death wobble

Good day guys I'm the proud owner of 1998 tdi 300
but I'm not getting rid of the death wobble as i get up to speed of about 80 kmh the Landy shakes out of control iv done all the rack end on steering.

It's often caused by a combination of things, every little bit of wear adds up. Swivels pins, all front end bushes and steering damper need to be checked out

I ended up replacing everything in the steering system on my 90 to eliminate it.
Welcome to the forum, questions are best asked in the relevant section: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/forum/defender-90-110-130.7/ as more people will have a look.

Welcome.

80Klms/h WOW bet it was scary. Take above advice and work your way through all that moves/or should.

Got any pics? we like pics.

J

+1 to all of the responses.

Bad ball joints, wheel bearings, steering dampers and swivel shims can all cause the very memorable death wobble. Often it is a combo of factors.

70 mph was my highest speed death wobble experience. My wife still cringes remembering the experience.

Hi and welcome
I had a near death wobble when i missed the top step going downstairs

Hello, welcome.
I had the 'death wobble' which was caused by a worn panhard rod bush.
Like others have said, can be other things. Go round with a pry bar to check all the bushes on the front suspension/steering

Also try swapping front wheels to back in case it's a ballance or tyre problem. Easy and costs nowt!

Western Slope Rover said:

My wife still cringes remembering the experience.

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I remember my first time too, doing about 50-55 and the slightest bump in the road upset it.
For those that havent experienced it, try to imagine your vehicle suddenly having square wheels

mine HAD A BIT OF A WRIGGLE ON but it was worn front propshaft uj's, but I also replaced the steering damper after with a Terrafirma HD jobbie

Hi and welcome!

Hello and welcome

Check panhard rod bushes as well. That was cause of mine

Hi guys thank you for all the reply's and advise .
Will go around and make sure all the bushes is in good oder .

Will definitely send some pics if the truck she's a beauty I'm the second owner
Tring to upload pics but says don't have permission to do so

You may be lucky and it's not too many things to change. When it happened to me it was the steering damper only working in one direction. There was no detectable play anywhere else, Hoping to get it back on the road soon after over 15 years laid up though, so I'll likely be doing a lot of bushes soon

Corne215 said:

Good day guys I'm the proud owner of 1998 tdi 300
but I'm not getting rid of the death wobble as i get up to speed of about 80 kmh the Landy shakes out of control iv done all the rack end on steering.

Click to expand...

Hello and welcome from fellow newbie.

Corne215 said:

Tring to upload pics but says don't have permission to do so

Click to expand...

The site is broken, copy and paste instead of using the upload button.

Wheel shimmy is down to a lack of Pre Load on the swivel pins. Inside the Railko bush there is a Railko Thrust washer. When this wears the pre load is reduced, eventually the swivel housing attached by the swivel pins, becomes floppy and this is when wheel shimmy "death wobble" occurres. Take wheel off, remove track rod and feel the resistance to turn the swivel housing. If it's floppy, increase the preload enough to give a smooth resistance to rotation of just a few Ibs 6 or so. You're meant to remove the swivel oil seal to measure resistance, but if it's floppy remove shims or replace the Raiko thrust washer and then reshim. If desperate you can add thin plastic disks, cut from milk bottle tops, etc to get the right preload, then buy new Raiko shims.

From another forum. Note that folks posting on that thread said they set them 0.5 to 1kg above the figures below IF they were new parts to allow for bedding in. All figures without the oil seals fitted.

On 7/3/2010 at 8:52 PM, Retroanaconda said:

Without the seal fitted, and as to what figure it depends on your axle type.

1. Taper bearing bottom and Railko bush top, 200Tdi and earlier. 3.6 - 4.5kg.

or

2. Taper bearing top and bottom, 300Tdi onwards. 1.16 to 1.46 kg.

Both once the initial inertia has been overcome.

I'd use the figure quoted in the Land Rover workshop manual, which is what the above are.

HI guys here is my sexy 1998 300 tdi with 334678km on the clock running like new.
busy with body upgrades will send picks as i go along