Steering Wobbles

[Big_John]

Hi all,

Hopefully someone can confirm my diagnosis, I'm getting occasional wobble in the steering when travelling at speed (60+) and hitting a bump. First noticed it a few weeks ago on the motorway - wobbling a bit longer than expected, was a bit odd but nothing too worrying. Today however it continued and didn't stop until I slowed down to 30ish.

All's fine at lower speeds and it's fine at higher speeds unless i hit a bump or pot-hole (plenty of them around!).

I've had a prod about this evening and all seems ok apart from the steering damper which seemed to have slack in the bushes and the outer part rotated easily around the inner part (oh and the steering box leak...keep toping that up though). I turned it round a few times and it seemed to tighten up a bit - might have been imagining it! Haven't managed to road test yet.

So is it likely to be the damper? Looks like it's been fiddled with recently as there was copper grease on the bolt, but didn't look like it had been replaced though. Will it go spectacularly or just die slowly until I get the chance to change it (I'm assuming it should be pretty straightforward to change)?

Thoughts appreciated, thanks,

John

[V8 Freak]

It may be the damper but could also be the Panhard Rod bushes...

Happened to me twice... Lay under the vehicle so you can see the panhard rod and get someone else to waggle the steering. (Engine need not be running)

If the bushes are worn you will easily detect the movement by eye.....

HTH

Neil

[m0bcg]

it is your front swivel pre load that is too loose .

you need to check it and remove a shim of 2 from the swivel pins .

if the swivels are slack then any decent bump will throw the wheels .

the steering damper wont cope with too much itself .

[western]

panhard rod bushes or steering damper or swivel pre-loads.

[Litch]

People tend to ignore the swivels as they think them to be too complicated and prefer to go for the easier options like the steering damper but in actual fact they are quite quick & easy to check and the only tools you need are a suitable ball-joint splitter (about £15 for a commercial screw type) and a spring-balance (about £5 from a fishing tackle shop).

Of course the steering damper & bushes could equally be at fault but get in there and check the swivels.

[JST]

or could be the mounting arm for the panhard rod that runs down the side of the chassis.

[Big_John]

Thanks guys, I'll start with the damper as that looks the easiest, give the panhard rod bushes a wobble, and have a look at the swivels to see how much I need to take apart to check the pre-load.

[davie]

chuck away the damper, replace with a genuine landrover one and see how much better it can get!!

Used a cheap and cheerful one on my last disco for a while until i got fed up and threw it away.

[python]

hi, i had the same problem, put on a new de carbon damper and so far never had a problem. check the rest out as well though. you never know until you start prodding around.