Disco 2 '02 auto steering linkage change out.

Hi guys,
Well the old girl failed the MOT so one thing I'd not done before was changing out the linkages between steering wheel shaft and the steering box.
I'm not a mechanic, just an enthusiastic DIY'er through financial necessity and the guys who post on here and other Landy sites have helped me tremendously in the past with stuff that I'm sure is simple to them but until you know it, difficult to peeps like me.
Had a good look on here and on line and found a few good links so here's a few pics of mine. First off, I didn't follow the manual really but I recommend reading it first for guidance. I locked my steering just using the steering lock and fine tuned the steering wheel position by adjusting the position on the upper splines. A little time consuming but read the manual and you may choose to do the same.
Got the shaft and lower u/j from Britpart, not too expensive.
I removed the engine cover to improve access and it's quite good from the top. You can clearly see the splined shaft at the top coming through the bulkhead and the top u/j with it's single securing hex bolt. Following it forward leads to the splined shaft from the steering box where the two u/j's are secured by a single hex bolt and the T-40 torx screw.
I thoroughly soaked the two 14mm bolts (if memory serves) and the single T-40 torx screw securing the old one in WD40 and the point where the shaft slides up and down.
The hex bolts came out easy but I managed to snap my torx socket on the torx bolt, not impressed as had to go and buy another mid way through the job.
Lots more WD40 and out it came. Next was to ease the old one off.
I copied the method I'd seen in a post online and used a crow-bar to carefully ease the joints off the splined ends. I placed a hammer behind the bar at the bulk-head end for a bit of leverage. It came off surprisingly easy, I guess the easing oil did the trick.
To replace is virtually just the reverse of what I've written. The new one has three T-40 torx screws instead of the two bolts and one screw.
Remove them completely and seperate the upper and lower parts.
Fit the two U/J's on the steering box then insert the upper part through the slot in the two U/J's and align the upper joint and slide it on to the steering column shaft splines.
When you insert the torx screws, ensure the screw holes align with the grooves in the splined shafts.
There are torque settings in the manual but I just re-tightened to what the old ones felt like to undo. As before, I suggest you check the manual.
As you can see, it's not difficult to do and doesn't require much in the way of tools. I don't have a very long extension to my ratchet so I just put a few together and it reached fine.
I'm not short but 'borrowing' my wifes kitchen steps helped me get in a position to reach in and down.
I hope this is of use to another inexperienced DIYer like me and any feed back from the more knowledgeable here is very welcome.

So, job done and not as difficult as I thought. Carried out a few other 'bits' for the MOT and the next day drove down to the garage.
If you look at the last two pictures you see the result of my meeting a deer on the road down.
Looks like it's going to be an insurance write-off so I'm not happy.
I've sort of had the options explained but if anyones' got any advice on what to do or say to the insurance peeps re the vehicle, I'd be grateful for a heads up.
Cheers Rob

Bonnet,grill,headlight bumper

Hi fanatic,
Agreed mate plus there's a dent in the offside wing where the indicator butts up to it.
I need to price up the parts quickly and decide if she's worth buying back as 'Salvage' and doing the repairs or negotiating on the pre-damage value. I also need to do some research on what she's worth.
Never had to do this before so just trying to get my head around the options......finding out what the options are is a start!!
ES Auto, full black leather, black carpets etc. Need to check the mileage but was about 140k.
I've just cleaned up or replaced all the sensors and injector loom etc so she goes really well and had completed a small list for the MOT. Generally in nice condition with a bit of corrosion in a few places I was starting to deal with. Gutted is putting it mildly.

Could a local car dealer or LR indy give you an idea of the pre-stuffed value? There's also that invaluable 'devil you know' aspect to factor in too.

I feel your pain - reversing in the dark last week, I hit a low post I just couldn't see and buggered the rear bumper and nearside indicator. New parts cost me about £370, but with £100 excess and gawd knows how much loading on the renewal, it's a close call. I was just lucky that it was something I could fix it myself.

Hope it works out in your favour!

