The Death wobble vists me. Need HELP Urgently.

Guys ,
Need your help!

I recently changed the upper steering joint, lower steering shaft and lower steering joint (ALL OEM) as they were a totally gone. My mechanic also tightened all the bolts/nuts on the front shocks and back shocks as they were loose.

Took the Defender 110 to my farm last Saturday and on Sunday when I wanted to leave saw that my right front tyre had a totally flat. Hence changed it and replaced it with my spare tyre. Came out of the farm on to the main road and suddenly got a massive wobble as if the front tyres were going to pop out any time. Checked the nuts and they were all tight. This was the first time I got this massive wobble. Shook me up a bit. Was doing about 40Km or so.

Later reached the main expressway and had no problem at all.

This Saturday had to go to a city about 400km each way and out of this the first 150 km is a fantastic expressway and was doing about 80-100Km and had no problem or wobble. The remaining road is a state highway and not that good, lot of potholes and uneven road. After I did about 20Km more the horrible front wheel wobble again appeared and this time I was doing about 80km, immediately braked and slowed down and the wobble disappeared. Got down totally shaken and checked all the track rod ends, steering damper and shocks everything seemed ok. Oh! By the way I had replaced the spare with the original punctured tyre, so it was the same tyre which was there from the start. Also had to crawl back at 40-60KM/HR the remaining KMS. Again coming back the last 150KM expressway, I could do 90-110KM/Hour and no wobble, however if there was a bad patch in the road then the wobble appeared and this time at 80km and it shook the Landy very much, just eased it and drove back at 40km.

Carried on and again this kept happening between 40-60km per hour and could not go above these speeds as front wheels would wobble like mad. This happens especially on bad roads or when there is a bad patch in the road. On perfect flat roads it never happened. Something I noticed that when it was wobbling & if I shook the steering wheel from left to right and versa the wobbling stopped, but this was only at slow speeds and not at high speeds. The tyre pressure was ok in both tyres.

Am not sure if my track rod ends are knackered or this is because of the steering damper or the tightening of the front shocks. Also the swivel joints and ball seem ok after 159000 kms. Am not sure if the previous owner has ever changed the shocks and springs! I am the fourth owner. But all the bushes have been changed to BLUE polybush one a year back and I never had this problem at all.

I have brand new grease able track rod ends and new swivel kits (excluding the swivel ball). Can this be a problem because of the swivels? The right one was leaking though. Not sure whether I need to change the track rod ends, swivel balls and kits & steering dampers! Yes my tyres are pretty old and hard, but I have been running the Landy for over three years with them and never had this problem.

Would appreciate if someone more technical than me can help me solve this problem, would be highly appreciated for a quick response. Now I feel scared to drive my 110. Was going to take the entire family for a long holiday with some off-roading involved too. Now am too scared to cause any injury to anyone or my family unless I sort this issue out.

Rgds

Prith

Could be your swivels are worn or the steering damper is kaput.

Thanks mate, but how does one check if they are gone? Also how can it happen suddenly out of the blue?

The steering damper can go at any time. It is just a shock absorber.
Swivels wear and steering can be affected by vehicle loading or even tyre pressures.

I take it you've checked the tracking and balancing ? Mine did the death shake and that's all that needed doing, I had recently changed the track rod ends before the death wobble event.

as pod 51 says its more than likely your balancing if it only started when you put your spare wheel on,could be the rims slightly bent to but it will be picked up when its on the balancing machine

No I haven't checked the tracking and balancing as it did not give me a problem untill a few days. Does anyone have the correct procedure of tightning the front shocks, not too sure if my mechanic has over tightend them and thats why there is no effect.

I had this problem! I changed all sorts, steering damper, track rod ends, looked at wheel bearings, cv joints and even changed the transfer box! Ended up being the panhard bushes, I couldn't believe it!

There cheap and easy to do so might aswell get them changed and see if it make's a difference mate!

Todd.

Todd563 said:

I had this problem! I changed all sorts, steering damper, track rod ends, looked at wheel bearings, cv joints and even changed the transfer box! Ended up being the panhard bushes, I couldn't believe it!

There cheap and easy to do so might aswell get them changed and see if it make's a difference mate!

Todd.

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Thanks mate! Was planning on ordering new Swivel Balls as I already have two Swivel kits with out the balls. MIght as well change the swivel ball and and the entire kit along with a new RTC Terrafirma Steering damper plus as you mentioned the panhard bushes and the track rod ends not forgetting the drop arm track rod.

But before that my mechanic will remove the front shocks and the damper to check if they are ok.

Before you start changing loads of stuff that probably doesn't need it, just lie underneath your motor and get someone to rock the steering back and forth there's a good chance of spotting something worn out.
I'm currently running mine without a steering damper as I can't get one here and there is no wobble.
Lee

thanks mate

Death wobble can also happen after off roading,usual cause mud build up in the wheel rim causing abalance problem