Had new radius arm bushes and wot not fitted about 2 months ago.

Took car to be tracked. Seemed pretty good after but within a week or so, i'd decided that it drifted too much to the left. Holding the wheel straight, you can feel the slight tension of it wanting to go left.

I've had other problems to be getting on with since such as the EAS fiasco and working doesn't always give me the time to get over to the garage. It was on my to do list.

Then i found that my draglink ball joint had loads of play in it so i thought that i may had found the problem. Replaced it and although better, didn't cure it. Found the time to take it back to the garage who said that it drove straight when they test drove it. I told them that it's not in my interest to make things up and i insisted that they get it on the lift and investigate. When they did, they said that it had been tracked to just over+1. I told them that they had tracked it the wrong way as it should be 0.6-1.8 of toe out. They also pointed out that the balljoint on the other end of my draglink was split. This was news to me as it appeared to be in good nick when i did the other end. They said there was no point in adjusting the tracking until i'd sorted the draglink. Agreeing (i thought) with the manager that they would sort it out for me when i fixed it, I took it away and fitted a full new draglink.

Took the car back yesterday and was duly informed that as i'd had radius arm bushes done, that i was the cause of the poor tracking and not them. I explained that the radius arms were done before the tracking but they wouldn't have it and said i'd have to pay for it to be tracked. I argued that they'd done it wrong in the first place as it was tracked the wrong way. Getting nowhere, i said i'd just pay and for them to sort it. Up it went on the lift and sure enough, i was still tracked to just over +1. They adjusted it to -0.6 and off we went for a test drive. Still the same so i suggested that they take it to the limit and see what happens. Adjusted it to -1.8, took it for a drive and still no different.

Next the bloke asks me how i want to pay. Told him i couldn't pay for it as they hadn't tracked it. He said they'd adjusted it. We went round in circles for a while and all this time i had my 8 year old with me so had to concede to paying. Announcing that i'd be back with bells on to speak to the manager on Monday and haggle further for a refund.

So i'm feeling a little hard done by here and i'm still no further forward. From my point of view i'venot touched anything or fitted anything that can be attributed to cocking up the tracking. The garage tracked it wrong in the first instance so the adjustment should be free. However, now they've adjusted it to the outside limit and it's still no different perhaps points to something else other than tracking causing the problem which i can't blame them for. Although, since it's literally 5 minutes to get it up in the air and turn the bolt, i would have expected them to not charge me and just say, sorry we're unable to track it.

A point to note is that they only adjusted the trackrod bar. At no point did they touch the draglink. Is that right? I would have assumed it should all be slacked off to begin with.

Where can i go from here? I'm pretty sure my steering box is centred as i checked this a couple of months back when i first had it tracked.

Try driving on the wrong side of the road, it might just be trying to follow the camber. Are the tyres at the correct pressures and both the same? Any odd wear on either front tyres?

Done that. I must say that it's 99% of the time. There is the odd occasion it drives straight. Tyre pressures are good. Wear seams even. I don't think it's camber. We're talking every road. Including car parks. And when you hit a little divet in the road, the immidiate steering reaction is to the left.

All the front bushes have been done. Only thing i haven't done is droplinks but they look ok.

How much play should there be in the wheel? I can wobble it a bit from let to right without the wheels moving. More so to the left though.

Anything else on the steering that would wear?

The drag link needs to be adjusted after installation, using the steering box centralisation marks, so that straight ahead on the box = straight ahead on the wheels.
What radius arm/ panhard bushes did you fit? Poly or standard, LR/ Lemforder OEM or "other"? Were they fitted correctly, as it's easy to mess them up if not done with the correct tool?
You've looked at everything on the front, but have you looked at the rear axle bushes? You may be getting rear wheel steer if the radius arm/ panhard bushes are worn.
If you can face going back to your alignment guys, get them to check that the rear wheels are aligned to the centre line of the car. You'll get a few funny looks when you ask them to check a beam axle car, as, obviously, the hubs are fixed to each other by the axle so there's nothing adjustable

Wheel is straight so i suppose the draglink doesn't need adjusting.

Fitted Bearmach bushes. Not poly. I didn't fit them but it looks like they've been done ok. No damage from what i can see. I have bushes to fit for the rears but haven't done it yet as they seem to be fine. The front one's were knackered. Loads of play.

I see what you're saying about rear wheel steer (is that camber?) but as i mentioned, if you hit a pothole or something (doesn't have to be a big crater), it want's to heave itself to the left which makes me think that there's something already pushing it to the left on the front. I'm working on a street house at the moment and park my car in the back street. It's a pretty bumpy up hill street. When i set off, i'm only doing about 5mph or so going up hill and the steering wheel wobbles like mad hitting every bump and hole as i drive up the street.

Is there anything on the box that would wear out causing more play to the left?

The only thing i'll be going back to the alignment guys for is my refund. I don't think they've done a very pro job and i'm fairly dissatisfied with their attitude. I appreciate if i have a secondary issue that prevents them from successfully tracking it then it's not their fault that it wont track. However, i'd expect a steering place to be fault finding the reason why. Not waiting for me to tell them what the fault is. If i knew that, i'd fix it myself and stop wasting money on Bozos that want an early finish on a Friday.