Hi Spong, yes, a mechanic mate was supposed to come round today to check for any 'deeper' damage but cancelled as it was pishing down. Hopefully happen tomorrow.
I've been online checking out available parts and there's a huge disparity in prices. There's bonnets for £35 on flea bay, not bad condition but wrong colour and to keep prices down I'm looking for parts in Zambezi Silver (Landy colour code 737) Found one in a breakers and it's £220 with tax and delivery. A bumper for the facelift model seems to go for about £350 and up on average.
If anyone see's a 2002 facelift model in 737 with rear end only damage being broken, email me please !!!
The prices are making me have a rethink about going down the salvage route but it'll depend on the price they quote I guess and the same with the figure offered if I go down the written off route. Never been through this before so it's an unpleasant learning curve. Any advice welcome.
As for the insurance, If you're a trusting numpty like me, I'd suggest you check your excess. Yours sounds okay Spong but I've clearly not looked at mine seriously, with this sort of thing happening in mind. I'm surprised to learn that as well as the voluntary excess, there's a compulsory one too. And they add them together. I must have know this, i agreed but I'm damned if I remember. It totals five fifty so that's a b****y lump before I've even started.
I'm beginning to hate deer.

allegedly said:

Hi guys,




If you look at the last two pictures you see the result of my meeting a deer on the road down.
Looks like it's going to be an insurance write-off so I'm not happy.
I've sort of had the options explained but if anyones' got any advice on what to do or say to the insurance peeps re the vehicle, I'd be grateful for a heads up.
Cheers Rob

Click to expand...

Hi Rob, depending on the amount of 'excess' you have on your policy, I would be inclined to do the repair myself without involving the insurance company at all.

2nd hand parts prices:

1. Bonnet about £70 and if you do a good look around you'll find one the same colour so it's just a bolt off - bolt on job;

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY SERIES 2 (1998-2004) FRONT BONNET FINISHED IN SILVER | eBay

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 2 TD5 OR V8 BONNET IN PAINT CODE 618 | eBay

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 2 TD5 OR V8 BONNET IN BLACK 697 | eBay

2. Replacement headlight - about £60 but you can buy brand new ones from Paddocks for about £150;

DISCOVERY 3 N/S FACELIFT HEADLIGHT 2002 TO 2004 | eBay

3. The bumper is in a number of different parts: 2 body-coloured end caps; the main, full width plastic outer bumper not painted; finally the main steel bumper support. If you were to take this apart carefully I suspect all you will need is the drivers side end cap. New or 2nd hand about £25 to 30.

You might need to pull the steel support bumper back in place, before refitting the plastic outer bumper, but really no big deal.

Looks to me like a £2-300 DIY repair - unless there is damage we can't see from the pics.

Cheers
Dave

. Hope you get her fixed up. I do like a Silverlandy

Thanks Silver, I certainly hope so too, can't afford to replace her at the moment !
Thanks for the reply Dave, it's made me have a rethink on my course of action.
I'm going to contact the Insurance Pirates and cancel the claim, if I still can, without any stigma being attached or penalties.
Makes sense as my combined voluntary and compulsory excess is £550 and if I can get the parts for less, I'm okay. So now the task is to get the bits in the right colour, Zambezi Silver code 737, and the others too.
I'll update as I progress with good new I hope.
Cheers Rob

allegedly said:

Thanks Silver, I certainly hope so too, can't afford to replace her at the moment !
Thanks for the reply Dave, it's made me have a rethink on my course of action.
I'm going to contact the Insurance Pirates and cancel the claim, if I still can, without any stigma being attached or penalties.
Makes sense as my combined voluntary and compulsory excess is £550 and if I can get the parts for less, I'm okay. So now the task is to get the bits in the right colour, Zambezi Silver code 737, and the others too.
I'll update as I progress with good new I hope.
Cheers Rob

Click to expand...

Hi Rob, so you could argue that you have a budget of £550 to do the repair yourself?

For that amount of money, unless there is unseen damage you should be able to do it easily.

Dave

Hi Dave, yes, that's the way I'm looking at it.
Got a grill today £55 delivered. The light (offside) is proving harder to find sensibly priced. They seem to all be going for about £100. Still looking though there's a breaker I've found who can do one for £125. Looking at Britpart too at those prices.
Lots of cheap bonnets out there but as yet no Zambezi Silvers. I'll keep looking.
Worst case I'll get an end cap prepped and have a go at spraying it up myself.
Pishing down up here so just psyching myself up to go out and start stripping down bumper. It's got a bend in the middle where the offside corner almost touches the offside wheel. Gonna have to give it some thought how I straighten that or keep looking for a basic one stripped from a dismantlers.
Cheers Rob

allegedly said:

