Steering shudder on braking

[hugejp]

Smart money says thats your issue, or at least a huge contributing factor.

[Wilkie]

morning guys ...just a little input
i change the rims and tyres on my Patrol from mags (oem) to steels(oem) and whalla wheel wobble on brake application
must admit the steelies tyres are not that fresh anymore...

[Clem]

Thanks Wilkie. These are still OEM Mags with HT's on.

[Clem]

Fitted OME last night. Haven't had a chance to test brakes at speed but just on a drive around the block, one HECK of a difference. OEM shocks were quite clearly not up to the new springs. Will report more later.

[hugejp]

That is a promising development!

Fingers crossed that this is the solution...

[Clem]

Problem persists but at least I now know what it is. When braking quite hard yesterday on one ocassion I could quite clearly feel the lateral movement of the front axle. In other words, its a species of death wobble. This car has had a predisposition to this issue since day one. Even when brand new, on some specific surfaces one would get a bit of steering shake. So, in the new year, will have all bushes etc replaced, swivel pre-loads checked and steering damper replaced.

[hugejp]

She is going to be a dream to deive after all that!

[Clem]

To be honest JP, I'm not wild about the OME setup. It makes the car more stable and gives a bit of a lift while significantly improving load carrying ability but it comes at the cost of also very significantly increasing harshness and vibration of bad road surfaces. THE OEM setup is far better for travelling at speed on bad surfaces and also results in much less driver fatigue. But as we know, everything is a compromise. Talking of which anyone replaced the coils in a Patrol with airbags? I see that there is a kit and I'm almost - but not quite - tempted.

[hugejp]

I have airlift helper air bags inside my coils all round.

They are great when extra loads are towed or carried & help prevent sag & can also be used to level the vehicle out if a lean or heavy end developes.

However they do not soften anything at all, infact they beef up & raise the suspension, so without a load things are much harder.

[Peter Connan]

Speak to Abri Hoffmann.

He had airbags in his GQ and i think he put them in his 4.8 GL as well.

Only the rear though, he says the fronts made the GQ unstable. Other than that, he was very happy with the system.