Back Again...

Hello Freelander 'Nuts'..

Been busy with work..etc but have had the opportunity to get some work done on my daughters TD4.. Dropped the rear suspension to remove the tank and cradle(which is being replaced) and now got clear access to the underside and brakes lines which are being replaced with conifer pipes. Son and I will be giving the underside a good clean and then it will be treated and painted before everything gets replaced. Diff bushes getting replaced and the general idea is to replace the bushes on all the suspension arms and connecting points. About 1/2 way through this ATM... I will then move to the front of the car and sort out the steering column which has a worn bushing and is loose when the wheel is 'wiggled'...the bushing is just above the U'J. that is just visible if you stick your head under the bottom of the dashing the drivers footwell....first things first though..

Good luck. Well worth doing and sounds like you are doing it properly.

+1 to what Andy said, I am glad to see someone else doing it properly, rather than on the cheap. If you hit any problems let us know, but while you have the back end in bits why not replace the links, they are cheap as chips and might save you a bit of faffing about later. Alternatively, copperslip is your friend, dowse everything with it on reassemly, saves you heartache later on.

Thanks, Jay..having looked at the prices on 'Fleabay' the links vary in price but I couldn't describe them as 'cheap' if doing all of them. Was looking at buying the bushes separately, I have the tools to get the old ones out...and I have been looking for a reason to buy a 20 tonne press also...But what you say makes sense if I just want to 'get it done' (Time is at a premium) and I really need to get the old 'units' into the blasting cabinet to see how well they come out the other side.....I think the first time I helped my dad as a boy it was replacing the bushes on his VW microbus....threaded rods, nuts and washers in a vice...and much swearing....I have it easy...many tools my dad could only have dreamt about....but only a 10th (if that) of the knowledge...The replacement of the arms is still being debated in my head...Thanks again... B-)

The threaded one for the toe adjustment will certainly need replacing if you want to get the alignment set up properly, don't know how far north in scotland you are, but my freelander has been Aberdeenshire all its days, and the two links that connect to the bottom of the hub with the overly long pivot bolt were seized into one rusty amalgamated assembly. Even knowing I could use my two poster, and had new links to replace the old ones, I was a full, hard, day extricating all the addenda from the hubs.

You COULD just replace the adjustment link and reuse the bodies of the fixed links by pressing new bushes into them, and probably have to budget on replacing the pivot bolt?

For clarity - I've only done the two links that form the wishbones, on both sides, I've not done the long trailing arm link that comes from just forward of the back arches around the frame rails on the floor pan.