Disco Steering box in Range Rover

[walker]

Has anyone put a Disco steering box/column in their Rangie. I was told this was a straightforward conversion but would like to hear what others have done and what is involved. I do know you need at least a 2" body lift but other than that I know nothing.

[p38arover]

Umm, which RR box? If you are using the RR classic box, aren't they the same 4-bolt box as the Disco?

Early RRs used the 3 bolt box (which I think is also interchangeable).

What has changed is the Pitman arm. The Disco uses, I think, the later Pitman arm used on the RR. There have been 3 different arms (of which I'm aware) on RR classics over the years. The Pitman arms are interchangeable but the drag link has to be changed to match.

The P38A uses a ZF steering box which probably wouldn't fit.

Ron

[walker]

Sorry, yes I have a 3 bolt steering box at the moment. I thought I had been told the boxes on the disco were different and that to fit a Disco box you had to fit the entire steering column as well.

Maybe I was wrong.

[Bush65]

I picked up a complete disco dash, steering column, firewall etc. for my bushie. I haven't got around to fitting these yet, but from memory, the mounting of the steering column to the firewall is different, but maybe you can make it fit.

Don't know about the steering box.

[justinC]

Adam,

Steering box is a straight fit, you will probably need the lower column with the unis if yours is worn out, but the steering upper column etc is the same length spline etc.
What you will have to do is get some hoses etc made up, as your 3 bolt box has imperial fittings, and the 4 bolt has metric ones. If you feel adventurous, you could flog all the hoses, reservoir and pump/ brackets etrc from a V8 disco, and then you will just be able to bolt it up and the only pain will be mounting the pump and bracketry etc.
You can change drop arms with the 3 bolt box if you like, they are all interchangeable .

JC

[walker]

Thanks. So the Disco steering box is the sameas in the later RR classics?

What about from a D2?

Should I end up with better steering and is the box as strong as the old 3 bolt? At the moment I have terrible steering feel, and even replacing the steering box did not help. I know it will never be fantastic running 35" ET's but when I ran JT2's on my D2 it still had great steering compared to the Rangie.

[justinC]

ADAM,

Heaps stronger than the old 3 bolt. Should give better feel only to a point. The alignment needs to be 0 to 2mm toe out, and if you have a lift around 2", you should try castor correction bushes and a decent damper.
Disco 2 box quite different and is not any stronger than Late RRC and Disco 1 4 bolt. All 4 bolt boxes were from 1986 on, and Counties/ Defenders were the same.

JC

[justinC]

ADAM,

Heaps stronger than the old 3 bolt. Should give better feel only to a point. The alignment needs to be 0 to 2mm toe out, and if you have a lift around 2", you should try castor correction bushes and a decent damper.
Disco 2 box quite different and is not any stronger than Late RRC and Disco 1 4 bolt. All 4 bolt boxes were from 1986 on, and Counties/ Defenders were the same.

JC

[walker]

Ok, thanks for that.

I only checked the alignment recently and that is ok.
I put a new Tough Dog damper on last month.
I might get the swivels modified before I start changing steering boxes, just to see how much difference that makes.

If not I will go on and try a 4 bolt box. At the moment the box I have is leakking so I will have to change it at some stage.

Maybe I will go an pinch Micks 4 bolt box and rack, his Rangie is sitting around gathering cobwebs anyway.

[DaveS3]

Yeh you can Adam, thats what Im doing.

You can get adaptor fittings from Pirtek or similar, so you dont need the hoses ect ($$$)

Otherwise its a straight fit.

Dave

[walker]

So you reckon it's worth doing Dave?

[DaveS3]

4 Bolt - absolutely. Even more so if yours is leaking (normally means theres other stuff worn)

The 4's are a fair bit stronger but still breakable.