help needed with vibration problem!!!!

hi guys i am new to the forum as i have just bought my first rangey!! this is also a good time to say hi, so hi to you all. as i was saying i just bought my first range rover which is a 2001 2.5 dhse. only had it a week and i have developed a horrible vibration when doing about 55 to 65 mph. naturally i thought it was the wheel balance, so got that sorted. that made no difference. the strange thing is it doesent always do it, it can be fine, then go round a corner a change of road surface and it feels like your sat on a paint mixer from B&Q. scratching my head with this one so any suggestions would be truly appreciated

I`ve only just recently started having this same problem only not at higher speeds, it comes at at any speed and get worse the more i accelerate and then goes away and like you say comes on any time.

Like today it was fine but yesterday it was vibrating like mad, it felt like a loose wheel. I `ve been under the car and can find no faults so its puzzling me but i occasionally get a squeel too which is hard to pin point as it also comes and goes.

What kind of mileage has your motor done? and do you have standard or later larger dia wheels?

hi and thanks for the reply, if i manage to find out the cause of this i will let you know, problem is no idea where to start, i have heard it could be tracking problems but unsure of that, also told it could be a prop shaft problem . what ido know is its so frustrating. good luck!

Check the lower ball joint that connects the hub to the axle, slight wear here is known to cause steering vibration. These are not a easy DIY fit either as they are pressed into the carrier and you will need special tools or the facilty to make your own to tackle this job. Wear may not be obvious just by looking and pulling, get in there with a lever and look for ANY movement in these joints.

cheers for the reply, the vehicle has done 62k and does have bigger wheels than standard fit i think as they are 18 inch rims. took it back to the garage i bought it from and he wreckons he changed all four wheels to eliminate that as the cause ( he could be lying of course!!) cheers!

are they P38 18" wheels or 18" wheels from a L322? if they are from the newer rangey (like my 18" twinspokes from a 2003 vogue) you need the spacing spiggots fitted to each wheel. They look alot like Hurricanes but they aren't, and have 22mm nuts instead of the P38's 27mm nuts.

i still have the standard 16" wheels on mine and the car has covered 117k

The lower joints are only good for 100,000 miles, so I would definatly check yours Rangie p. P38 18 inch rims should be ok, the latter L322 as mentioned need spacer rings, but, this is not a perfect solution, it only takes a wheel to be a fraction out to set up a vibration.

Hello,

As you saw from my post on the subject I had the same sort of problem after having my track-rod ends replaced. I had it tracked and it was 3 degrees out, since then I have not had another 'vibration of death' and I completed an 800 odd mile drive home to France towing a L/R 90 on a trailer in the snow, with no problems so it is worth doing. My problem sounds the same as yours as it was at about 50-60 mph and only happened going over a rough piece of road definitely not all the time as in wheel balance.
Good luck with it and let us know.

Regards

Philip

just a quick update on the vibration problem, not good took it to my local dealer and diagnosed the problem as the transfer box, ouch!! starting to get a bit suspicious about the miliage. the garage i bought it from says the dealer is talking rubbish, stuck between a rock and a hard place here as its gonna cost a fortune!!! has anyone come across this before? cheers for now.

Hello again,

Do you have a good independent L/R repairer near you I suggest you take it to them. The good ones I know are out in the sticks servicing the farming community. Did you get your tracking checked yet.... it only costs about £25 and will eliminate another potential cause.
As for the dealers transfer box suggestion well............................???? I think you would have other problems besides the vibration of death.

Regards and good luck

Philip