Hi Dave, yes, that's the way I'm looking at it.
Got a grill today £55 delivered. The light (offside) is proving harder to find sensibly priced. They seem to all be going for about £100. Still looking though there's a breaker I've found who can do one for £125. Looking at Britpart too at those prices.
Lots of cheap bonnets out there but as yet no Zambezi Silvers. I'll keep looking.
Worst case I'll get an end cap prepped and have a go at spraying it up myself.
Pishing down up here so just psyching myself up to go out and start stripping down bumper. It's got a bend in the middle where the offside corner almost touches the offside wheel. Gonna have to give it some thought how I straighten that or keep looking for a basic one stripped from a dismantlers.
Cheers Rob

Click to expand...

Hi Rob, re the bumper bear in mind that there are three layers. The end caps are the top layer. Beneath that is the full width plastic cover and beneath that is the steel bumper support.

Here are some part number that you might find useful:

DPT000020LML - CAP - BUMPER END, PRIMED,
FRONT, RH, HIGH LINE, WITH FRONT FOG LAMPS


FRONT BUMPER ASSEMBLY (FROM (V)3A000001)
ARMATURE ASSEMBLY-FRONT BUMPER
Part number: DPE000030


FRONT BUMPER ASSEMBLY (FROM (V)3A000001)
BRACKET - BUMPER MOUNTING, SUPPORT
Part number: DQO000080

Thanks mate. Got the light and the end cap coming too. Gonna have to try and spray the bits up in Zambezi so that'll be fun.
Started to take the bumper to bits this afternoon in the rain and I began to see what you've explained.
I'm going to have to get the long plastic piece too. Oh, well, back to the parts ads.
Thanks again mate.
Cheers Rob

Hi Dave, a little update. Having a real 'root about' online and it's a real surprise to see that many of the parts for a D2 facelift are far more expensive than later models....not to mention the trade in stolen head lights. I'm not naive and I guess supply and demand dictate but still....damaged lights on flea bay for over a hundred quid a side!!
So far, reclaimed end cap £55 delivered. Grill £50 and light £125 from same breakers. Ended up buying a bumper (the long plastic backing part) with fogs and one good end cap for £335 delivered. Still looking for a bonnet in Zambezi Silver (code 737) but if it's close to the average price I've seen on fleabay, that'll probably come out at about £60-£90...if I can get one in 737. God knows what it'd cost to get sprayed.
Plus side: The old grill popped back into shape when I removed it and has only one broken lug so the reclaimed one'll be back on fleabay for what I paid. Plus my two Fog Lights are okay so there'll be two Fog Lights on fleabay as well as the one good end cap, which is in blue. So, going by the sort of prices I've seen that should be approximately £150 off the final bill which brings it back down to less than the excess I'd have had to pay.
One thing I've learnt this last few days (besides how lovely a thermos cup of tea is when you're outside in the rain lying on the rear load mat under the bumper!!) is I wish I'd gone round all the fastenings on the trim and inner wheel arch liners etc and removed, greased and replaced them at some point just in case !! Trying to un-seize silly little cross head screws and not damage expensive plastic trim is making a couple of hour job into, so far almost two days.
I've messaged a lad on here who mentioned in another post he's a sprayer and cheekily asked if he can make a list of the step by step process for spraying up the end caps and the little bits of trim under the light...hope he gets back to me as I'm crap at spraying!!
Unfortunately, I have to go away for work just after Christmas and won't be back for a month so she'll go on a SORN and SWMBO will have to store the bits when they arrive ( I'm going to be so popular when I get back and a hoofing great bumper is still sitting in the dinning room !).
I'll try and take pics of it all going back together and post 'em in the hope that they may help some other poor DIYer like me....numpties unite !!
PS If anyone reading this hears of a bonnet in 737, please let me know...there's a drink in it for you....I'll send a tea bag in the post !!

allegedly said:

