I'm on the hunt for an LR3 or LR4 and spent about an hour with an LR3 yesterday that I'm interested in buying. It's a 2008 with about 87k on it. Here are a couple of things I ran into that I'm not familiar with:
1. I was able to put the truck on my 4 post lift to look under it. Everything looks very good with no obvious leaks, no torn CV's, etc. But, I did notice that the lower rear control arm bushings (the larger of the two) were able to be moved about a 1/4" when I used a larger 18" prybar to see how much movement they had. The service records show the lower control arm bushings were replaced (the not complete A-arm) by a local Indy shop. The smaller lower control arm bushing had nearly no movement. Is the larger lower control arm bushing suppose to move that much? They "looked" prefect with no signs of cracking, squishing or whatever else rubber bushings do when they fail. They almost seems too compliant but I'm not sure.....I'd think that too much compliance would change suspension settings under heavy load. The truck drove great with no obvious suspension or handling issues.
2. I did not take the truck off road, but to test the low range and different terrain response settings, I drove the truck in "off road" suspension height while in low range back and forth in my warehouse that has a very slick polished floor to allow for tire slippage (at least that was my theory). I only drove it forward and backwards about 75' in a straight line. In the "rock crawling" setting, I kept hearing a sound from the left front of the truck that sounded like a very bad CV joint when I'd first start off. It did not do this in any other of the terrain response settings. Could this be due to having the center diff locked during this test? Any thoughts?
3. The front passenger floor was very wet under the floor mat. The owner had recently had the windshield replaced. From how many areas can water enter into the passenger side foot well on an LR3? Owner called a local LR dealer and they felt that the windshield cowl might be warped or might have been damaged during the windshield install. Can any water from the sun roof drains make it down to the passenger side foot well?
Any input would be appreciated
1. I was able to put the truck on my 4 post lift to look under it. Everything looks very good with no obvious leaks, no torn CV's, etc. But, I did notice that the lower rear control arm bushings (the larger of the two) were able to be moved about a 1/4" when I used a larger 18" prybar to see how much movement they had. The service records show the lower control arm bushings were replaced (the not complete A-arm) by a local Indy shop. The smaller lower control arm bushing had nearly no movement. Is the larger lower control arm bushing suppose to move that much? They "looked" prefect with no signs of cracking, squishing or whatever else rubber bushings do when they fail. They almost seems too compliant but I'm not sure.....I'd think that too much compliance would change suspension settings under heavy load. The truck drove great with no obvious suspension or handling issues.
2. I did not take the truck off road, but to test the low range and different terrain response settings, I drove the truck in "off road" suspension height while in low range back and forth in my warehouse that has a very slick polished floor to allow for tire slippage (at least that was my theory). I only drove it forward and backwards about 75' in a straight line. In the "rock crawling" setting, I kept hearing a sound from the left front of the truck that sounded like a very bad CV joint when I'd first start off. It did not do this in any other of the terrain response settings. Could this be due to having the center diff locked during this test? Any thoughts?
3. The front passenger floor was very wet under the floor mat. The owner had recently had the windshield replaced. From how many areas can water enter into the passenger side foot well on an LR3? Owner called a local LR dealer and they felt that the windshield cowl might be warped or might have been damaged during the windshield install. Can any water from the sun roof drains make it down to the passenger side foot well?
Any input would be appreciated
