Shaking steering

hi all , I know this has been raised and answered before , humour me !
just fitted new front shocks to my air suspension classic , also fitted new steering damper . old ones were wearing out not completely dead . Now its almost undrivable , steering starts shaking , then is so violent that the steering is so hard to turn , nearly put it in the wall four times in four miles . Any ideas ????????

remove steering damper and try it

Do what JAMES says.

However you didn't mention what sort of speed you are doing to get this shake.

sorry , shaking seems to be 30 mph upwards , might be somthing to do with change in road surface ???? don't know much more it's to dangerous to drive at any higher speed or distance .!

if its just started happening with fitting of new steering damper ? not shocks as nothing to do with steering ,if been coming on a while check pas box while stright for free play in out put shaft by rocking input with hand ,check all ball joints ,wheel brgs etc

just tried a drive with steering damper removed , no change ! don't see what is going on as rangy was fine before damper and shocks changed .

As always start with the simple things. Get the front end off the ground and push, pull and shake everything. You have put the wheels back on correctly, have you? You haven't got some groovy wheels that need spacers or anything similar and you've forgotten? Wheel nuts tight but wheels still loose?

Then go back over the work you've just done.

never took wheels off , Could it be swivels , are they shimmed ?

have you tried steering damper before making other assumptions ,but if your story at top is right and alot arent then logic would ditate you start there and then work through checking wheel brgs ,swivels by feeling movement or not with wheel jacked up,classic rrs have shims under top swivel pin but as have bearing top and bottom if very loose bearings will need replacing as wear cant be taking up like bush

put the old shocks and s/damper back on and see if its still the same

Had the same problem two years ago. Bet you`re running 18` wheels and your tyres are about half worn. Got a feeling the suspension angles don`t like this. Tried everything, new tyres cured it but for the most sensible answer switch to 16` wheels, fixed. I changed dampers et al but switching to 16` fixed it permanently.

i got 18 inch wheels and the tyres will need replacing in about 2000 miles (just above the wear markers)and i dont have any of the problems described.

has the harmonic damper gone back on?(Big round heavy thing on the steering damper)

does the steering damper need "bleeding" before putting on.I remember I had to do it to one I fitted to a classic I owned long ago.Put I vertical in a vice and pump it up and down through its full travel untill resistance is felt.

tomcat59alan said:

does the steering damper need "bleeding" before putting on.I remember I had to do it to one I fitted to a classic I owned long ago.Put I vertical in a vice and pump it up and down through its full travel untill resistance is felt.

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All hydraulic dampers should be exercised before they are fitted. Standard practice. However todays NVQ technicians may not know that.

I think wammers has it. But another possibility is bushes not assembled correctly. There must be no movement there, or there'll be an amount of undamped movement.
I had this problem and bought new dampers all round only to discover the old dampers were ok and the bushes knackered or not done up right.

that NVQ crap,does it stand for No Value Qualification?