Wobbling Wheel

[Piscator Landie]

Hi there, I have a series 2a 1967 landie. It has fat tyres on it 31x10x15. When I drive over a small bump in the road the wheel and steering wheel wobble from side to side. It is quite scarey. I have decreased the tyre pressure to 28 pounds and this has helped a little but it still does it. More at slower speeds 40kmph. Any ideas what the problem may be. It just passed a warrent of fitness.

cheers Ben

[secondjeremy]

When your Land Rover was designed those doing the job as well as just about everyone in the Motor Trade worked by a theory that a line drawn through the king pin should extend and meet the road at the centre point of the tyre.

If this theory is followed there is no torque from the wheels fed into the steering.

Look at your vehicle and imagine a line through the swivels and see where on the tyre footprint it hits the road and then go out and get yourself some wheels to correct the problem.

[Piscator Landie]

When your Land Rover was designed those doing the job as well as just about everyone in the Motor Trade worked by a theory that a line drawn through the king pin should extend and meet the road at the centre point of the tyre.

If this theory is followed there is no torque from the wheels fed into the steering.

Look at your vehicle and imagine a line through the swivels and see where on the tyre footprint it hits the road and then go out and get yourself some wheels to correct the problem.

Thanks Jeremy, Would a steering stabiliser help? can you add them to a landie? The fat tyres look so cool it would be a shame to lose them.

cheers Ben

[secondjeremy]

You can't see what the wheels look like when you're driving it!

[Piscator Landie]

You can't see what the wheels look like when you're driving it!

Thanks Jeremy

I guess your'e right, I'll see if I can borrow some std rims and see if that fixs the problem.

Do you think that is all it will be?

cheers Ben

[Gazzar]

Thanks Jeremy, Would a steering stabiliser help? can you add them to a landie? The fat tyres look so cool it would be a shame to lose them.

cheers Ben

Always look a bit odd to me but each to their own, remember the fat tyres also increase fuel consumption.

I suspect a lot of your problem is the swivels have insufficient preload.

The front axle has two chrome ball things - swivel balls.

The hubs are attached to these via two pivot points - one at the top and one at the bottom.

These "clamp" the ball to the hub.

The degree of clamp is set using little shims on the top point, and over time these shims have to be removed to compensate for wear.

If this isn't done and you hit a bump the sheering starts to shimmey, or wobble, for a bit.

Fairly simple fix, in essence remove the four bolts on the top, lift out the pin, remove the thinnest shim and reattach everything.

Before you do this, download or buy the landrover repair operations manual and read the entire procedure over. There is a lot more to it than my description above, but that will give you enough of a headsup to understand the manual.

G.

[Manatee]

Hi there, I have a series 2a 1967 landie. It has fat tyres on it 31x10x15. When I drive over a small bump in the road the wheel and steering wheel wobble from side to side. It is quite scarey. I have decreased the tyre pressure to 28 pounds and this has helped a little but it still does it. More at slower speeds 40kmph. Any ideas what the problem may be. It just passed a warrent of fitness.

cheers Ben

FWIW, I have just swapped 7" wide 8 spoke wheels for 5.5" Defender wheels, using the same 205R16 tyre size. It has improved the steering markedly, just by reducing the effective track. It didn't wobble, but it did tramline. The steering is lighter now as well.

Not to say that Gazzar isn't right about the shims though

[Piscator Landie]

Always look a bit odd to me but each to their own, remember the fat tyres also increase fuel consumption.

I suspect a lot of your problem is the swivels have insufficient preload.

The front axle has two chrome ball things - swivel balls.

The hubs are attached to these via two pivot points - one at the top and one at the bottom.

These "clamp" the ball to the hub.

The degree of clamp is set using little shims on the top point, and over time these shims have to be removed to compensate for wear.

If this isn't done and you hit a bump the sheering starts to shimmey, or wobble, for a bit.

Fairly simple fix, in essence remove the four bolts on the top, lift out the pin, remove the thinnest shim and reattach everything.

Before you do this, download or buy the landrover repair operations manual and read the entire procedure over. There is a lot more to it than my description above, but that will give you enough of a headsup to understand the manual.

G.

Thanks Gazzar

Funny that you mention the shims as the mechanic put a new king pin in the front rh side to get the last warrent and the steering has been doing the shimmering ever since. The last owner said it never did it once! I have called the mechanic and he said he would check it out, maby some thing had moved since being put in?. Because the new kingpin and bearing was put on one side, would this cause a problem of shimmering if the other side was old and fairly worn. At the time he said the other side would need to be done soon but was ok at the moment.

Should I replace the other side aswell?

I have booked it in to be looked at in a couple of days so any info is appreciated.

Cheers Ben

[Gazzar]

Thanks Gazzar

Funny that you mention the shims as the mechanic put a new king pin in the front rh side to get the last warrent and the steering has been doing the shimmering ever since. The last owner said it never did it once! I have called the mechanic and he said he would check it out, maby some thing had moved since being put in?. Because the new kingpin and bearing was put on one side, would this cause a problem of shimmering if the other side was old and fairly worn. At the time he said the other side would need to be done soon but was ok at the moment.

Should I replace the other side aswell?

I have booked it in to be looked at in a couple of days so any info is appreciated.

Cheers Ben

Ben,

I'd advise you to get familiar with the manual, unless the mechanic is a landrover series experienced person it is possible that he may not get the job done right. Even if you don't DIY having the manual will help a good mechanic.

If he changed the lower swivel mount and not the top then you would get shimmy - as the clamping force is now reduced.

If he did the top and didn't shim it right - testing the preload, then you'd also have grief.

G.

[ian_s]

the shimming should be checked after a few miles anyway

last time i did my swivel bearings, it was way too tight to start with, but after about 10 miles it was way too loose and i was getting the juddering described above.