Death Wobble Causes

[Braudy]

Hi All.

I would like a list of possible causes for the steering on my rangey to get the wobbles up. It shakes the steering wheel to such an extent that it is an effort to hold on. All ways at around the 60 to 70 km mark.

I have swapped the front diffs ( ie complete axle ) on two range rovers first a 1981 and the second a 1977. The 81 used to be the good rangey but then I bought a bob tail , and am now swapping all the good bits from the 81 to it.

I had no issues with vibrations with the diff before I put it in the bob tail.

The diff was unbolted at the radius arms chassis joint and wheeled over and bolted in. Nothing was changed.

This is about all I can think of that has been done.

1 Radius arm bushes ,chassis and diff end are 6 mths old rubber.
2 drag link & tie rod ends , maxi drive , good condition
3 wheel berrings replaced when caster corrected swiveles done
4 ventilated front brakes done
5 15x8 alloy wheels with 33 x12.5 Baja MTZ Balanced ok
6 recoed 4 bolt steering box
7 suspension lift is only around 3 inches.

All I can see now is there is movement in the panhard rod where it meets the chassis but this movement is only forward and backward.

So any ideas on what to check would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers

Braudy

[6.5 rangie]

panhard bushes are shagged!

[Micka]

panhard bushes are shagged!

x2

[DL]

x3

Also a 3" lift will mean you have negative caster which should be corrected with slotted swivels or other.

And just check that the nut on the steering shaft on the bottom of the steering box is not loose. Does happen, been there.

cheers, DL

[Braudy]

OK thanks , I will look into panhard bushes .
Caster correction has been done with slotted swivels. And I will give my nuts a going over ( sorry, just had to word it that way).

How much lift do you need , to justify adjustable panhard rod , I assume it would be a lot more than 3-4 inch ?

Thanks for the response


Cheers

Braudy

[6.5 rangie]

alot more, standard rod will be fine

[stikman]

OK thanks , I will look into panhard bushes .
Caster correction has been done with slotted swivels. And I will give my nuts a going over ( sorry, just had to word it that way).

How much lift do you need , to justify adjustable panhard rod , I assume it would be a lot more than 3-4 inch ?

Thanks for the response


Cheers

Braudy

I heard the reason you may go adjustable panhard on a Rover with only 3-4 inches of lift is the misalignment front to rear, as wth the Rover the A-Frame keeps the rear square while the front move out. With a Patrol etc both the front and rear move the same distance across as it is Panhard front and rear. Sort of makes sense. The misalignment on mine was visibly out but in saying that it made no noticable difference in driving manner when panhard was replaced.

Check Wheel Bearing and Swivel pin PreLoads also.

[BadMav]

Silly question, but have you checked your wheel bearings? Not sure bout the rovers, but if they run a king pin style swivel hub, might be worth checking clearances and preloads you have. This is a common problem on nissans.

[Welsh_farmer]

Most common cause of the death wobbles is poorly adjusted swivel preload. You need to get in there with a spring balance and start removing shims by the sound of it. Saying that I have just been through the same process with my disco and finally ended up swapping axles. I had changed panhard rod bushes, done the preload, had all new track rod ends, a new steering damper and checked the wheel bearings. When I finally removed the axle I found that the rear-most axle bushing on the radius arm had worn the bolt hole out so that there was about 5 mm of movement between bolt and hole