I’d have been looking to have those suspension turrets treated or replaced and be worried what else was as bad!

Trust me the rest of the car is spot on, i have waxoyled for the past few years, apart from those suspension parts. i am doing it with Lanogaurd next time as that product gets a good review.

What i did do whilst the turrets were out was to spray clear grease which is blooming cracking stuff for stopping rust

ok got the job finished today and test drove it, all seems good.

I didnt have time to go and get a spreader socket so instead i used these to open the hub knuckle to get it over the strut and it worked a treat.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Once that was in place i put the drive shaft into the hub which it was tight fit and so i pulled it out cleaned the splines again and again but still it was tight once it was half way in. A few little taps on the back of the drive shaft ball and it did go in till it was about 3/4 of the way in.

I thought id best get the ball joint in which was hard work once the ratched strap was removed and i noticed once it was in place the little spring clip that wraps around the ball joint boot had come off, so i guess thats a job for another day.

New tie rod end in place drop links secured and brake caliper in place it was ready to startto torque up those bolts.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

after watching that video i posted earlier i couldnt get my head around some of those torque settings so i had to get them off here instead.

That knuckle clamp bolt had me worried, 110nm , i kept going with the torque wrench expecting that blooming new bolt to snap so i went up in stages till i got to the 110nm.

I didnt manage to get a new drive shaft to hub bolt so ive put in a mild steel one for now till my new one arrives, i torqued that up to about 50 nm, i know it says 45 nm then 180 degrees but i didnt fancy stripping that one or snapping it,



Top mounts bolts torqued up and wiper motor cover and wipers put back on

As for the rust well for the time being until i can get the lanoguard on her, i have a mixture of automatic transmission fluid duck oil and washing up liquid which i have in a spray bottle. The washing up liquid helps the duck oil and transmission fluid stick to metal and ive had good results with that too.


Debating on whether to to do the other side or let the garage do it as i need to replace that oil seal on the gearbox

i did have an ABS warning light on the dash when i took it out for a test drive however that came up as a wheel speed sensor but i cleared that and the light has stayed out

Well done, Maurice. Been a long hard graft for you.
Now just relax for a wee while.
All the best. Jim A
Fl2 HSE 2010 auto
Disco 2Td5 auto 2002 gone
Disci 1 300Tdi auto 1996 gone

ha i wish, i still have the other side to do and im going to tackle that oil seal myself. Ive order an oil seal puller and a steering knuckle spreading tool.

I am getting a slight knocking noise when going over bumps from the side ive just done, im thinking its those top mounts which were a loose fit rather than a tight one like the old ones i took out

I replaced a broken front spring on my son's Polo last week. Bought the spreader sockets specifically for that job but turned out they didn't open the hub enough. Reverted to a cold chisel which would have worked perfectly well from the start. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

you would be surprised how many motor factors havent heard of Strut spreaders, even Bills Tool Store, those of you up here in Glasgow area will know he has everything tool wise, had never heard of them.

I think i would have struggled trying to put the knuckle back on with the air hammer, it was bad enough trying to hold onto the knuckle and slide it overr the strut with a small socket adaptor wedging it open

You can use a small cold chisel as a strut spreader

Yes you can Ive done it. But be careful you don't jam/clobber any locating pin on the lower part of the shock that goes inside the knuckle ( I don't know if the FL2 has them).

I did this job on my BMW and couldn't understand why the strut wouldn't out until I realised that the cold chisel used to spread the knuckle was above the locating pin and preventing it from moving upwards  Jules

this is the spreader tool it arrived this morning along with my oil seal removal tool. I also fitted the correct bolt that secures the drive shaft to the hub.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Where did you get the strut spreader from? I ended up using progressively larger hex sockets but I rounded the corners off of my cheap ones so it made the job that much harder. one of these definately seems like an essential tool.