Thread: Puma Shockies

I would never think that shockers are causing the shakes.

Even a bad steering damper would not be the cause of shakes but sometimes a good steering damper will cover the shakes up.

What you are describing is common with wide wheels / offset too far out.
Do you have original rims ?

Next I'd check that the toe-in is correct, even if you have had a wheel alignment done a lot of places do not understand that a Defender needs 0 - 1.5mm TOE OUT, or -ve 1.5mm toe in . Most other 4x4 need +ve toe in.
That would cause your problem.

Hi,

Get you tyres checked to make sure none of them are out of round, or have any flat spots etc. I had a "shake" that would never go away on my 2008 110, it wasn't until I had the tyres balanced by another specalist, (i.e. not the one the dealer was using), that it was noticed that one of the tyres was not as round as it could be.

Cheers,

Thanks TimNZ, goingbush.

The reason I am looking to shockies is that on a smooth bit of road there is no shudder at any speed. But if you hit a bit of uneven surface then you feel it in the steering. Normally if you hit a pothole you feel a bump, bump as the wheel drops in then comes back up. With my case you feel many bump, bump, bumps.

I have actually had the wheels balanced myself, twice, at different places just to be sure. I thought after the first balancing that I might go to somebody used to handling heavier wheels.

Swapping the wheels around is next and then I guess I should get the alignment checked even though there is no indication of uneven wear.

But my question stands. Is there some way to check the shocks ?

The easiest way to test shockies is to rock the car as hard as you can, then see if the rocking stops as soon as you stop. The best way is to remove shockies and pull in and out by hand and you should feel resistance.

Some suspension specialists have a test bed, when we used to own Alfa Romeo's the Alfa club did a club night on the test bed. That was about 20 years ago, I don't know if anyone does it now.

Allan

Just out of interest, what tyre pressures are you running Oldie?

Cheers,

Tim

Tim,

It still has the factory Michelins all round.

I have been running 35 on the front and around 42 on the back.

But found when it was loaded up with the Trayon etc that I had massive understeer on the open road. Was able to reduce that significantly by increasing pressures to 55/65

As a matter of interest, I rotated the wheels today and went for a drive. The wobble/shudder is still there in a big way. Seems to come on when the wheels are not straight ahead. On a pretty good surface at 85 kmph around a sweeping curve left or right seems to be the worst.

So I will see about an alignment Friday.

Keith

Originally Posted by goingbush

I would never think that shockers are causing the shakes.

[snip]

It can.

I've had a dead shock that caused shimmy when hitting bumps and at certain speeds. (drivers side, not that it matters)

Rebuilt it, problem solved.

BTW, pushing a shock/damper in and out is pretty meaningless, all you are doing is testing the bleed circuit.
The only way to test is either on a shock dyno, or have someone drive that knows damping, and even among race drivers that's pretty rare IME.