Hi guys, having a slight issue with my defender, i had some play when rocking drivers side wheel up and down (not side to side) I noticed play in bottom pin so both top and bottom pin replaced, bearing and railko bush changed, put back together with x2 shims and problem remained the same took both shims out problem solved, but now I have a loud clunk noise when I drive over a speed hump or pot hole(seems to be when spring expands not compresses, could this be due to shim removal. If so what do I do as if shims in then play in wheel and if there out bad clunk. Or am I missing something. Cheers perry

And there's definitely no play at all with the shims out? If the steering swivel is nice and tight, then maybe the noise is coming from something else? How are your springs, spring seats and bushes? They can feel firm if you waggle them by hand but with the weight of the car on them there can be some movement.

Brown said:

And there's definitely no play at all with the shims out? If the steering swivel is nice and tight, then maybe the noise is coming from something else? How are your springs, spring seats and bushes? They can feel firm if you waggle them by hand but with the weight of the car on them there can be some movement.

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No play at all now, clonk is where the wheel drops, 2 friends of mine have rocked truck side to side (combined weight of 35 stone) no noise at all but if u drive off a kerb it's there

So the trick is to find where it is coming from. With the wheel off and the car jacked up go through everything where there could be movement and try and wobble it. If you can't feel anything by hand use a lever such as a pry bar or a long screwdriver. Up and down, side to side, round and round. If you're on coil springs don't forget the points where the springs bear on the spring seats and chassis. I had a bit of the bottom coil break off one of mine which wasn't obvious to casual inspection. Shock absorber bushes wear out and get loose but still look OK from the outside.