Just cos the steering wheel is straight doesn't mean it's been set up properly. Steering wheels can be taken off and moved around a spline or seven to get things looking right!
The steering is designed so that the straight ahead position on the box (ie centred) should be as near as damn it to straight ahead on the wheels
As the good book says:
12 Adjust drag link to nominal length of 1170 mm ±10mm.
15 Use steering box centralising feature to centralise box. Fit drag link.
19 Check front wheel alignment. See Adjustment.
Worth trying to adjust out any play in steering box as well.

ok.

I checked steering box was centered when i first began having problems before i did bushes. Notches lined up but my steering wheel was at about 2' o'clock so i adjusted my drag link to centre the wheel.

Had bushes done, box still centered, wheel still centered.

Had it tracked, box and wheel still centered.

Fitted drag link ball joint myself. Box and wheel still centered.

Took it back for tracking and was shown that otherside draglink ball joint was bust. Fitted a new one myself. Again, all still centered.

Took it for tracking yesterday and that's where we're up to at the moment.

As i say above, when i bought the car, the steering wheel was at 2'o'clock when driving straight. This is probably a bit weird although nothing i've done since to correct it has made any difference to tracking or steering. It's always the same, pulling to the left.

Although it's possible that in the past the wheel has been off and not put back on right, i can't see it. As i now have a straight steering wheel, straight wheels and both notches on box line up and it still pulls to the left.

How do you adjust play in the box? is there a nut or something?

My head hurts. lol

There's an adjuster on the top of the box with a lock nut. Adjust with box centred. Aim is to just eliminate free play, but not to the point where the steering becomes tight in any position.

I'll go have a look now.

Righty tighty, lefty loosey?

I'f i rock the union joint at same time, that should indicate when i've got it right i imagine.

If when it decides to pull left, does a sharp jerk to the right sort the problem?, if so replace the panhard bushes, most importantly replace the bolts ( tighten to correct torque). These bolts have been known to wear,,

panhard bushes been done.

Just had a bash at the steering adjustment. I can wind the screw quite a way out, but i can't get it to go in any further than a turn. There's still a bit of screw proud of the top of the bolt. Proper tight although the bolt remains slack. I've tightened the bolt back down but zero difference to the play. Maybe there's a loada crap on the screw inside the bolt? will it all come off so i can have a look and clean it up?

As i wobble the union joint, the steering wheel moves with it. It will only move to the left. There's no play to the right at all. Should there be play at all? Can someone waggle theirs for me and tell me? (no smut please)

When you slacken the locknut on the steering box adjuster, that also slackens the adjuster. I always put a blob of white paint on it before slackening off so I can see where it was originally. Then hold the locknut with a spanner, screw the adjuster in until you can feel some resistance then, while holding the adjuster, nip up the locknut. If going over bumps causes the steering to wobble, you've got slack in there somewhere.

White paint - Tipex might as well shift from stationery suppliers to car parts stockists, I always keep some around lol.

Gilbertd wrote:

When you slacken the locknut on the steering box adjuster, that also slackens the adjuster. I always put a blob of white paint on it before slackening off so I can see where it was originally. Then hold the locknut with a spanner, screw the adjuster in until you can feel some resistance then, while holding the adjuster, nip up the locknut. If going over bumps causes the steering to wobble, you've got slack in there somewhere.

I can't screw the adjuster in anymore. Seems to get tight in the nut although the nut is still slack. Will the nut and adjuster unscrew completely and come off so i can inspect for muck? There's about 5mm of adjuster left proud on the top of the nut. Should it be able to screw in completely?

Yes and yes. You should be able to screw the adjuster all the way through the nut. Take it out (unscrew it completely) and clean the threads up so it will screw right the way through.

Think I went a bit far with the adjuster. Panzer tank springs to mind! lol

Yeah, overdo it and the steering does get a bit heavy...... Back it off a bit.

Absolutely fuming!!!!

Been under the car inspecting all the front axle parts to see if there's something amiss. Cars had never been a hobby of mine until i bought a Range Rover. It has been a steep but enjoyable learning curve and since owning it i now know a hell of a lot more stuff than the average Joe and obviously more than before i got one. I now know what i'm looking at, what a job might entail and how it should be done.

The radius arm bushes that i had fitted a couple of months back caught my eye whilst under there. I noticed that it was a little distorted where it's been pressed through. Not much but enough to have me poke about further. Upon looking closely i can just see inside it where the bolt goes through and the rubber is absolutely shagged. Not from wear but from being f**d when it was pressed in. The inner sleeve is ripped away. I imagine that the knob that's done it has pressed it in putting force on the centre. The same applies to the other side. Absolute garbage!

So i'm paying good money to have a job done and then paying money to have it tracked when all the while i'm throwing the money away as unbeknownst to me the first job has been done by an incompetent idiot. I had no reason to suspect dodgy bushes and no reason at all to inspect them.

FFS what's the matter with people????

I'll get some poly's and do the buggers myself. Which Poly's are the ones considered to be avoided? Is it the yellow britpart ones or all britpart?

I had a sneaking suspicion that the bushes might be to blame.
If you really want to fit poly's the only ones I've heard consistently good things about are Powerflex
https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/products/Range+Rover+P38+%281994-2001%29-3085/1.html

I swapped the radius arms on mine with those from the SE and they've got orange poly bushes in. No idea how long they had been on the SE before I got it but they've done at least 40,000 on mine and are still fine. So I would say orange poly bushes are OK too.