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Defender 130 Wheel Wobble


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Hope that you folk's can help me.

Iam presently on a RTW trip.

While we were in China i started to get a a bit of wheel wobble at around 55 mph. Managed to get to Phnom Penh to get it into the Landrover dealer, who so called checked the wheel bearings tracking  and everything else what goes with this problem.They told me it was the wheels which was badly buckled.

So having put the landy in a container heading for Vancouver, we went home for a month where i bought a brand-new set of wolf wheels.

We arrived in Vancouver a fortnight ago, and had the wheels changed and balanced. Still the same problem. Now the wheel wobble had started to get worse so i booked it into the Landrover dealer in Rocklin California, who told me it was the swivel pins, and two trackrod ends which were knackered. So they put the new swivel pins in plus the new trackrod ends.

Now the problem is it is still there but now where as worse, as it was.

Has anybody any ideas what's going wrong and how to fix it.

Many Thanks for all of Help

Kevan

 

 

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My 55mph wobble was cured by balancing the wheels, but everyone seems to have a different solution so I can only assume there are many different factors that can cause a wobble at that speed. A quick test to help rule out wheel balancing is to swap your wheels about a bit and see if this affects the severity of the wobble.

I recently changed to a new set of wheels and the wobble came back, so being too lazy to get the new ones balanced I swapped them about till the wobble was gone.

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I had a lot of vibration transferring through the steering wheel at 50 - 55 mph which ended up being three different problems. The first was the loss of a lead weight from front nearside wheel after I had a new tyre valve fitted. The second was a completely knackered UJ on the rear propshaft and the third cause was excessive wear on nearside track rod end. All these problems were addressed and it now drives perfectly. I could not describe it as wheel wobble however, more like juddering through the steering wheel. I hope you get to the bottom of it quickly......

 

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Everyone has their own story of wobbles and their causes.  Mine, albeit on a Disco, was the steering box.  I went through new bushes, checked swivels, drop arm/ball joints, damper etc., and the only thing that cured it was when I replaced the steering box.

The symptom for me was perfectly fine steering right up to about 50mph, then a really bad wobble if I hit a bump.  If I was brave enough to push through to 60-65 then the wobble went away... but I wasn't that brave very often :-)

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Have you spent half an hour laid underneath it going from front to back checking and inspecting everything - every moving part, every bush, every linkage, every mount? Even if you're not a technical guru it can be very helpful. Just throwing it at dealers who are used to servicing commuter vehicles is unlikely to spot expedition-style problems.

If you find anything you're unsure about you could post some pictures up for us to pore over.

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Just to add to the debate. Another couple of possible causes are incorrect swivel preload. I had that, replaced all the swivel bearings, set the preload and put it all back together. It was better but not perfect. Turned out there was also some wear in the bushes on one of the radius arms.Changed them et Voila, it was gone

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7 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Have you spent half an hour laid underneath it going from front to back checking and inspecting everything - every moving part, every bush, every linkage, every mount? Even if you're not a technical guru it can be very helpful. Just throwing it at dealers who are used to servicing commuter vehicles is unlikely to spot expedition-style problems.

If you find anything you're unsure about you could post some pictures up for us to pore over.

Many Thanks for all of your help, very much appreciated.

Have checked everything underneath uj's, wheel bearings, trackrod ends, panhard bushes, steering arm. Had the wheels balanced, new swivel pins + bearings. Still no improvement. It's starting to really P ss me off now.

Maybe new tyre's ????

Anyway, it's weekend lads so have a brilliant weekend, and hope the sunshine for yer.

If you think of anything else please let me know.

Cheers

Kevan

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Your comment about tyres just reminded me of a problem I had with mine, many years ago. It was fitted with BF Goodrich AT tyres and I had a horrible steering problem, Turned out that one of the tryes had a fault, didn't notice it till I removed the wheel and rolled it along the road. The tyre was severely distorted and at the point of the distortion, badly worn, so much so that the steel cords were breaking up and coming out through what was left of the tread

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Hi Fridgefreezer.

The front suspension is pretty much standard. Just got koni raids on there all-round, and airbags under the rear.

But that shouldn't make that much of a difference i think. I've had them on there for more than 10 year's. One thing is I'm thinking of is the tyre's, I've BF Goodrich's under. I'm planning to move the front to the rear and see how it goes. Like Neil said he had a problem with them.

Will keep you posted

Cheers

Kevan

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Hi Kevan

It sounds unlikely the tyres are at fault in this case . Are all the fixings tight in the steering ? Steering column mountings , column UJ pinch bolts , large nut on the drop arm/shaft , the bolts and support arm for the box itself and then the track-rod pinch bolts and taper retaining nut . Is there side to side body movement when the steering is rocked ? = panhard rod bushes

 How good is the steering damper ? how much free play is in the steering wheel before the drop arm moves the drag link ( there is an adjuster on the top of the steering box ) ?  Is the preload correct on the swivel kingpin's ?  

cheers

Steve b

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Well lads, i have finally found it at last.It is the panhard bushes, like you all said.

Got underneath once again and got the wife to turn the steering. There's not all that much play in them but just enough to get the wheels wobbling. Have had a look the dealer in Reno has a set so I'll get on to them tomorrow.

Once again many thanks for all of your help. I owe you all a pint. Will let you know how i get on when i have fitted the new bushes.

Once again Many Thanks Appreciate

Kevan

 

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Something so simple can be a right pain....

My truck. A 90 goes through even genuine panhard rod bushes every few thousand miles. Simply due to the use it gets.... the suspension gets a fullwork out every outing.... and as a result of that bushes don't last long at all.....

On an expedition trip id even consider carrying a spare rod with new bushes for when they go.....

Glad you seem to have found the fault....

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