Hi Dave, a little update. Having a real 'root about' online and it's a real surprise to see that many of the parts for a D2 facelift are far more expensive than later models....not to mention the trade in stolen head lights. I'm not naive and I guess supply and demand dictate but still....damaged lights on flea bay for over a hundred quid a side!!
So far, reclaimed end cap £55 delivered. Grill £50 and light £125 from same breakers. Ended up buying a bumper (the long plastic backing part) with fogs and one good end cap for £335 delivered. Still looking for a bonnet in Zambezi Silver (code 737) but if it's close to the average price I've seen on fleabay, that'll probably come out at about £60-£90...if I can get one in 737. God knows what it'd cost to get sprayed.
Plus side: The old grill popped back into shape when I removed it and has only one broken lug so the reclaimed one'll be back on fleabay for what I paid. Plus my two Fog Lights are okay so there'll be two Fog Lights on fleabay as well as the one good end cap, which is in blue. So, going by the sort of prices I've seen that should be approximately £150 off the final bill which brings it back down to less than the excess I'd have had to pay.
One thing I've learnt this last few days (besides how lovely a thermos cup of tea is when you're outside in the rain lying on the rear load mat under the bumper!!) is I wish I'd gone round all the fastenings on the trim and inner wheel arch liners etc and removed, greased and replaced them at some point just in case !! Trying to un-seize silly little cross head screws and not damage expensive plastic trim is making a couple of hour job into, so far almost two days.
I've messaged a lad on here who mentioned in another post he's a sprayer and cheekily asked if he can make a list of the step by step process for spraying up the end caps and the little bits of trim under the light...hope he gets back to me as I'm crap at spraying!!
Unfortunately, I have to go away for work just after Christmas and won't be back for a month so she'll go on a SORN and SWMBO will have to store the bits when they arrive ( I'm going to be so popular when I get back and a hoofing great bumper is still sitting in the dinning room !).
I'll try and take pics of it all going back together and post 'em in the hope that they may help some other poor DIYer like me....numpties unite !!
PS If anyone reading this hears of a bonnet in 737, please let me know...there's a drink in it for you....I'll send a tea bag in the post !!

Click to expand...

Hi mate, here's a few silver bonnets at reasonable money. I couldn't find one with the exact paint code, but if painting is required it'll be easier & therefore cheaper to paint silver over silver:


LAND ROVER DISCOVERY SERIES 2 (1998-2004) FRONT BONNET FINISHED IN SILVER | eBay

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 2 TD5 OR V8 BONNET IN PAINT CODE 618 | eBay

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 1 & 2 BONNETS | eBay


Alternatively what about a contrasting bonnet:

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 2 JAVA BLACK BONNET - TD5 & V8 1999 - 2004 | eBay


Dave

Hi Dave, thanks mate. I may have seen them myself...I've been living on flea-bay of late!
Agreed about the silver on silver and that's going to be 'last resort' stuff.
As I've mentioned, I'm away for work as of the 28th and won't be back until end of Jan-early Feb so as long as I've got internet access, I'll be monitoring the net looking for a bonnet in 737.
If no luck by Feb, when I'm back I'll just have to get one sprayed up. I appreciate it's just the luck of the draw but there's every bloody silver out there except Zambezi !!
Got the bumper off at last. Every fastening except the four big retaining bolts are/were seized. Had to get the grinder out and after two, my Bosch died completely, with a graunch. So, that's another forty quid just to carry on.
Tomorrow I'll try and get the damaged plastic bumper off the metal support one but they're all seized too. Fun and games there.
I've come to hate deer.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family......and that goes to any reading this.
Cheers
Rob

allegedly said:

Hi Dave, thanks mate. I may have seen them myself...I've been living on flea-bay of late!
Agreed about the silver on silver and that's going to be 'last resort' stuff.
As I've mentioned, I'm away for work as of the 28th and won't be back until end of Jan-early Feb so as long as I've got internet access, I'll be monitoring the net looking for a bonnet in 737.
If no luck by Feb, when I'm back I'll just have to get one sprayed up. I appreciate it's just the luck of the draw but there's every bloody silver out there except Zambezi !!
Got the bumper off at last. Every fastening except the four big retaining bolts are/were seized. Had to get the grinder out and after two, my Bosch died completely, with a graunch. So, that's another forty quid just to carry on.
Tomorrow I'll try and get the damaged plastic bumper off the metal support one but they're all seized too. Fun and games there.
I've come to hate deer.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family......and that goes to any reading this.
Cheers
Rob

Click to expand...

Just a quickie Rob, don't forget the centre bumper plastic fixing, it's under the number plate and is a torx screw.

Same to you and yours mate - have a good'un.

Dave

Just wanted to say thanks as I managed to change my steering linkage using your excellent write up. It was a little bit more complicated as mine is a manual, so. No space to use a lever but managed to get the old one out after a 2hr fight