Steering wobble - solved

[davejones]

Thought this is worthy of posting.

I've had a steering wobble around 80km/h since i bought my Patrol, made worse after fitting the 33" cooper STTs.

Spent money doing multiple alignments and balancing with different places (twt, supaquick,etc), took to mechanic to have steering components checked out (drag-link, panhard rod, tie-rod ends and all bushes etc), received a R20K quote, eventually in personal capacity worked it down to the drag link which i replaced at some R5,000 (cant remember exact number). It helped a little, but the slight wobble remained.

Had my wheel alignment done at broadacres fitment centre (off cedar road), owned (or co-owned) by a guy named Gavin Pike, an active member on 4x4community who left the corporate world to pursue this opportunity. I was at a bush mechanics course and having put the patrol on a lift as part of the course material, decided to have it checked over anyway.

So get the trol back, and for the first time ever absolutely no wobble on the steering wheel. Finally a vehicle centre that actually knows what it is doing. Best thing is, it's only 5 mins from my house.

[stefnie]

Nice to hear Dave! - do you know what the problem was? Might help if I can point he local guys in Bloemfontein in the right direction to solve my problem as well.

Regards.
Christo Muller.
Tel. 082 576 0981.

[KOOS BEST]

Search DEATH WOBBLE, it is very informative on this forum.
Only happens to SFS vehicle's

[davejones]

it definitely wasn't the death wobble - you will know when you get this because you will K@K yourself, but, by reading the post on the death wobble it does provide a nice "trouble-shooting" process of elimination.

First on the list is to do a proper wheel alignment with balancing, which, as it turns out, was all my Patrol needed and I would have been R5000 better off

No specific problem stefnie, just take it to guys who know what they are doing.

[Peter Vee]

I picked up a similar issue on my grx - very distinct wobble at 80kms - I suspected that this was a combination of balancing and 305 BFG MT's - anyhow took the car to my pal Ronnie at "Ronnies Tyres" on Ontdekkers in West Rand who has done work for me before on a number of my vehicles - he personally did the wheel alignment and balancing and the problem is solved ... no wobble at all .. so it was R280.00 well spent. Appears that the folk at the fitment centre stuffed up on the original balancing to the extent that one wheel was out by 85gm.


Regards

[cullendw]

Hi,

Thanks for this thread, I will definetly check out the contacts mentioned. Out of curiosity, did your patrol veer to the left when driving and if so, has that also disappeared?

[Stefan]

Would also love to know this as mine has also gotten the 'left' tendency since fitting larger rubber.

[Peter Connan]

With regard to vehicles veering left, remember that to an extent this is normal for us, because our roads are convex and you are almost always driving to the left of centre, therefore you are usually on a slight sideways incline to the left.

Larger wheels wil increase this tendency, but only slightly.

This can be fiddled in various ways:
1) Differential caster on the two sides of the vehicle. This is not possible on our cars.
2) With a longer drag link but on our cars the drag link length is fixed, so you have to manufacture an adjustable drag link first. (more applicable to a lifted suspension than to bigger tires)
3) Using shimming to get different pre-loads on the hub bearings (the bearings around which the hubs swivel). An expensive trial-and-error process beyond the ability of most wheel alignment shops.
4) Fitting a spring-loaded steering damper.
Changing the amount of toe-in can have some effect as well, but this may have a negative effect on tire wear as well.

Persnally I reckon just live with it, assuming of course your wheel alignment is according to spec.

Note also that a suspension lift (and I guess many of us get a lift and larger tires done at about the same time) in which the caster correction is less than perfect will reduce the amount of self-centering inherent in the steering, and thus the left-hand veer caused by the road not being perfectly level will be exagerated.

[Stefan]

That's almost the exact same reply I got from Johann Viljoen (Johann Tyres) at 1st Alignment - so I'm living with it

[Herrie]

Just drive on the right hand side and then it will not pull to the left!!