Major death wobbles 60 series

[brendan rooke]

Hey all,

As said, im having major troubles in the front of the 60.

I had the toe in done on tuesday arvo, it had 5 degree toe out.

Since having that done its having major death wobbles.

Its so severe that i have to pull up as it wont drive out of it. (Damn scary)

Ive retensioned my u-bolts, checked the damper, checked all my steering arms and pitman arm etc etc.

I took it to my mates workshop tonight and wound the toe ia a bit took it for a drive and hit the same rough patch and the front end went into a frenzy.

I tried to drive out of it, braked, steered hard left to right, but had to pull up again.

Jacked it back up and checked all the springs, chassis mounts, shackles- bushes etc, nothing seemed out of place, cracked or anything.

I have no play in my steering box or in the tie-rods, the bushes are brand new and greased up,

Any body got any ideas???

Any help appreciated

Cheers

Rookie.

[popeyehj60]

did it only do it since wheel alignment or was it doing it before then

[brendan rooke]

did it only do it since wheel alignment or was it doing it before then

Its only started doing it since wheel alignment.

My mate done the wheel alignment, and all he done was toe in 5 degree.

It was toeing out a bit before and pulling to the left a bit and wandering all over the road, now it drives straight and feels ok on road but whenn driving around town its getting these wobble ups in the front end.

Its only done in town at slow speed. I can accualy make it do it myself by giving the steering wheel a fast shake left to right.

[chunks]

Something has to be worn mate, have a real hard look at your shackle bushes. Do you have extended shackles? Also what's your caster like?

[jimmy087]

how are the wheel bearings? id say the toe was holding that much weight on them they never presented a problem.

[brendan rooke]

Brand new shackle bushes, brand new everything accually.

Im thinking wheel bearings, they do have a bit of play. I wouldnt have thought the amount of play they have would cause this but it is wearing 37s

Im gunna pull the front hubs apart on saturday and replace bearings and check it out.

Caster is good, i rotated the housing for the spring over but i cut and rotated the housing ends back to suit.

[woodyjbh]

Its wearing 37's??

When was the last time you had the balancing checked on the wheels....

If you reckon there's nothing loose in the steering then thats the next thing i would be checking. Especially with wheels that size...

Wood

[brendan rooke]

Had the 37s fitted and balanced to 10" rims about 6 weeks ago!

[Punchy]

what tyre pressure you got in your tyres ?

if everything is as you say, i would check for

1 Bent diff housing
2 *Incorrect SAI
Incorrect caster angle ( due to tire wear now- excentuated with wheel alignment )*
3 Mates wheel aligment machine ( or operator ) knows whats he's doing....
4 Your tyres could be shit - rotate and recheck
5 Shocks

[blk30y]

what condition are the shocks had similar problems with mine if it is a daily drive wheel bearings will be lucky to last 3 months

[woodyjbh]

Had the 37s fitted and balanced to 10" rims about 6 weeks ago!

Takes less than a second to accidently knock a weight off a wheel. Specially if your underneath doing wheel alignments etc...

I've seen this happen on several different cruisers and death wobbles were always solved by getting wheels and tyres checked and balanced properly...

Wood

[JUZ]

i had the same problems (not with 37 though) the centre bolt of the front springs were snapped and another time they were loose.

[brendan rooke]

Running 35 psi in treads on road, the tyres reasonably new, 98% havnt done any work really. No uneven wear yet.

Its only started doing it since wheel alignment, so im gunna do the wheel bearings and try another wheel alignment at another mates.

It is really rigid in the front because i got the big bore tough dogs in at the moment but im gunna change them next week to pro-comps to match my the rears.

Cheers

[AUSDOG]

G'day Brendan, I know how to fix your prob. Start by pulling out that 12ht and box, chuck it on a pallet and send it down to me... I reackon that should stop ya wobbles.

[brendan rooke]

G'day Steve.

I think you've got enough off my truck already, i had to buy another to replace my diffs

Hows the shorty goin mate, looked the goods in the 40 thread.

Wanna swap, you can have the wobbles for free

[SteelArt]

Caster is good, i rotated the housing for the spring over but i cut and rotated the housing ends back to suit.

What actauk caster did you set it at and have you checked it since it was back in the car ?

What sort of torque rod setup have you got ? are you getting spring wrap ?

[RAY185]

While you're checking wheel bearings have a look at the king pin bearings too. Freeplay there can cause your problem.

