Weird steering shake

My disco steering shakes when on uneven road surfaces.
In a somethings loose kinda way.
Any common things that cause this.
Ive put a new damper on to no avail

Jason Hall

On or around Fri, 25 Mar 2005 19:28:09 GMT, "Jason Hall"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>My disco steering shakes when on uneven road surfaces.
>In a somethings loose kinda way.
>Any common things that cause this.
>Ive put a new damper on to no avail
>

drag link ball joints loose (either end), play in steering box (adjust) or
worn UJs in the steering column. All can give the symptoms you describe.

Have an assistant rock the steering wheel from side to side gently (less
than 1/4 turn, just enough so that the wheels twitch slightly) and examine
all points for movement that shouldn't be there. Slight ball joint play can
be felt better than it can be seen.

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that
"Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt"
(confound the men who have made our remarks before us.)
Aelius Donatus (4th Cent.) [St. Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes]

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 19:28:09 GMT, "Jason Hall"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>My disco steering shakes when on uneven road surfaces.
>In a somethings loose kinda way.
>Any common things that cause this.
>Ive put a new damper on to no avail
>
>Jason Hall
>

Most likely lack of pre-load on the swivels - they will need
reshimming. Also, did you prime the damper before you fitted it?


--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'03 Volvo V70

My Landies? http://www.seriesii.co.uk
Barcoding? http://www.bartec-systems.com
Tony Luckwill web archive at http://www.luckwill.com

Tim Hobbs wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 19:28:09 GMT, "Jason Hall"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> My disco steering shakes when on uneven road surfaces.
>> In a somethings loose kinda way.
>> Any common things that cause this.
>> Ive put a new damper on to no avail
>>
>> Jason Hall
>>
>
> Most likely lack of pre-load on the swivels - they will need
> reshimming. Also, did you prime the damper before you fitted it?

Thats a nice job!

--
Subaru WRX (The Bitch)

Series 3 Landrover 88" (Albert)

"Christ's fat cock"

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 12:39:42 -0000, "Nige"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Tim Hobbs wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 19:28:09 GMT, "Jason Hall"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> My disco steering shakes when on uneven road surfaces.
>>> In a somethings loose kinda way.
>>> Any common things that cause this.
>>> Ive put a new damper on to no avail
>>>
>>> Jason Hall
>>>
>>
>> Most likely lack of pre-load on the swivels - they will need
>> reshimming. Also, did you prime the damper before you fitted it?
>
>Thats a nice job!
>

Wouldn't know....

I do know that it transformed my Discovery from virtually undriveable
on rough roads to being very composed, and much more stable, even at
highly illegal speeds.

On a Discovery with enough miles to need swivel work, it's also likely
that the shocks and steering damper are knackered, not to mention the
state of the wheel bearings and wheel alignment. It depends very much
on the service history of the vehicle.

It's only when you get it put right that you realise just how bad it
was...
--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'03 Volvo V70

My Landies? http://www.seriesii.co.uk
Barcoding? http://www.bartec-systems.com
Tony Luckwill web archive at http://www.luckwill.com

Yep it's a whole subject of its own - lost track of how many Range Rovers
and Discovery's have been inverted due to the runaway build up of front end
instability --- quite few fatalites as well - but Landrover deny
it................. I lost a RR on the A12 in Essex, another RR in
Oxfordshire.......Disco started to show signs ..........


"Jason Hall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My disco steering shakes when on uneven road surfaces.
> In a somethings loose kinda way.
> Any common things that cause this.
> Ive put a new damper on to no avail
>
> Jason Hall
>
>

On 2005-03-28, Larry Shaw <[email protected]> wrote:

> Yep it's a whole subject of its own - lost track of how many Range
> Rovers and Discovery's have been inverted due to the runaway build
> up of front end instability

Any evidence of any of this at all, of any kind? Seems to me that
rather a lot of them don't throw themselves into hedges or turn over.

> --- quite few fatalites as well - but Landrover deny
> it.................

Ooooh conspiracy!!

