Rovers you sometimes get enough corrosion that (once you clean it off) the pads are actually loose in the caliper.

The next common cause is play in the radius arm bushes or panhard rod.


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John