QuestionI have a 1998 LR Discovery. When driving it feels ask if your sliding on ice. When turning right or left you have to turn the wheel farther than you should in order to do so. Its not the steering wheel itself that is loose, it feels much deeper. The loose area is from 11 to 1 on the steering wheel. Its become quite scary when going about 45+ mph and no one up here in Alaska had any idea whats wrong with it. Please help!
AnswerHi Leah,
With Disco lifted, grab hold of front wheel (at positions 9 and 3) and see if there is movement when you jerk either side. Ball joint, panhard rod, drag link can contribute to this problem.
Workshop manual:
As the output shaft of the steering box turns, hydraulic pressure is supplied via the rotary control valve to the steering box. The hydraulic pressure acts on a rack that assists with the movement of the output shaft of the steering box. A drop arm is attached to the output shaft of the steering box. The drop arm is connected to a drag link by a ball joint.
The drag link is connected via ball joints to one front steering knuckle and road wheel. A track rod connected to this steering knuckle links the two steering knuckles together. As one steering knuckle and road wheel is turned by the drag link, the other steering knuckle and wheel is moved by the track rod.
Do you have a local garage that can do wheel alignments? Generally, the newer 'computer assisted' wheel alignment systems can at lease indicate possible component failure areas. I had a problem once and a local VW dealer diagnosed ball-joint problems by trying to perform a wheel alignment. Did the trick and saved me a huge towing bill.
How far are you from a LR dealer?
Best of luck,
JohnMc
