Death wobble -loose axle shaft bolts?

[manchild21000]

I just had a bad wobble at 60 kmh that scared the .... out of me . Then it drove home fine . This was the very first time .Upon inspection of the safety of the workshop i found that on both sides front axle shaft bolts were loose to the extent that i can turn them with my fingers. We did a complete front axle swap 3 weeks ago . So its just my negligence not checking them or trusting the seller too much ,or a symptom of the wobbles . Cause or symptom ?
George

[isuzutoo-eh]

As in the bolts that hold the swivel ball to the axle housing? If so they need to be torqued up heaps, and it is nigh on impossible to get a decent sized spanner onto the heads. I couldn't get enough leverage without a bit of pipe over the spanner.
Other causes could be the pitman arm is loose, tired ball joints or worn bushes almost anywhere in the steering system.

[manchild21000]

Its the 5 bolts that inside your rim centre holding the axle shaft .

[dobbo]

49180

them bolts?

[manchild21000]

yepp

[dobbo]

what about the big nut on the bottom of the steering box and upper part if the pitman arm, if it's loose you wobble more than roseanne barr's arse

[uninformed]

The OP said the drive flange bolts were only finger tight.....no good at all.
These bolts should be very clean, along with their corosponding holes. Using a minimal gasket, tighten to 65nm. Loctite can be used on bolts.

Are you confident in the rest of the axle assembly, ie wheel bearings?

EDIT: yes if you have swapped out completes axle assembly for another you will have to check over all your steering links etc. I suggest if you havent already, buy a copy of RAVE

[JDNSW]

Loose drive flange bolts will not cause wobble, but are a typical symptom of loose wheel bearings that will.

John

[weeds]

Loose drive flange bolts will not cause wobble, but are a typical symptom of loose wheel bearings that will.

John

or maybe swivel pin preload john? i must get around to doing mine i have the death wobble from 80-100 km/hr going around slight bends

[POD]

Agree with Weeds, sounds like slack swivel bearings. Those axle flange bolts won't affect steering.

[Jitterbug]

I had the wobbles on mine after changing steering box, turns out it was the bushes on the panhard rod. Identified it by getting a mate to sit in the car with his foot on the brake and turn the wheel side to side. This forced the diff assy to move side to side in relation to the chassis so it was easy to spot where the movement was.

[uninformed]

so that narrows it down to ANYTHING in the front end :D

Check all suspension bushes: Radius arms, panhard and shocks.
Check all TRE
Check steering dampner
Check wheel bearings and swivel bearings for condition and settings
Check steering box
Check tyres and air pressure
Check wheel nuts
Check mirrors
Check checks

Check 1 2 ...............hey Mona

[manchild21000]

I checked bearings its all ok as far as i can tell, still there is 2-3 mm play in front wheels hmmm.... Both wheels move at the same time together this much . It appears to be in the swivel housing . Track rods and ends both new so is the steering link .
George

[manchild21000]

Ok ,there is a backlash/play in the steering box . Its going to be fun to get to the adjusting nut on the top of the box :eek: .
George

[JDNSW]

I agree with Weeds and POD - while a variety of problems can contribute to wobbles and most commonly there are multiple contributors, the most common contributor is swivel bushes/bearings. And this will not result in loose drive flange bolts.

John

[Hall]

Another cause of the wobbles, not really a issue here. But on lifted or modded vehicles castor angle is a issue. Was with my old 4wd truck. Was a real truck that had been converted to 4wd. Castor had never been sorted.
Cheers Hall

[manchild21000]

I must elaborate on the "shake" . It was a violent shake not a vibration that didnt go away till i stopped completely .Felt like both axle was broken at the same time .
George

[dobbo]

When an axle breaks you lose drive, unless your CDL is engaged, what are your bushings like?

[long stroke]

I had what sounds like the excact same problem at the same speed in my d1. After checking everything i narrowed it down to slightly loose bolts that hold the panhard rod bracket to the chassis (on the drivers side). They are 2 long bolts that go through the chassis, these came loose which transfered most the forces from the panhard rod to the small steering box support bracket which is attatched to the panhard rod bracket, because of this that bracket ended up breaking thats when the crazy death wobbles started:eek:
As you said the only way to stop the car from shaking was to come to a complete stop, i had never experianced anything like it.

So i'd suggest you check those two bolts and make sure the small steering box support bracket isn't broken (broke the thread off the end of the arm)

CHEERS TIM.

[Ye Olde Rangie]

Hi if you do narrow this problem down/fix it can you post it up on here please as I now have this problem, my car never did it until I did a complete engine a g/box change (p76+4spd to 4.2efi+5spd) I havent driven the car for a while so after fitting the new goodies(new shocks+mounts) I took it for a quick drive and got upto around 100kph i think and it was fine I was slowing down to I would assume 50-60kph when the wheel started shaking violently, ive since noticed the steering damper was very average, so I replaced it with a bigger terrafirma one and the CDL was locked in! could this make that much difference?