m-o-t failure HELP

[pezzol]

unfortunatly not two months after i baught her G-PWR has failed her MOT :(  :( .
as a land rover novice can anyone please help as i'm stuck on how serious these problems are and how much i should be spending.

I quote:-
1.Nearside front draglink end ball joint has excessive play.
2.Offside front lower(ball joint on drop arm from steering box got excessive playin it) drag link end ball joint has excessive play.
3.offside front(sphere got excessive and seals leaking) axle swivel joint has excessive play.
4.front (both wheels on full lock fouling the torsion arms) maybe incorrect tires fitted.


there was also some electrical problems and some welding on the rear sills but i've sorted these already. i have 245/75/r16 bronco roughrider tires fitted and one was rubbing on full lock because the wheel was buckled.  they now rub only slightly on extreme full lock and the lad i baught the car off told me he has had them fitted for 3years with no mot problems!!!!

i'm especially worried about number3, the sphere seems ok but it is leaking now although i'm sure it wasn't before.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i'm worried my beloved landy is going to end up consigned to the drive.
     
cheers

[Dr Neil]

by the sound of it items 1 and 2 are just the track rod ends that need replacing at the relevant places.
Item 3 with the excess play could be due to the top and bottom swivel bearings worn out which could also lead to the sphere seal leaking due to the excess movement.
Item no. 4 sounds like you just need to adjust the lock stops slightly to stop the tyres fouling on the radius arms (you could always adjust them back after the test if you wanted).

All the jobs are pretty straight forward..

Good luck and i hope this helps

Neil......

[Skibum346]

Pezzol,

As Neil Thorne said... all fairly straightforward jobs.

The biggest in terms of time and labour is the swivel bearing. Two things... if I was you I would change both sides and the swivel seals at the same time.

I've just done the same job and although it was a bit of a slog there was nothing too technical to worry about.

The one to watch for is the ball joint on the end of the drop arm. A kit is available to replace the innards. But...there is a race in there that has a very small lip making it extremely difficult to get out in situ. Taking the drop arm off and replacing the whole thing is another option but the drop arm is notoriously difficuly to remove and you may want to consider getting your garage to do it as if too much BFI (Brute Force & Ignorance) is used you can knacker a £200 steering box. Mine is booked in for the end of the month!

If you need a more detailed explnation try the technical pages... I think someone has posted a description recently. Or... get in touch.

Good luck

Skibum

[Budgie]

You're talking about £7.50 per ball joint, £6.50 for the drop arm kit or £35-£40 for a new drop arm, nothing to adjust your steering stops and the swivle housing play may also cost nothing!

On the swivel housing you have two pins, top & bottom. Under the top pin should be some shims, if you remove the right amount of shims it will take out the free-play and may re-seal the housing.
If you remove the top pin and can't see any shims then new bearings will be required, with new shims!! See the manual for the correct torque required to move the housing.  

If you find the play is remove but the seal is still leaking then you could, as tempary measure, refill the housing with "one shot grease". The gease is slightly thicker than EP90 oil and doesn't leak as much, but you will have to replace the seal at some point.  

[pezzol]

cheers for all the help, been onto land ranger and there sending me their kit for the sphere(gaskets seals and bearings) and the ball joints i need.
should be here today.
£78 for the lot didn't seem too bad and thats to do both spheres.
will let you know how i get on

[nickW]

swivel arent really that hard to change, i found it a bit scary at first but the lads on helped me through it, it is how ever the most messy job in the world