Death wobble - Let the fun begin!

My Discovery 300 Tdi has Death Wobble. Been underneath today and had a look around and give everything a good tug to see if there is anything obvious. Also had her jacked up and tried to see if there is any play in the wheels, this is a negative. Tyre pressures checked and also all good. I was going to get the wheels balanced and tracked, but knowing these cars I think that is wishful thinking...I have no doubt it will be something a lot more pricey!

Previous owner put bigger springs on the back it seems...and new shocks. Also a new steering damper too. Obviously aware of the problem and tried a few things to get it sorted before passing it on to yours truly. It's a shame I love these cars so much, my bank account doesn't have the same feelings...!

So, here starts the journey, I will keep this updated with what work is done and what eventually (I hope!) sorts this problem out.

get someone to turn the steering wheel while you watch each part. it should all instantly move, if you notice a delay on a joint, then that needs fixing. also use a lever and look at all bushes

Hi, try swapping your wheels left to right. My dad's 110 had a death wobble replaced bushes, joints all sorts, swapped wheels round fine after that. Worth a try and doesn't cost a thing.

Thank you both. I will try all of the above in my journey to fixing !

Interestingly I've noticed, full lock to the left is 2 whole turns, and the wheels catch the arches. To the right it locks at 1 and 3/4 turns and doesn't catch. Wonder of that is linked?

My discovery 300tdi did this but changing wheels only made it worse. Twas the swivel bearings, the steering damper hides the problem until it can take no more, then you get the wobble.

When you check the wheel play detach the steering arms. Had 3 diff mot stations tell me my front o/side wheel bearing is shot. Tried to get the slack out but it was as good as it could be, so I took the track rod off and it was immeadiaty obvious the swivel bearing had collapsed

Panhard rod bushes and mounts are likely as well. The bolt holes in the mounts wear and get bigger, mines got the point that I'm going to need to weld some new ones on I think!

Taken to the garage I've used as long as I've been driving. I had all the work on my old disco done there too. Will be looked at tomorrow or Wednesday so hopefully be able to update later in the week. Thanks for all comments so far.

TheMunster said:

Panhard rod bushes and mounts are likely as well. The bolt holes in the mounts wear and get bigger, mines got the point that I'm going to need to weld some new ones on I think!

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A 'quick fix' for this is to find a couple of thick washers of appropriate size and weld them on the outside of the clamp .. Simplest way to get the in the right place is to tighten the bolts up with loose washers and tack weld them on before welding properly ..

urgh, I had this earlier in the year after fitting some poor quality parts. Didn't even know what death wobble was until it struck on a fast moving rush hour M62 in the middle lane. Thought a wheel was coming off! now fixed, but confidence totally ruined. Hope it's not too expensive too fix. I know everywhere says it's not the steering damper but if it stops it happening until you locate the cause of the problem then put a standard style damper on. I have an £18 Armstrong on mine at the moment and it stopped the wobble I had. I just can't find the cause of the problem now as it's not happening lol. Out of sight out of mind maybe but it's certainly safer. Good luck.

Death wobble is rarely the result of one issue. It's usually more than one problem combined to give you that scare of a lifetime! A good bout of it on mine it bent the track rod! Ended up being the result of bad ball joints, a buggered panhard bush and sloppy swivel pin bearings. Changing the steering damper was my first attempt to fix the problem. It didn't.

Update: Shock absorbers were stuffed on the front. New ones installed and the car is a whole lot better. Death wobble seems to have subsided, took the car up to 70mph on dual carriage ways and seemed to cope just fine. Other than a huge pot hole which did cause a bit of shudder but nothing like before. Let's see how long this lasts!?