Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Thanks for the input guys. Thinking about it all, its almost certainly the panhard rod. It matches 100% with Tony's experience too. I will check the tightness of the mounting bolts.

Okay, I managed to pull the left hand Panhard rod nut about another half-a-turn, which in my experience is a lot in the context. Based upon a similar issue I had with my Land Rover, the Panhard mounting nuts/bolts need to be *very* tight - as in as much force as I can exert with two Gedore ring spanners using the ring of one over the mouth of the other. Seems to have solved the problem.

I remember too though that with my Land Rover, no matter how much I tightened it, some tiny bit of play remained, which still resulted in some noise. I solved this by introducing some shim stock around the bolt where it passed through the bush. Ten years later after some the worst roads anywhere in Africa and it's still good and I've not had to attend to it again. It's important to catch it early before it wears the inside of the bush oval.

Can you please put a photo on of where you did the job?

Hi Herrie, no camera where I am now on the Wild Coast but a quick description will do. The Panhard rod is the massive steel bar in front of the front axle that connects on the left hand side to the axle and on the right hand side to the chassis. It is effectively what keeps the axle in place. The connection on each end is with a single bolt and nut that goes through a bush in the Panhard rod. On my Patrol the left hand "bolt" is welded to the axle housing, so only the nut can be tightened. The right hand side is a normal bolt and nut setup. Each of these should be checked from time to time for tightness as they can work loose - which you will normally hear or feel. There should be a torque spec but I don't know what it is but do know from my Land Rover days that they need to be somewhere between extremely tight and verdomd vas! If there is front suspension noise, it's one of the first things to check.