Thread: Corrugation like vibration

The steering wobble is likely your swivel pins needing adjustment

Originally Posted by Fraz

The steering wobble is likely your swivel pins needing adjustment

and/or the steering damper


re problem 2 - do you have ABS ?

Yes abs and have changed steering damper.

Oh well, sounds like (1) what fraz posted above and (2) the abs pump is operating for some reason.

Is the brake fluid level ok ?

If you felt like it you could take it out on a loose surface safely away from traffic and try it out with some solid braking from, say 40kmh - see if the abs operates normally and feel if the pulsing on wheel slip is like what you describe.

Hmmm - might be time to have a brake expert take a looksee ?

How are you front tyres?
I have had an isue with oldish tyres that had seen use on bad gravel roads where the casing inside the tyre bubbled, causing a sympton similar to bad wheel balancing between 85 and 100km/h. The only way to tell was swap the wheels around with the spare until it went away and then take the suspect tyre off and have a look inside.

Phil

In other forums on various LR models, these vibrations are sometimes referred to a "death wobbles". Rough roads e.g. a broken bitumen surface can set them off without warning. Most unpleasant. Apart from checking the swivel pins, a number of people reported that ball joints and/or bushings in the front radius arms and worn shock absorbers were contributing to the problem, either alone or in combination. Fitting stiffer (gas pressured) shock absorbers can also cause issues if they are not sufficiently compliant to match the existing springs and bushings.

As an aside: I suspect a lot of money is spent replacing steering dampers which are otherwise working quite well because their true function is not properly understood....

They are there to reduce the risk to the driver when the front wheels may suddenly change direction due to hitting (for example) an unseen rut which, without the damper, may can cause the front wheels to turn almost "instantly". The force of this rapid change is transmitted through the steering column causing the steering wheel to turn so quickly and with such force that it can cause injury. In older trucks and early 4WDs sprained and sometimes broken wrists were not uncommon. The damper is there to reduce the initial force of the sudden turn... it's not necessarily there to smooth relatively minor vibrations caused by other factors...a heavy duty damper can mask them.