Clunking noise on rough ground

Sofasurfer · Sep 11, 2018

Defender 90 1997 300 tdi
Purs along on the road, no noise over pot holes. Jumped up and down on the front bumper both sides, no noise from suspension. Off road on farm tracks, no noise. On field edges and uneven grass there is a loud, heavy clunk coming from the front, sounds under the pedals or near front offside wheel. Checked all the rubber bushes, all seem OK. Steering damper has slight lateral movement, when I rock the offside end it knocks inside the rubber gaiter. Is that normal? Also the track rod protection bracket is rubbing on the track rod, see photo. The track rod is straight, is that wear acceptable? I can't see how it could cause a knock. Any ideas gratefully received.

Kwakerman · Sep 11, 2018

Track rod shouldn't touch the guard so its probably bent. Take the guard off and give it a try to prove it

dag019 · Sep 11, 2018

It does not take much of a bend in the rack rod to run on the bracket. If you take it off it and stand it next to a new one you will likely find it has a very slight bend in it. I recently had the same thing. Looked straight on the vehicle and not bend enough to alter tyre wear.

Sofasurfer · Sep 11, 2018

OK, thank you, I'll remove it and report the outcome. How would a track rod get bent ?

Kwakerman · Sep 11, 2018

Sofasurfer said:
OK, thank you, I'll remove it and report the outcome. How would a track rod get bent ?

Assuming its bent down rather than bent back could be a sign that one of the front wheels got badly curbed. If it is also bent backwards then it may have hit something when off roading

dag019 · Sep 12, 2018

They are a weak link, I assume by design, so they are the first thing to give when a wheel gets a significant shunt. Bouncing up and down curbs hard, hitting something off road hard, anything that applies a large lateral load to single wheel has the potential to cause this damage. They are also vulnerable to getting caught up off road, even if you have a steering guard fitted and being behind the axle, I have had mine get caught up when I scraped the axle over a large rock.

tottot · Sep 12, 2018

The good thing is if you bend one badly a racthet strap can pull it back into line enough to get you home.

Sofasurfer · Sep 12, 2018

I had the right front wheel bearing seize a couple of months ago and the resultant skid and shuddering halt probably bent it. I'll take the bracket off when it stops raining

dag019 · Sep 12, 2018

Sofasurfer said:
I had the right front wheel bearing seize a couple of months ago and the resultant skid and shuddering halt probably bent it. I'll take the bracket off when it stops raining

That'll do it! At ;east it is easy to take off an check and if it is bent it is easy to and chea to replace, even if you replace the TRE's as well.
A word of warning if you tak eit to a garage afterwards to do the tacking however. Make sure you know how to set the tracking yourself and if this is the only part that you have touched do not let them adjust anything else!
After doing mine I got the garage to do the tracking. They sheared the clamp bolt and they were trying to adjust the drag link which had not been touched. I then straightened the wheels until the drag link reading was correct and made them re-adjust the tack rod. Only let them play with things that have been changed or they are likely to mess up the rest of it as well.

Sofasurfer · Sep 12, 2018

Took the bracket off, no noise. Only driven on the road though, tomorrow off road all day so that should be a good test

Sofasurfer · Sep 16, 2018

The deflection in the middle of the track rod is about 5mm. I put spacers under the bracket to adjust it's position. The knocking has nearly gone, it only happens on very rough ground and now I know the cause, I don't worry about it

tottot · Sep 16, 2018

Get yourself a spare rod,cheap enough and ready when you need it.

Kwakerman · Sep 16, 2018

Just remember that a bent rod isn't as strong as a straight one so may get worse over time. Have you also checked the tracking as bending the rod will cause it to toe out but probably not enough for you to notice?

Sofasurfer · Sep 16, 2018

Thank you, going in for service and MOT in October so I'll get it sorted then

Clunking noise on rough ground

Sofasurfer

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Kwakerman

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dag019

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Sofasurfer

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Kwakerman

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dag019

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tottot

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Sofasurfer

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dag019

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Sofasurfer

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Sofasurfer

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tottot

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Kwakerman

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Sofasurfer

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