Handling on the disco isnt great at the moment. Worst is when there are ruts in the tarmac (like where arctics drive all the time) - its the same as normal, but just exaggerated.

Was checking out wheel bearings, tyres etc today, and saw that the drop arm has drips on it - pas fluid not gone down much. Had a leak on the hoses about 6 months ago that magically vanished, so it may be the hoses, rather than the box...

...but that does not help with the wandering.

Any suggestions?

Alas leaking and wandering unlikely to be connected - so you've got two problems...................., check every track rod end and your balls! good luck

Ive changed track rod ends, and various bushes before, but only as mot fails - to be honest, im not 100% sure what im looking for to tell if they're bad or not myself?

If the mot was just around the corner, id just wait, and get the tester to tell me what was a fail, but its still about 6 months off, and im not driving around like this till then!

When ive watched in the past, the mot chap gets a pry bar in the track rod ends, but, as i say, id be grateful of some guidance with the rest of it.

Yes, a pry bar will show failing ball joints, you're trying to lever the two parts, the ball and the cup apart slightly. Another way would be to get underneath and then get a friend to work the steering wheel back and forth, it doesn't have to be all the way from lock to lock, just enough to start the wheels turning. as this is being done, you should be able to feel even if you can't see any play in each ball joint in the steering system from the steering box through the drop arm, drag link, track rod and all the other bits like the damper.
With each front wheel off the ground, one at a time, get your friend to do the same swinging on the steering wheel and you can then check the wheel end of the steering. At the same time, try grabbing the wheel at the top and bottom to feel for play in the kingpins and also at the three/nine o'clock postions to feel for play there.
Remember too that play in the steering joints is cumulative, a little bit of play in each joint adds up to a lot of play overall.

julianf said:

Ive changed track rod ends, and various bushes before, but only as mot fails - to be honest, im not 100% sure what im looking for to tell if they're bad or not myself?

If the mot was just around the corner, id just wait, and get the tester to tell me what was a fail, but its still about 6 months off, and im not driving around like this till then!

When ive watched in the past, the mot chap gets a pry bar in the track rod ends, but, as i say, id be grateful of some guidance with the rest of it.

Click to expand...

get someone to rock steering wheel hard whilst you hold drag link then track rod ,wheel etc you will feel were the play is ,pas box will have play if not central,it shouldnt haver any when it is central