freelander 1 td4 high steer any thoughts

(pete)

Ok so sifting through tonnes of information online when lifting a free lander over 30mm ish the steering control arms are prone to catching the inner wings, now some of the metal can be trimmed out but only so far until I would be cutting into the mono chassis rail something that's not good news

So I'm thinking of some kind of hi steer modifications, the ball joint bolts through the top side of the mount on the strut so a flip is out of the question.

I was thinking that if I was to go to a scrappy and cut a couple of steering arms from the struts of another freelander that I could seam weld and brace them onto the the original arms in a higher location I'm a fabricator for a living so confident that my skills are high enough to make the mods more than strong enough to take the abuse

Thoughts on a postcard please and suggestions welcome with different ideas

spannerman69 · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:14 pm Post subject:

pete ,
it sounds do-able mate , but i don`t think the mot man would like it .

(pete) · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:49 pm Post subject:

But if it was cleaned and painted after??

LlaniGraham · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:17 pm Post subject:

As I understand it, no mods to that part are allowed.

If you are going to cut the chassis leg be aware that there is a diesel pipe along one leg that needs to be moved. A lot of people who have raised the ride height haven't needed to mod anything.

There used to be a UK based Freelander Club but I can't find a link for it now. You could also try this lot as they could be a bit "extreme"!
http://mudfl.forumotion.co.uk/

(pete) · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 5:57 pm Post subject:

Ok so trying to avoid modifications to the chassis and the strut what about new steering arms that are curved or kinked after passing through the inner wings

What I'm hoping to achieve is the steering arms running at close to the original hight after a 50mm lift on the suspension I want full travel without worrying about catching the steering any where on the body or chassis section

There must be a way of overcoming this problem on freelanders without buying expensive new struts

jojo · Mud Obsessed Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Odometer: 5422

[quote=]
it sounds do-able mate , but i don`t think the mot man would like it .[/quote]

"But if it was cleaned and painted after??"

This is worrying.

One forum member thinks this mod. will be an MOT failure. It may or may not be - I don't know, so it would be helpful to find out for certain before doing the work.

Another forum members' reply (But if it was cleaned and painted after??) suggests (please note that I say suggests - I may have misunderstood) that if the mod. was concealed from the MOT tester then it would be OK. But would it? If the mod was against regulations and concealment enabled it to pass the MOT then we would have a dangerous vehicle on the road.

The MOT is a good thing, a pain in the **** yes, but at the end of the day it is a valuable safety check not to be cheated on.

J

spannerman69 · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 7:28 pm Post subject:

i can say with 100% certainty it will fail an mot with the above mod .
any heat applied to a steering component should be a fail .
same applies to a welded /repaired part that includes the wishbones .

you can fit extended parts , be it in lenth or the height of a bracket or purpose made parts such as high steer and rose joints , cranked arms ect but its the testers responsibility to ensure they are safe .
if he dont like it he can refuse to pass it as a unsatisfactory mod .

LlaniGraham · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 8:27 pm Post subject:

(Pete)
Having owned Freelanders for 7 years and been involved in the old FL Club I suspect you might be pushing your luck a little bit in trying to do this without cutting the chassis leg. I can't think of anyone who went over 25mm who didn't! I also know that many who did go "high" ended up with problems.

I have already suggested you get in touch with these people as they have the relevant experience
http://mudfl.forumotion.co.uk/

(pete) · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 9:13 pm Post subject:

I have no intention of putting a dangerous vehicle on the road and would never do that so please don't tar me with that brush it's not fair

I'm a welder fabricator and cnc programmer setter for a living I build all sorts of structural and non structural items day in day out I understand the stresses involved in such components most people seem to for get that new parts are still built from a box of parts and welded together unless they are a composite or other non metallic part

Any one ever looked at the parts on there car.... Notice it's welded together

I'm just looking at all aspects of this from any way I can and cutting into a mono chassis is just as bad on a car designed with specific crumple zones manufactured into it

The modifications would be of a vastly higher standard than some Chinese junk that's approved for use on British roads

(pete) · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 9:39 pm Post subject:

Ok so now that's out the way can we get back to discussing how this can be done nothing is impossible....

Spannerman, bolt on spacers would be mot accepted if safe so anyone got ideas on how to space a ball joint up 30mm this would leave only a 20mm drop on the steering and would miss according to the information I can find.

parrotveasey81 · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 4:14 am Post subject:

rose joints with spacers like in the first post here
http://www.lancerregister.com/showthread.php?t=450739

(pete) · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:52 am Post subject:

Nice kit £250 quid tho

parrotveasey81 · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:00 pm Post subject:

(pete) · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 7:08 pm Post subject:

Yeah it's Deffo what I need mate I messaged a company on ebay that sells that kit to see if they have anything else that might work

LlaniGraham · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 9:44 pm Post subject:

Have you tried asking the group I told you about?

(pete) · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:32 am Post subject:

I have looked at the forum I tried to register but my email account was unrecognised

LlaniGraham · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:46 pm Post subject:

Even unregistered I can find 3 threads about lifting the Freelander.
All say you will probably need to modify the chassis leg.

(pete) · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:03 am Post subject:

Yeah I found three threads too but nothing that's of any help and I can't register with my email

I'm juts going to fit a 2 inch lift and see what clears what don't and get the hammer out all the interweb searching is useless and boring

LlaniGraham · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:16 pm Post subject:

(pete) · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 3:11 pm Post subject:

Oh no I can be bothered I have spent the last 4 days sifting through forums and junk online and nothing helps

There is a wealth of information but not detailing what I need and I can't find anything for steering kits diy or other that lifts the arms up from the strut, hence my reason for posting here

Your quite welcome to get outta here but it will just be another archived thread for some one to read for nothing online

(pete) · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:06 pm Post subject:

Ok so....

Head scratching away today and I think I have sussed this high steer problem,

The thing I have in mind will space a standard freelander ball jjoint up two inches and will still locate in the standard taper hole on the struts.

It will enable the freelander to run standard steering components at standard angles with no side affects with a two inch lift, I'm going to do some sketches and get a price for machining will post back a pic or two of the drawing later for your thoughts

(pete) · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 10:51 pm Post subject:

Prices came back for machining yesterday and I'm awaiting arrival of a new track rod end to pull the measurements from, also have the parts laser cut to fabricate my own lift kit from

Things are moving along a bit at a time pics and stuff will follow as it's all made powder coated and bolted on