Member Since: 04 Oct 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 309
Snapped anti-roll bar!!
Hiya Guys,
Has anyone ever managed to snap an anti-roll bar on their vehicle?
Was over in Coniston at the weekend and had cause to drive up a kerb whilst waiting for an oncoming coach.
As soon as the front nearside wheel mounted the kerb there came a sound like a gunshot from underneath the vehicle and a complete loss of all systems including,
TR
HDC
SPEEDO
EPB
Because we were up in Cumbria we managed to limp up to Lakeland Land Rover and on bended knee, begged them to take a look at my car.
After about 10 minutes inspecting the vehicle, the engineer took me for a look underneath with the following words......
"Come and have a look and see what you have done"
He pointed out that the anti-roll bar had sheared off about a quarter of the way along and wiped out the ns front speed sensor, leading to the loss of all systems.
Lakeland fitted the sensor and removed the broken section of roll bar in order for me to get home.
Hats off to these guys, because despite being really busy on a Saturday morning, they dropped everything and pulled us out of a deep and smelly hole
Superb customer service in my book
My question is this................has anyone ebver heard of, or had any experience of, this happening to them?
I have looked at the roll bar and it appears that there is a small but noticeable area of corosion where the fault occured leading to the failure or the bar. The bar itself is about an inch thick and Lakeland have also stated that they have never seen or heard of this type of failure before.
Can anyone help and is this worth persuing with Land Rover. The car is on a 54 plate with 95k on the clock.
Shanners
19th Jul 2010 10:06 pm
Renton
Member Since: 13 Jan 2009
Location: Somewhere in the middle
Posts: 1718
The ARB should never snap, no mather what mileage it has covered.
I would surely contact LR about this!CLUB ILLEGAL CAR WASHERS
19th Jul 2010 10:12 pm
shanners
Member Since: 04 Oct 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 309
That was my thought, you would think that a link or bush would fail first
I am going to try to get some photos of the removed broken part onto my gallery for everyone to see.
Its worth checking your own vehicles though.
19th Jul 2010 10:16 pm
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26754
I heard of a D1 snappinmg an anti roll bar, but it was lifted and abused. I doubt Land Rover will be interested, but worth a punt I suppose.
19th Jul 2010 10:17 pm
Spooky
Member Since: 02 Jun 2009
Location: Swindon, Wilts
Posts: 1013
I had a link fail at the weekend, but that was my fault for not fitting an OE part in the first place ...
Never heard of any car actually snapping an ARB, especially when mounting a kerb - not exactly the toughest piece of articulation!Regards,
Mick
- 2014 SDV8 Autobiography
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20th Jul 2010 6:51 am
Iain G
Member Since: 31 Jan 2009
Location: Filey
Posts: 430
Did it snap where the bar corrodes at the bush mounting place?
20th Jul 2010 7:38 am
shanners
Member Since: 04 Oct 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 309
No thats the strange thing, it was about a quarter of the way inboard from the front nearside wheel. No where near a link or mounting point, totally random.
After about 10 minutes inspecting the vehicle, the engineer took me for a look underneath with the following words......
"Come and have a look and see what you have done"
Far out! So an offroad Disco3 is not even allowed to mount a curb? I didn't see that the owner's manual.
The attitude of some mechanics (I wouldn't dare give them the privilege of being called an 'engineer') - really astounds me. It's not like you were attempting to jump the Grand Canyon or anything!
Good luck,
Rob
30th Jul 2010 5:29 am
ad15
Member Since: 14 Dec 2008
Location: up that tree
Posts: 4866
i "think" RPG may have snapped one,,,, he's snapped everything else....
re lakeland,, did you see the big broken window? the tiler got the gear wrong and drove through it... the three girls on reception all had grandstand seats..one wife.......livid
30th Jul 2010 8:26 am
shanners
Member Since: 04 Oct 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 309
Really!!!
It was a building site when I was there, but I didnt notice the window.
30th Jul 2010 9:32 am
RichardB
Member Since: 04 May 2010
Location: Hants
Posts: 485
Re: Snapped anti-roll bar!!
shanners wrote:
Hiya Guys,
I have looked at the roll bar and it appears that there is a small but noticeable area of corosion where the fault occured leading to the failure or the bar. The bar itself is about an inch thick and Lakeland have also stated that they have never seen or heard of this type of failure before.
Shanners
If you look at the fracture, does the face of the fracture show a slightly grainy structure with a pattern radiating out from the corrosion point (fans out from the point of corrosion on the surface)?
Also, is there any sign of corrosion slightly into the surface of the bar (like a rusty deep scratch)? from which the fracture radiates out?
If so, you have a stress fracture and the failure has occurred at that particular point due to a concentration of stress at that surface defect. A fracture is almost certain to occur at such a defect because of the concentration of force - it's the weak point.
So the question becomes why is there the weak point, was there some prior minor damage that scuffed the bar, was it just poorly finished etc? Nevertheless, with such a strong component, it really shouldn't fail quite like that with one bash through the entire thickness.
But there may be a clue... Finally, look at the surface of the fracture. Was part of the fracture perhaps grey rather than shiny? Or, does that first part of the failure have a different, less coarse texture? (Maybe you will see both.) If so, there has probably been a gradual fatigue failure propagating the initial crack and weakening the bar. The whack against the kerb would then just be the final straw that resulted in the sudden catastrophic failure.
I'd not be surprised to see fatigue + stress fracture here because the repeated on/off loading that an anti roll bar will be subject to.
This may explain how the failure happened. Nevertheless, I'd be very surprised if you could break such a structural element without other damage (trashing the alloy wheel for instance) unless there had been a significant weakening.
Probably an ides to get a close up picture of the fracture end and corrosion areas asap.
30th Jul 2010 10:45 pm
shanners
Member Since: 04 Oct 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 309
Thanks for the advice Richard it was spot on.
It appears that an area of protective fininsh has flaked/worn away and an area of corosion occured at the point of the break.
This may have led to the fracture, but the broken end is currently away with a friend of my father-in-laws at the British Steel Labs in Middlesbrough.
It is getting analysed in an attempt to support a claim to LR.
Shanners
1st Aug 2010 10:21 pm
RichardB
Member Since: 04 May 2010
Location: Hants
Posts: 485
shanners wrote:
It appears that an area of protective fininsh has flaked/worn away and an area of corosion occured at the point of the break.
This may have led to the fracture, but the broken end is currently away with a friend of my father-in-laws at the British Steel Labs in Middlesbrough.
It is getting analysed in an attempt to support a claim to LR.
Shanners
Well, you have just the right people looking at it! Useful contacts
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- 2014 SDV8 Autobiography
the three girls on reception all had grandstand seats..
