Land Rover Freelander (1997 - 2006) - 05 1.9D Steering

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Wed 2 Jul 2008 15:58
05 1.9D Steering - BN
My Freelander drifts to the left on almost any road. The rate is about 1m left to 70 - 100 metres forward. Local LR dealer (main agent) states that this is a safety feature so as to avoid hitting the ARMCO on a motorway; this view is endorsed by Land Rover customer relations. They call it camber sensitivity.

Has any one had similar experiences?
BN
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Wed 2 Jul 2008 18:36
05 1.9D Steering - doctorchris
I'm not familiar with the Freelander but have owned from new a Ford Maverick and a Nissan Terrano 2 which are both basically the same.
Both of these off-road vehicles pulled to the left and in addition wore their front tyres unevenly and excessively. In both cases this was due to incorrect setting up of the steering geometry at the factory and needed adjustment by the dealers. This was not simply a case of adjusting the tracking but also the camber angle of the front wheels.
Describing this phenomenon as a safety feature is complete nonsense. It could just as easily lead to you drifting onto the hard shoulder and having a collision.
If the dealers are unable to understand why the vehicle is doing this then there's no point in trying to get them to correct it. I would suggest you Google for a garage that will carry out a full 4 wheel geometry check for you, they will then be able to correct any defects in the settings.
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Wed 2 Jul 2008 20:37
05 1.9D Steering - Screwloose
BN

[Finally managed to get this page to load - what is going on?]

Check your IRD unit isn't seizing. It's in the middle of the propshaft and, as these have a different ratio diff front and rear, if it goes it causes all sorts of funny steering effects.
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Fri 4 Jul 2008 20:10
05 1.9TDi Steering - bn
Went to a local tyre dealer. This one was recommended to me by the local LR dealer who apparently doesn't have sufficiently clever diagnosis kit. They, the tyre dealer, took the problem seriously. Agreed that the LR dealers techies were talking rubbish. Fixed the problem within an hour, charged £25.00 + VAT.

Have driven about 15 miles since, a part of the time with a 90kg load in the back. Seems OK. I now don't have unintended excursions in to lay-bys.

BN
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Sun 6 Jul 2008 18:55
05 1.9TDi Steering - bn
See Honest John, D Teleg, 6 July, SKODA x2. Parallel story is it not?
BN
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