GQ sterring wheel wobble at 80kph

[gqmudder91]

Hey guys on a gq patrol 91 ute leaf sprung, my front passengers wheel fell off couple weekends ago and i have to fix the disc brake and hub got a hub from the weckers, cleaned it up and put them on replacing axle seals and repacking wheel bearings.

Since then i do a highway trip and after bout 20 mins on the highway turning turn slightly left i get vibartions though the steering wheel gets bad then stops and sometimes around town but when i was reapacking bearings on both sides i noticed that they did not have circlips hold on the back part of the hub to the axle drivers side did not have any clips but i lost the passenger side clip and now it wobbles cause this be the prob ?

[gqmudder91]

oh and i replace my front shocks and that helped a lil bit but hardly noticeable

[Not-e-Nuf]

mate....
it might not be the answer, but check or replace your panhard rod bushes and steering damper bushes. my mate had same problem but he runs 37's, he replaced everything except this but no fix, until someone from snake racing told him to replace bushes on panhard rod and steering damper.....and it fixed everything.

Mine had same problem last week, went to Pedders and changed just the bushes on panhard rod and steering damper & wobble was gone, got a wheel balance done also. all up cost about $80.

[roverrat]

The nissan front end is a funny little beastie.

Panhard bushes
Radius Arm bushes
Tie rod ends
100% Spot on wheel balances
Mushroom bushes in the the front arms
If you need a RTC spring type damper you are only masking a problem. Plus invariably the dampers inside are crap (undersized). Fix those things above and just get a decent large bore steering damper.

also knuckle bearings as well.

[5inchgq]

mate....
it might not be the answer, but check or replace your panhard rod bushes and steering damper bushes. my mate had same problem but he runs 37's, he replaced everything except this but no fix, until someone from snake racing told him to replace bushes on panhard rod and steering damper.....and it fixed everything.

Mine had same problem last week, went to Pedders and changed just the bushes on panhard rod and steering damper & wobble was gone, got a wheel balance done also. all up cost about $80.

The nissan front end is a funny little beastie.

Panhard bushes
Radius Arm bushes
Tie rod ends
100% Spot on wheel balances
Mushroom bushes in the the front arms
If you need a RTC spring type damper you are only masking a problem. Plus invariably the dampers inside are crap (undersized). Fix those things above and just get a decent large bore steering damper.

also knuckle bearings as well.

Not taking the piss but did you even read the OP ? it's a leaf sprung truck panhard bushes do not apply here, spring bushes, wheel balance or wheel bearings would be the the place to look IMO. Have you jacked the truck up and checked wether you have any movement in the wheel with no weight on it ?

[Warnie]

Hey man,

Are you daily driving the 33" MTR's you bought off me??? If so i had wobbles around 80km/hr as well, I put this down to them not being balanced after going wheeling and tyres spinning on the rims. When i put my new 33" BFG AT's the wobbles went away.

So it might be just as simple as the tyres need a balance, get them done and i bet your problems will go away.

[roverrat]

mate....
it might not be the answer, but check or replace your panhard rod bushes and steering damper bushes. my mate had same problem but he runs 37's, he replaced everything except this but no fix, until someone from snake racing told him to replace bushes on panhard rod and steering damper.....and it fixed everything.

Mine had same problem last week, went to Pedders and changed just the bushes on panhard rod and steering damper & wobble was gone, got a wheel balance done also. all up cost about $80.

The nissan front end is a funny little beastie.

Panhard bushes
Radius Arm bushes
Tie rod ends
100% Spot on wheel balances
Mushroom bushes in the the front arms
If you need a RTC spring type damper you are only masking a problem. Plus invariably the dampers inside are crap (undersized). Fix those things above and just get a decent large bore steering damper.

also knuckle bearings as well.

Not taking the piss but did you even read the OP ? it's a leaf sprung truck panhard bushes do not apply here, spring bushes, wheel balance or wheel bearings would be the the place to look IMO. Have you jacked the truck up and checked wether you have any movement in the wheel with no weight on it ?

Yeah sorry i missed the first few words and assumed lol!

[gqmudder91]

yes i have jacked that car up on both sides ( seperatly ) free play prob bout 2 mm each side but i founf that i could turn both wheels with one hand easy is this normal ? and also no 33 for weekend play till i can afford new ones any other info ? so it can't be the panhard or steering bushes ? cheers

[gqmudder91]

ok just read no panhard bushes sorry

[5inchgq]

Was the wheel that came off the truck damaged ? could it have lost a balance weight or be out of round now ?

[coxy321]

Have you checked swivel hub bearings and tie rod ends? I had the same problem in my old MK ute, turned out to be a combination of wheel bearings and swivel hub bearings.

[gqmudder91]

the rim was a right off so got a new one swivel hub bearings ? where are these ? inside the hub ?

[5inchgq]

Swivel hub bearings are attached to the plates top and bottom of the swivel hub, easy to find as there is four bolts holding each plate to the swivel hub itself. Check there is no movement or slop in the bearings by jacking each side up and try and move the hub itself up and down etc. It might be easier to check this without the weight of the wheel on the hub so take it off again.

