How to change a Land Rover steering damper

I recently purchased a polybush kit and new steering damper in a continued effort to improve the handling of the Land Rover.

Fitting the polybush kit is going to take some time as the old rubber bushes are corroded in place, but I decided to fit the new steering damper first as it is a fairly simple job and only took 20 minutes to complete.

This is how I did it.

For this job you will need

17mm socket
17mm spanner
WD40 or similar

The steering damper is not an expensive part. The standard damper is about £10 from most good Land Rover specialists, or you can get a gas version for around £20-£30. If you want to go all out, then the top of the range steering dampers are around £50-£70, but unless you are building an off road racer, I wouldn't bother.

Removing the steering damper

You haven't even got to jack the car up to get at the steering damper - its just behind the front bumper in the middle of the car.

Its held in place by a nut on the end of the damper at the chassis end, and a bolt on the other end. Removal is as easy as undoing the nuts and bolts!

When you undo the nut on the chassis end, the outer casing of the damper will start to turn. Just grab hold of the casing to stop it turning and the nut will come off eventually.

The old steering damper at the chassis end

The old steering damper at the steering arm end

Fitting the new steering damper

Fitting is the reverse of removal - just do up the 2 bolts at either end of the steering damper. Its a very straight forward job, and you will have it done in no time.

The new steering damper mounted at the chassis end

Even though some of my other suspension bushes are worn, I could feel an instant improvement in the steering response. I have yet to try it off road, but for £20 its a good start to the suspension/steering overhaul!