Thread: Death wobble riddle

Hi Guys, I'm hoping someone can show me my obvious mistake here as it has me, my local dealer, and my local independent scratching our heads.
I have a 2011 90 with 118,000kms on it. I have had a steering shimmy on it now for about 18 months. Initially we thought worn out shocks as the tires were scolloping out at the same time.

Fast forward 18 months and the shimmy is still there between 80-105km/hr. the shimmy is not consistent, sometimes it is very mild and sometimes it is just downright dangerous. In my effort to resolve the issue I have changed/repaired/checked:

• Shocks - Konis
• Steering dampener - Pedders
• Panhard Rod Bushes - Superpro
• Upper radius arm bushes - superpro
• lower radius arm bushes - genuine
• I did a full axle rebuild after the front diff showed signs of failing. Every single bearing and seal was replaced. So were the brake rotors. The swivel pins were preloaded as per the manual. Front diff was changed to Ashcroft ATB.
• I have replaced the wheels with new wolf tubeless rims and new tires (I have also had them balanced on the studs instead of the centre bore of the rim)
• I have tried 3 other sets of wheel/tire combinations.
• We have checked the brake rotor runout with a dial indicator. it is 0.08mm
• Wheel alignment is at 1mm toe out

Many of the parts were changed as a matter of cause when the axle was rebuilt as the whole axle was removed and sitting on the bench. The only parts up front that haven't been changed are the track rod ball joints that have done about 50k and feel good, the drag link balljoints which are original but feel fine and the steering box. There is no play in any of the steering linkages and the tail shaft has been removed to eliminate vibrations. The suspension is OEM with 30mm spacers to bring it back up to the correct height with the winch and bullbar.

I am at a point where I'm changing parts of the sake of changing parts. We tried to change the pitman arm balljoint this evening but failed after we broke the puller trying to remove it. Unfortunately this means I'll have to take the dreaded Ford Ranger to away this weekend

Shy of ripping the whole front axle out of another vehicle, I'm at a loss on what to do next. If anyone has any ideas, I'd very much appreciate it.

Cheers

Ben

This is from D1 experiences. Factory standard vehicle. You've probably already covered the following.

Regarding track rod and drag links. Don't simply rely on ball joint to ball joint centre distances (as previous owners or mechanics/tyre shops had). Measure that each ball joint centre is the factory specified distance from the end of the rod itself, then measure overall centre length. Incorrect settings gave scrubbed tyre, worn bearings and constant vibration. When the tyres were new there was no apparent issue, only when the kilometers mounted did the wear become apparent along with vibrations, making you think it must have been a recent adverse event that's caused the problem.

Front shock rubber worn or securing nut not tightened down enough. Push front left and right corners up and down, noting appearance of any gap between rubbers and washers top and bottom of shock. If you find any gap then renew rubbers or tighten up securing nut. With this issue, hitting a small depression or small hole on tarmac resulted in 3 or 4 violent steering wheel jolts before settling again. Direction was not affected and otherwise on smooth tarmac no issues.

Steering damper locked each end with paired standard nuts. Nuts wandered off one end. Constant vibrations but no really violent reactions. Replaced paired nuts with single nylon lock nut each end.

Steering damper failing. Took it off, stretched and compressed, noting inconsistency in mid range. Replaced. Symptom, when driving on tarmac with minor corrugations the steering would vibrate significantly, always in the same stretch of road, smooth tarmac no problem.

Steering box loose on chassis, one bolt missing. Didn't seem to present any issues, only noticed when changing panhard rubbers.

On one vehicle I had two of the above issues, mild vibration with occasional violent steering jolts.

Good luck!