[brendan rooke]

I set it back to factory spec

I rotated the front diff 5 degree and turned the balls back the same amount.

Caster is set back to same as factory, not running extended shackles or nothing out of the ordinary.

Drove the truck to Sydney in November with 35s on 10" rims with out a problem (even towing a car trailer down and back) was auto them but.

Point is...its only just become a problem, if it was anything to do with poor engineering or careless work it would have been trouble from day 1.

Plans in progress for a ladder bar on the back diff. Shouldnt effect front diff though.

Thanks for the replies guys gunna have fun on saturday elimenating problems, should be a very progressive day hopefully.

Want it ready for Rover Park next weekend

[forty5]

i've seen this heaps , 9 out of ten times it is the swivel bearings in the swivel hubs, sometimes u can take shims out or otherwise if bearings are cactus replace them, more likely that than wheel bearings from my experience

[brendan rooke]

Thanks for that forty5 ill check them out while im going.

It definatly feels like a bearing problem, the way it wobbles when you hit a bump or rough spot.

[brendan rooke]

Well its definatly not wheel bearings.

Pulled them out tonight, repacked them put them back in, took for drive....same thing.

Checked king pin bearings, seem fine.

Gunna try a couple 3mm wedges and see if it is caster, i didnt think it would have been castor but im running out of ideas!!!

[Frankenyota]

i've seen this heaps , 9 out of ten times it is the swivel bearings in the swivel hubs, sometimes u can take shims out or otherwise if bearings are cactus replace them, more likely that than wheel bearings from my experience.
As forty5 said check the preload on the swivel hub bearings, seen it heaps in patrols with front end shakes.
Disconnect TRE when checking.

Matt

[BadMav]

it is wearing 37s

What sort of 37's? Steel radials? Rags? Rag tyres are bad for getting flatspots when sitting in the one spot for too long, particlarly in cold weather overnight. I took my 36" centipedes off as the steering wheel would nearly pull out of my hands in the morning and I couldn't get over 60 kmh. I'm running 35" steel belted Big Horns for now (which totally fixed it) and I'll keep the 'pedes for play time.

[brendan rooke]

Pulled it all apart again today and forty5 said...it was swivel hub bearing on the left hand side.

I didnt pick up it until today, its only minor movement but thats all it took.

Thanks for the replies fellas.

[brendan rooke]

Replaced the front bush's first with nolathane ones, didnt really want to but the rubber bush's i put in a month ago were buggered already.

That helped a bit, set the toe again, retensioned wheel bearings again. Took it for a drive between each fix.

While i was puttin the left hub back together... my mate said check that bearing for play again while i have a look and guess what.....a bit of play in the swivel hub , how did i miss that???

That might explain it pulling to the left a bit

[dow50r]

caster caster caster, i bet you have a 3 inch plus lift to fit 37's as it lifts up, the diff tilts forward and you run on the outer sides of each tyre....you need to fix your caster...i had exactly thesame on 35's after putting 2 extra leaves into a OME pack...gear stick left bruises on my leg....sound farmiliar???

[brendan rooke]

caster caster caster, i bet you have a 3 inch plus lift to fit 37's as it lifts up, the diff tilts forward and you run on the outer sides of each tyre....you need to fix your caster...i had exactly thesame on 35's after putting 2 extra leaves into a OME pack...gear stick left bruises on my leg....sound farmiliar???

Caster is fine, it is lifted but from a spring over and 2" springs.

Ive had extended shackles in an old 60 and had to wedges to correct caster.

Its the left swivel bearing (got a little bit of play, but with 37's makes it a lot of play)

[BadMav]

Read all his posts mate, he's rotated the housing plus it's SOA. Besides that, death wobbles aren't caused by insufficient castor. Insufficient castor will amplify another problem and it makes it easier to change lanes really fast, whether you want to or not

[Gaza520]

I had to replace the swivel hub barings in mine and that fixed my problem sounds like youve replaced most of the front as i did at the same time i also replaced the tie rod end springs in the drag link and tie rod hope this helps

[brendan rooke]

Cheers mate,

I still havnt got around to replacing swivel hub bearings

Its been good so far, i found the rear bush on my front left spring was flogged out...thats whats causing it to pull left as its pushed the spring back, noticed the front shackles on different angles and thought id bent a spring but it was just the buggered bush allowing the spring pack to push back.

It still tries to get a wobble up but we set the toe again and put it at 2 degree toe out to hold a bit of pressure on the bearings until i get time to replace them.