strange front end wobbles.....help......

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Originally Posted by schuy1

If the "wobble can be controlled with the accelerator or only does it on hard surfaces, or goes away if you drop a wheel off the bitumen eg drive in the gravel, then it will be the swivel bearings. I had the same thing, started with a pothole hit collapsing a bearing, renewed the swivel bearings, STILL did it! Discovered, after a lot of invective and murmurings of boat anchors, the preload was not enough as per book. I just kept removing shims until it behaved. and they are Timken bearings too :o have done 15000 now and its still good.
Cheers Scott

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we used to always set the preload tighter than the book said to......i know its a no-no......but it used to help a lot......
almost felt like driving a different vehicle afterwards.....
but too much tension on those poor little bearings will drastically shorten their life......

that seems to be a cover for the actual problem......but not the cause of it.....

PS...i am running my preloads a bit tighter than the book says to........always have.....

Yeh, tie rod ends on track rod felt ok, check several times. Was just about to start changing bushes as next step but found slight movement in tie rod end on track rod one day when steering near lock to right, every other time I'd checked I had steering near centre - was barely detectable. Ended up a cheap easy fix.
I was at the stage I knew every corner & bump on the way to town that I had to drop to 80km for. This very small amount of play was just enough to start the wobble which seemed to be only at or above 90, I had to either power out of it or slow to below 80, vibration becoming quite sever sometimes when slowing to 80

Brett

110 300tdi

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DEFENDERZOOK

we used to always set the preload tighter than the book said to......i know its a no-no......but it used to help a lot......
almost felt like driving a different vehicle afterwards.....
but too much tension on those poor little bearings will drastically shorten their life......

that seems to be a cover for the actual problem......but not the cause of it.....

PS...i am running my preloads a bit tighter than the book says to........always have.....

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Yes I understand that having preload too tight will stuff the bearings. But the same will occur with underloading too, It is a fine line. I replaced all the front end bushes, tierods, shockies, steering shockie, balanced wheels, changed tyres,checked for bent housings, castor,toein, played with all the permutations of degrees in and out, Finally I spoke to BOR and they suggested the extra preload as they do all theirs like that, The factory settings are under. And voila! instant fix! :D Not saying yours is the same, just my symptoms were identical as you describe.
Cheers Scott

Ps too great a lift>2" will enhance the problem also,no ifs or buts.

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Originally Posted by schuy1

Yes I understand that having preload too tight will stuff the bearings. But the same will occur with underloading too, It is a fine line. I replaced all the front end bushes, tierods, shockies, steering shockie, balanced wheels, changed tyres,checked for bent housings, castor,toein, played with all the permutations of degrees in and out, Finally I spoke to BOR and they suggested the extra preload as they do all theirs like that, The factory settings are under. And voila! instant fix! :D Not saying yours is the same, just my symptoms were identical as you describe.
Cheers Scott

Ps too great a lift>2" will enhance the problem also,no ifs or buts.

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all im running is a 2 inch spring lift......which has probably sagged again.....so probably back to spec.........

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Originally Posted by bcj

Yeh, tie rod ends on track rod felt ok, check several times. Was just about to start changing bushes as next step but found slight movement in tie rod end on track rod one day when steering near lock to right, every other time I'd checked I had steering near centre - was barely detectable. Ended up a cheap easy fix.
I was at the stage I knew every corner & bump on the way to town that I had to drop to 80km for. This very small amount of play was just enough to start the wobble which seemed to be only at or above 90, I had to either power out of it or slow to below 80, vibration becoming quite sever sometimes when slowing to 80

Brett

110 300tdi

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ill throw him up on the hoist on monday and have a good look at my tie rods again.....
might even just replace them........its gotta be something simple like this.......and its getting worse.......so somethings gonna have to fail soon.....
then itll be obvious........

ahh yeah <2 will unlikely play havock :D Another thoiught maybe the actual bearings are undersized and are therefore unable to provide correct damping? Although they may show as correct preloading under static test. If something fails under the wobbles just hope its not a steering component in a 90 degree left hander on the range.....................................:)

what do you mean by undersized........?

undersized as in not to original specs sizing. It is rare but not unknown to ocur . the common part is the race tends to be too narrow and sits too deep into the housing thereby affecting loadings. Haveing said that in all the time I have been replacing bearings only ever saw it twice. and both times with noname bearings.

it couldnt be that........i only changed the drivers side.......and that wasnt the cause.....
the passenger side still feels fine......so i didnt touch it.......the drivers side would have been fin too if i ever bothered to add some lube in the last ten years......
it just dried out and chewed itself up......

if it was the left side.....then it would have done it right from the start.....

i know my radius arm bushes are a bit chopped out.....but I'm not 100% convinced they are the problem....

either way they need to be done.....so ill do one thing at a time to see which component makes a difference and which doesn't.....

gotta double check the tie rods.......but im not gonna touch anything till next week.....im having a day off.......

got a fish tank to set up.......hopefully starting this weekend.......and for the next two weeks......

i will post up progress and results on this thread till i find the problem......

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Originally Posted by DEFENDERZOOK

ill throw him up on the hoist on monday and have a good look at my tie rods again.....
might even just replace them........its gotta be something simple like this.......and its getting worse.......so somethings gonna have to fail soon.....
then itll be obvious........

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Worth noting that, depending on the type of hoist (chassis or axle) with it on a hoist, the drag link is likely to be at a different angle to when it is on the road - the ball joints can, under these conditions, appear tight but still have free play when in its normal running position.

John