Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Aleric,

This IS actually a common thing on the GU's and it gets worse depending on a variety of worn components on your truck as the mileage piles on. What year model is your Trol and what is your mileage? I have 33's on my '98 GU and I get the "death wobble" at around 90km/h and is mostly noticeable when cornering or going through a sweeping curve at this speed. It gets worse with worn tyres, unbalanced tyres, steering alignment slightly out or a host of other bushes etc that have just worn out. A lot of folks rotate their tyres every 10000km's to "fix" the problem, but this is basically just masking the symptoms and not sorting out the actually problem.

BUT! The most common reasons seem to be knackered Panhard Rod bushes and/or a worn steering damper that needs replacing. I suggest you go read up about it on the Aussie Patrol forum. They have some useful tips on how to find out what's causing the issue. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of threads covering this topic. Good luck with you search!

Take your wheels off, let them lie flat so that it forms a circle in plan view. Now get a monster vernier (I used an architects drawingboard T-ruler with a sliding device) and measure the centreline across various angles. The problem with these big tyres is that it is very difficult to manufacture them exactly round. (If cost efficient, this and high spec ball bearings may one day be manufactured in space, where there is no gravity, though we'll not see that day) I got one of my coopers exchanged free of charge due to this. Then exchanged the replacement tyre due to this. Third time they actually made sure they meassured it themselves beforehand 'cos I got bedonnerd and claimed travel and time expenses, eventually we settled that I did not have to pay for the warn off thread (which they meassured and calculated very dodgy too).

Aleric Meyer wrote:I took it back to the fitment centre today. They did the alignment and charged me for balancing again. I drove it back to work and it is still the same. The spigot of the new wheels fit perfectly on the wheel hubs. Wat nou?

it seems like your problem started when the new rims and new tires came in the picture >>>>>>>>>>
all that i can say is it was cool until you change the 2
mabe the bigger wheels can put more strain on other things that might be worn but i will still suspect in new stuff

On my Patrol with the M/T's I get the shake for the first 5 -10 kilos and then the shake is gone and all goes well.

TW&T in Paarl warned me about buying local steel rims and no OE. They said the steel rims come out new not running true. Rather buy alloy rims.
Bekker

Ek dink ook dis die fout

I also have the KL71 Kumho 33" on my Patrol, and have the same steering shake. Used to be at 80 odd km/h but is not always there. If my tyre pressure is above 2.3 bar.... I get a steering shake. At 2.2 max tyre pressure I get virtually nothing. except at about 130km/h, where I get a little wobble.

I have seen them balance one of my tyres, take it off the machine..... pick it up and put it back on the machine, recheck and the tyre was out of balance !!!!.... now hows this... I was told that this is normal!!!!!

I think replacing the bushes would make a huge difference too.... and bearings too.

ricster wrote:
I have seen them balance one of my tyres, take it off the machine..... pick it up and put it back on the machine, recheck and the tyre was out of balance !!!!.... now hows this... I was told that this is normal!!!!!

I think replacing the bushes would make a huge difference too.... and bearings too.

Cedric they need to use the correct tool to hold the rim it makes all the difference

I have 31 10.5 on my hilux and 33 km2 on patrol not even a wabble !!!
Balence and rotate every 5000km YOU HAVE TO with. Muddies but. His rims and tires are brand new
The steels these days are all fomg kong and don't balence properly
Auto wiel refuses to sell them becouse of it
I think tires , rims , or not seating poperly

Hi Guys, I had a similar problem, I fitted new Alloys ( A Lines ) with BFG 285 MT;s, within 2 km;s the wheels actually came loose, the spigot opening on the rims were catching on the frt hubs. I then had the rims opened up 1mm on a lathe to give them clearance , then balanced using the wheel stud holes. There was a small vibration at 80km/h . ( but the MT's were very noisy )
Luckily the shop I bought the tyres ( used to be Circle Band in Centurion, now Autowiel) exchanged the tyres for AT's ( at no charge), I put the steel rims back and no problems.
I found the BFG AT's performed great , on a recent trip through Botswana, we did the Maun to Kasane road, with patches 5 km's long of deep mud with no problem.
I have also heard that the AT's last much longer than the MT's.

Barend at autowiel give very good client service ....also the branch in centoroin patrick is in charge there all these. Guys are looking out to give good prices and service