Thread: 110 Puma Defender steering shake

Thanks again to everyone who has replied to this.
I am away to work overseas/offshore for a few weeks, but have made the decision to replace all tyres when I get back, they are all below 50% and well over 5 years old.
Hopefully that will sort it
George

Fair call George,
but I just hate guess work, while the tyres seem to be the obvious thing (well to me) its still only my guess.

My Dad's 8 year old tyres on his Defender had well over 70% tread still (yes they were very new looking), yet I did the tyre pressure variation and going from very hard down to 30 it changed it a lot, and I had checked (but not replaced) over a lot of other things before deciding it was the tyres.

Regards
Daz

Recommended tyre pressures on a Defender are significantly higher at the back than front so that can cause a big difference in the front and rear wear patterns. If rotating matches a front with a rear with different wear patterns on the front, could that be causing your steering vibration?
Incidentally I recently put the unused spare on the front passenger side where the wheel had had a knock and there was a vibration. After the change the vibration is less, but still there at 105 kmh. That's why I'm wondering about yours.
May be all wrong, but just a thought...


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Swivel preload/wear (most likely - these are the primary dampers of wheel oscillation) followed by panhard bushes.

Out of balance/odd wear pattern tyres are likely triggering/exacerbating.

The wobble can't be controlled at the steering wheel - all the play is before them at in the chain.

Bigger wheels/tyres make it more likely to occur too. I have some minor wear in my swivels - no issues with the stock rim/tyre combo but the shakes are just starting to raise their heads with the big muddies fitted.

Originally Posted by George Mac

I took it to my local Landrover specialist and they replaced the steering damper, and checked the pre-load on the swivel pins, road tested it and told me it was good.

I am beginning to think it could be tire related. The Grabbers have been on there for the 5 years that I have owned the vehicle, but they still have plenty of tread.

You need to find a new specialist. You never replace the damper when dealing with steering shake, it is only there in off road situations to stop steering kick back. Some people will replace theirs with a RTC damper and claim the issue has gone but they have only covered it up. The steering box rarely needs adjusting and should be the absolute last thing you do, you need to be careful as putting too much preload on it will wear the hardening off the shaft and stuff it. Steering boxes are quality Adwest units and rarely give problems until they leak.

Steps to follow:

1. Visually inspect all joints starting from the top. Steering uni, drop arm, drag link and tie rods, track rod and tie rods.
2. Visually inspect all bushes, shocks, radius arms etc. Don't forget panhard rod.
3. Jack front of vehicle, remove both wheels and remove trackrod/drag link. Measure swivel preload. This should really be done with brakes removed as well but will give you an indication.
4. Note sure what to do next as usually point 3 finds the issue.

Swivels need to be considered as a major service item. Ideally you should be rebuilding every 4 years or 80K. If your specialist checked the preloads ask them what the weight range was to move them, I bet they couldn't tell you as they likely never removed the track rod or drag link to check properly.

Originally Posted by George Mac

The steering started to shake about 12 months ago at about 95kmh -105kmh, this got progressively worse and would come in at about 80kmh and would sometimes be uncontrollable to the point where I would have to almost stop for it to ease, it was also brought on by road surface.

If I was a betting man I would put $100 on swivel preload and your specialist knowing nothing.