Thread: strange front end wobbles.....help......

Maybe try your panhard rod bushes

When driving my new County back from WA I had a severe wobble. It happened at about 100km/h and was often triggered by hitting a bump or corrugated section. It was so severe that the first time it happened I thought I'd lost some wheel studs. The entire front corner of the car was visible bouncing

Next time it does it try and accelerate out of it to see it it goes away

It was weird, on the County I had those affects but when they were worn on dads Defender there were no effects other than slightly vague steering

Tony
It can quite easily be the bushes in the Panhard rod,less likely the radius arm bushes,unless they are completely flogged out.
The other thing to look for is,I notice you are running larger rubber,so I take it that you are running non genuine rims.Most of the aftermarket rims are NOT hub centric,and are LUG centric,ie located by the wheel studs.This allows the rim to be off centre sometimes,when the wheel nuts are done up,the wheel nuts need to be loosened off and done up evenly tightening the opposite nut a small amount at a time.Don't rely on the taper of the nut and the taper in the rim to align the rim,as most aftermarket rims are not made with the same taper as the large Land Rover wheel nuts.I usually put a pry bar or tyre lever under the tyre to lift the wheel to align the lower studs and work my way around the studs from there,rotating the wheel as I go and always lifting from the bottom,until the wheels are reasonably tight,then doing a final tighten.When I first fitted my Dynamic rims,and drove the vehicle,I thought the front wheel was going to fall off,I soon learned to fit them the way I do now,and don't have a problem.

Thanks for that.....that's exactly what I have noticed with the rims......I have tried to get them as centred as possible.......I'll try and refit them a bit better today if I get time......
Might have to try and make up some sort of locating ring to centre them on the hub before fitting the wheel nuts......

The pan hard rod bushes feel fine.......the radius arm bushes have seen better days......they are all still the factory bushes and have not been touched since leaving the factory......160,000 klm ago......

@jock....the wobbles go away at about 95kph and upwards......which leads me to believe a wheel balance problem.....or the off centre wheel.....
I can also see the corner of the vehicle bouncing......


It sounds as though what you were experiencing may have been a steering damper or swivel hub preload.......because a jolt would set it off.....


I'll just keep looking till I find it.......it's gotta be something simple....and everyone else's experiences are always a great help and a guide to looking in the right direction.......

Cheers......

I have this problem on my 2006 110 for just over a year now!

So far I've changed all front end and rear trailing arm bushes. I've also run a different set of wheels and tyres and replaced the steering damper (that was shot anyway).

My next point if attack will be the swivel per load and bearings.

R
J

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Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

I have this problem on my 2006 110 for just over a year now!

So far I've changed all front end and rear trailing arm bushes. I've also run a different set of wheels and tyres and replaced the steering damper (that was shot anyway).

My next point if attack will be the swivel per load and bearings.

R
J

Sent using Forum Runner

Jon
Have you tried driving it with the front driveshaft removed?

I keep rabbiting on about this but Have you made sure you have toe out and not toe in.

toe in (which is how most wheel alignment places set your Defender) will exaggerate any front end issues.

set the track rod adjustment to zero or if theres worn components up to as much as 1.5mm Toe OUT ,

ie front wheels point out ,

My County would hit a bump and have the front end shake like crazy, only way out of the shakes was a good hard turn or slow down to about 10km/h. After chasing bearings and bushes for a while it was the railko bush in the swivel, the bush had partially disintegrated. Oddly enough the preload didn't change perceptibly, there was still enough bush intact.