130 Wheel shake / Headlight issue

[The Couch]

Gday all, was hopeing someone could point me in the right direction, i am a new Defender owner 2003 130:), took the truck for a run down the NSW coast last weekend and had a couple of issues;

1. Head light failure:(, the switch self emploded. NRMA got me going with a quick wiring fix, the car is booked in for a new switch and a wiring relay. Hopefully this fixes that??
2. I was motoring up a hill (td5 style) and took a right hand bend rather quickly in order to keep some momentum for the rest of the hill and experienced bad steering shake (front right), immediately backed off and it stopped....any ideas on the cause of this??

Cheers

[rainman]

The headlight switches commonly fail. Installing a relay/relays will greatly prolong the life, and give you more voltage at the bulbs :cool:. If you really want to do it properly, upgrade the wiring (12V and earth to relay) to heavier gauge while you're at it.

The steering shake could be a number of things. Assuming it's not something as simple as your wheel nuts are loose :eek:, check the UJs on the front prop shaft, wheel bearings, wheel balancing. Hmmm... what else......?


James.

[JDNSW]

1. If done properly should be a permanent fix.

2. Most likely cause is incorrect swivel preload, but can be caused or contributed to by a wide variety of steering and suspension problems, usually some free play where there shouldn't be any, but including wheel balance.

As suggested, as an immediate check, make sure you don't have any loose wheel nuts - losing a wheel is definitely not a good idea.

Then jack up each front wheel separately. For each wheel try to wobble it sideways and then up and down, first with someone holding their foot on the brake. If there is horizontal movement, there is free play somewhere in the steering. If there is vertical movement, the swivel has free play. Now release the brake. If the amount of movement has changed, the wheel bearing is loose - movement here should be barely perceptible. Spin the wheel - should move smoothly with no roughness or noise from the hub, although the brake may make a faint scraping sound.

John

[rick130]

The other thing to check is the panhard rod bushes and bolt/nut at the chassis end as any play there can create shimmy.

[87County]

The headlight switches commonly fail...........

James.

...easy and cheap enough to carry a spare

the comments about wiring are correct, however it was probably the first headlight switch failure in your vehicle and the new switch will last for years

[ThoBar]

Did you ever track down the cause of your shimmy?

I've got the same problem, having replaced panhard rod bushes, radius arm bushes, and damper and bushes.

The only things left now (i think) could be shocks... Maybe "steering preload" - or something... :eek:

Would be nice to be confident of the fix before I start shelling out $$$ for shocks.

My shimmy started off only on speedy right hand corners with a bump in the middle, but seems to be getting progressively worse. I've jacked up either side and given the wheels a manual shove and shake, and all looks tight.

Ideas?

[edit] sounding more like a preload issue on further reading...

Thomas.

[Summiitt]

My 99 130 tray top had the same issue, I rebuilt the swivels as it had over 300,000km on it, did the bushes, bearings etc...the wobble was still there at about 80-90km/h but then you could drive out of it. Ended up tracking down the problem to the wheels and tyres, mud tyres on after market rims, I bought some new rims, new tyres and havnt had an issue since, so perhaps a combination of swivels, bushes, and correctly balanced wheels could help'try rotating/ balance your tyres first and see if that helps, it's a cheap start.

[87County]

Did you ever track down the cause of your shimmy?

I've got the same problem, having replaced panhard rod bushes, radius arm bushes, and damper and bushes.

The only things left now (i think) could be shocks... Maybe "steering preload" - or something... :eek:

Would be nice to be confident of the fix before I start shelling out $$$ for shocks.

My shimmy started off only on speedy right hand corners with a bump in the middle, but seems to be getting progressively worse. I've jacked up either side and given the wheels a manual shove and shake, and all looks tight.

Ideas?

[edit] sounding more like a preload issue on further reading...

Thomas.

Covered in post #3 of this thread by JDNSW...

...."Most likely cause is incorrect swivel preload" etc ;)

[rick130]

Covered in post #3 of this thread by JDNSW...

...."Most likely cause is incorrect swivel preload" etc ;)

More than likely the problem, although I have had a dead shock cause a big front end shimmy on some corners.