Rover Sports Register Forum

This is my Range Rover. It has covered a total of 65k of which I have done 2k in the past 7 months

It's been a long time since anything has been done with my Range Rover. This was due to a couple of things, firstly the rusted fuel line syndrome which meant that it was spewing more fuel on the ground than drinking due to some terminal fuel pipe rot. This occured during the summer and because I have been working on building a garage I have not had time to repair it, so after six months of sitting around in the back yard I have at last got the pipes changed

Since owning the Range Rover I have changed it from air to springs (because I was left with no suspension driving back from Fort William to Glasgow) and fitted a new steering damper and shock absorbers. After doing this it developed a shimmy and I then changed the panhard rod bushes and all the radius arm bushes on the front, but still the shimmy was there. As I said earlier I fitted a new steering damper earlier this year with an aftermarket one and I always suspected it might not be up to the job so I ordered a new high spec Bilstein gas damper which arrived and I plan to fit on Christmas morning

After 6 months of neglect the Range Rover was needing a good clean and polish, it is due an MOT on 6th February so I really do need to use it to get the rusty brake discs cleaned up and good run should clear the emissions.


Mega-heavy duty Bilstein steering damper.

Update 25th Dec 2008

Christmas Day 2008 and I have the smile factor

I had to get my wife up for her work at 06.30am so I had a few hours on my own before preparing Christmas dinner. The steering damper was sitting in the kitchen so I decided to fit it. The OE damper cover sleeve was rusted through and went straight into the bin when I removed it. The replacement was fitted and after this and a few other suspension parts changed the shimmy problem started. I thought it couldn't be the damper as a new one was fitted.....WRONG.... I fitted the Bilstein damper this morning and went out on a test drive for over an hour. Driving on all types of roads from motorways to A roads to winding B roads with ruts and potholes I never once felt the slightest hint of a shimmy, it behaved faultlessly. I am a happy bunny today.

On the downside the cruise control is not working again which is a little puzzling as I changed all the pipes in the spring and it was working fine.....Ah well it is a Range Rover after all

I have given it a quick scrub-up and I think it's looking good

Looking good John,

How does the steering damper work?

The new Bilstein steering damper has transformed the Range Rover.
I did over 100 miles today with the Lister stationary engine in the back and it never tried to shimmy at all

Well pleased