> I lost a RR on the A12 in Essex, another RR in
> Oxfordshire.......Disco started to show signs ..........

I'd suggest you buy a different car, one of those blue plastic trikes
that you see in disabled bays might be more suited to you.

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:27:23 +0000 (UTC), "Larry Shaw"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Yep it's a whole subject of its own - lost track of how many Range Rovers
>and Discovery's have been inverted due to the runaway build up of front end
>instability --- quite few fatalites as well - but Landrover deny
>it................. I lost a RR on the A12 in Essex, another RR in
>Oxfordshire.......Disco started to show signs ..........
>
>

To lose one Range Rover is unfortunate, to lose two seems like
carelessness...


--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'03 Volvo V70

My Landies? http://www.seriesii.co.uk
Barcoding? http://www.bartec-systems.com
Tony Luckwill web archive at http://www.luckwill.com

On or around Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:27:23 +0000 (UTC), "Larry Shaw"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>Yep it's a whole subject of its own - lost track of how many Range Rovers
>and Discovery's have been inverted due to the runaway build up of front end
>instability --- quite few fatalites as well - but Landrover deny
>it................. I lost a RR on the A12 in Essex, another RR in
>Oxfordshire.......Disco started to show signs ..........


If you drive something which ain't roadworthy, they you deserve to end up
upside down in the hedge. To get the sort of instability you're describing
would, IMHO, require major wear in several components or systems at once.
I've driven various LRs with more or less worn steering - worn joints in the
drag link makes it a bit vague in a straight line, shot steering damper can
give a high (about 2-3 Hz) frequency shimmy on hitting bumps, worn joints in
the track rod can make it wandery too, or can make for inconsistent steering
- however, none of these singly unless very worn showed any signs of making
it go fatally unstable at legal speeds. In the case of the 110 damper, it
was totally shot - didn't make that much odds, asides from the shimmy as
described, but that died out quite quickly and didn't continue once you'd
got off the bumps.

I suggest a bit of maintenance... I noticed a slight iffyness in one of the
discos the other day, and sure enough, drag link balljoint has about a mm or
2 of play in it, so it's due for replacement as soon as the new one comes.


--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that
"It is a characteristic of the human mind to hate the man one has injured"
Tacitus (c.55 - c.117) Agricola, 45

How many "shimmy" causes should be picked up by the mot? My MOT'er is great, points out things which are not fail things but need sorting or can cause problems. He would not let me drive a car which he found was unsafe and he knows I like things to be right but the last time I took my discovery in I mentioned the shaking but nothing came to light when he checked the steering. The swivel bearings on one side needed sorting out and have been done and still the shakes continue - I have just done panard rod and radius arm bushes (not road tested yet so can't say if this has cured it) Noticed the steering damper is dead so getting that sorted too. Any way my point is how can I have such a shake without the MOT picking up on it?

ikklenick said:

How many "shimmy" causes should be picked up by the mot? My MOT'er is great, points out things which are not fail things but need sorting or can cause problems. He would not let me drive a car which he found was unsafe and he knows I like things to be right but the last time I took my discovery in I mentioned the shaking but nothing came to light when he checked the steering. The swivel bearings on one side needed sorting out and have been done and still the shakes continue - I have just done panard rod and radius arm bushes (not road tested yet so can't say if this has cured it) Noticed the steering damper is dead so getting that sorted too. Any way my point is how can I have such a shake without the MOT picking up on it?

Click to expand...

Primary cause is normally the steering damper. A weak damper would be unlikely to be picked up on an MOT. Other factors such as steering box, ball joints, lower steering column UJ's, wheel bearings and swivel bearings, various bushes would all be checked at MOT. One other "invisible" cause is tyres - they have been known to distort so they are no longer completely round. If you search the forum you'll find plenty about steering shake, steering wobble and the ubiquitous "death wobble".

Hey guys... Hi kev.... he's right about the wheels.... My tyres on my disco are quite well worn and one of them is not perfectly round any more.... get it up above 50 and it shakes like the Devil himself in a a bout of flu!