[coxy321]

And check for "notchyness" too. Your front wheels are pointed straight ahead most of the time, and if your bearings aren't turning freely or aren't preloaded correctly, any impacts or shock is going to be transferred through to the same point every time.

[Tiny]

First thing I would check after you Ballance and align is play in the wheel bearing and king pin bearings, next would be spring bushes and rod ends

[gqmudder91]

king pin bushes ? wat/where are they ?
and i will try and jack it up tomorrow and check the hub bearings i just don't want to go back in there i guess i will have to soon cheers guys thanks for the replys

[Tiny]

King pin bearings are tenones on the top and bottom of the swivel hub

[gqmudder91]

hey guys just and update booked it in for a pedders 28 point safty check on friday and jacking up this arvo and changing wheels back to the one that fell off just the tyre new rim being useing my spare latly and while it is up i will check the hub cheers

[coxy321]

Do yourself a favour and when you pick the car up, don't get them to fix it. Nine times out of ten those checks aren't worth a pinch of sh1t (from my experience). The last one i had, i was quoted $2200 to fix defective parts on an EA Falcon sedan, this was on a car getting a check up, not a car that was taken there because it had a problem.

If you want a proper check done, take it to a reputable 4x4 specialist. Or, go buy yourself a workshop manual for $50 and learn how to service your own car. You'll save big $$$ in the long run.

[gqmudder91]

i aint going to let them do anything to my car just tell me wat might needed to be replace i already do my own servicing i just don't no how to check bushes to see if they are gone and own one of those book it helped me replace the rotor and another update passenger side is all tight no wobble in the wheel or bearings but the driver i got bout 3 mm of freeplay in the wheel bearings and a lot of freeplay when i shake the wheel from top and bottom ( can't remember wat this means ) but i no wheel bearings are from left to right cheers thanks for the help guys

[coxy321]

Play up and down can be either wheel bearings or swivel hub bearings (kingpin bearings). Play in wheel bearings can be up/down, left/right, basically any way, as they are a conical bearing on an axle (as i'm sure you know).

One way to easily check the swivel hub is to get a mate to wobble the wheel up/down, while you poke your head around and see if the hub is moving on the knuckle. Make sure the car is safely supported though before doing it.

There's a thread on here recently covering a similar issue - i'll see if i can find a link...

EDIT: Here you go, courtesy of Not-e-Nuf. (http://forum.outerlimits4x4.com/viewtop ... 5&t=212476" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)


The swivel hubs are located on the top and bottom of the hub, retained by four bolts. You can see one here at the top, just on the near side of where the coil spring starts (square plate thing with the weird dish in the centre).

[gqmudder91]

cheers aain will ckeck this arvo how much freeplay is accetable ?

[coxy321]

You shouldn't have ANY freeplay in the swivel hubs, but they shouldn't be binding up either.

As for wheel bearings, I like to do them up so there is no play (for Gods sake, don't tighten them up as hard as you can). I do it with the wheel bolted on (use two wheel nuts) so you can feel for play, then i spin the wheel 1-2 rotations to make sure they're seated properly, check freeplay again, then i lock the nut/washer in on the tight side of no freeplay, if that makes sense.

I'm assuming the GU's will have slightly more fine adjustment on wheel bearing preload though due to the better locking mechanism.

[gqmudder91]

cheers mate um ok think i will have to go back in then and retighten the swivel hub bearing is fine no freeplay so must be just wheel bearing on the drivers side will do saturday and let u no

[coxy321]

The preload on the swivel hubs is set using shims - so you won't get them any tighter by hanging off the bolts. If you need to buy some, don't bother calling Nissan - last time i got quoted a couple of dollars per shim. I think Bursons or someone had them cheap. Do a search on here - there's a thread with all of the details in it.

[gqmudder91]

ok bit of a up dat egot it back from pedders today they said that the majourity of the wobble and freeplay in the steering was a combination of the grag link and steering damper do bout $ 260 all up to buy them yay does anyone no where to get a draglink from ? im in the ipswich area ?

[5inchgq]

ok bit of a up dat egot it back from pedders today they said that the majourity of the wobble and freeplay in the steering was a combination of the grag link and steering damper do bout $ 260 all up to buy them yay does anyone no where to get a draglink from ? im in the ipswich area ?

A standard or aftermarket/heavy duty one ?

[coxy321]

Snake Rock Rod or something?

http://72.34.32.141/~snakerac/product_i ... 125307ef89" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gqmudder91]

ok bit of a up dat egot it back from pedders today they said that the majourity of the wobble and freeplay in the steering was a combination of the grag link and steering damper do bout $ 260 all up to buy them yay does anyone no where to get a draglink from ? im in the ipswich area ?

A standard or aftermarket/heavy duty one ?

maxium a heavy duty one i don't do that much hard tracks or rocks i don't need that roack rod one sorry depends on price difference

[coxy321]

Give patrolapart a call then - he'd have a few standard ones in stock for sure.