Hi Members,
I have a persistant problem that I am desperate to cure. My 1998 Disco 300TDI mad is suffering from severe shaking at speeds above 100kph when it hits a small bump. This is so severe that it feels like the front axle is being torn off! The only way to stop it is to slow down immeadiately. I have spent nearly 2 yrs trying to cure the problem and have changed nearly all parts that could cause this, all with absolutely no effect. Pleae advise if you can answer this.
Parts changed so far:
1) Shock absorbers twice (Britpart Foam now fitted)
2) Steering Damper twice (Britpart Foam now fitted)
3) Anti Roll bar ball joints and bushes
4) All steering ball joints on front.
5) Front Wheel bearings
6) Front Hub pivot bearings
7) All Rubber bushes to polyurethane in Front Suspension
8) Steering Box rebuilt and then eventually changed
9) Pitman Arm
10) Tyres (balanced and then eventually replaced)
11) Wheels swapped back to front
Last night I pulled off the Britpart foam steering damper which was only damping in one direction when checked. I also disconnected hubs and checked pivot /swivel bearings, no fee play and still stiff since I replaced a year ago. I visually inspected all the front suspension and replaced the shock absorber rubber bushes. there was no play detectable in the wheel bearings, ball joints, or any other bushes even with some heavy levering. I added approx 2mm of toe out to the tracking which was previously neutral. (Laser tracked by garage) I have left the defective steering damper off. Today on the way to work the vibration started at about 70kph, so I guess the steering damper helped a little previously.

I live in Brunei (Borneo), the Local Landrover/BMW/Porsche dealer is next to useless for maintenance (could not remove a pitman arm) and has been known not to refill gearboxs/engines with oil after draining, they also charge up to 4 times the UK L/R price for parts.

An added note, none of the items done ever seems to have made any noticeable difference and untill recently the problem seem fixed to 100kph. I have just kept the speed down, (not hard on Brunei congested roads), it has now started to shift to lower speeds and the slightest bump.

engine mounts ?

Hi Johnlad,
Thank you for your reply, I am not discounting this chain of thought but how do the engine mounts cause steering wobble or heavy vibration on the suspension? I must admit that they have been covered in oil and hot leaking coolant enough times to have degraded but i don't see a link?

you seemed to have changed alot and checked most ,but sounds like you cant be sure of quality of parts or workmanship presumably its wheels that shake rather than axle ?i have known similar when vehicle was been driven in diff lock not drivers fault as lever was right but stuck in and i presume his journey type helped make it seem different fault but that would have been noticed while worked on, how tight where swivel bearings there not supposed to be that tight as with early defenders and series ,i think i would fit new damper first oe or genuine , then remove /refit all relavent parts ie trailng arms and panhard rod checking bushes bolts mounts etc,swivel seals popped out and swivel housing movement checked ,hub faces checked (damage easy when discs changed and someone hammers hub off disc)wheel bearings checked, no free play in steering box when steering central ,and when wheels are central so is box either by counting turns to find center or using pin (drill bit)through arm into rear of box either side of center box does have play getting more towards each lock ,normally equall 4wd tracking neutral,but unequal tyre sizes front rear can alter bias ,ie new tyres on front but worn on rear tow out a little etc, unfortuneatly in may mean going back over old ground but you need to know each is really right and get parts you can be more sure of are you able to buy your own from someone like famous four or other ,not paddocks or similar but a company that will sell parts of known quality

What is the tyre wear like? Do you have one section showing greater signs of wear than the rest of the tread?

Is the vibration up and down or side to side? Can you check?

It sounds as though one or more of the hubs is not running quite true. Do you have access to a DTI so that you could check how the hubs sit.

Does the problem only manifest itself when when the bearings and running gear is warm ... say after a few miles?

OSD

Hi, thanks for suggestions.
I am sure of quality of workmanship as I do everything myself. The parts are bought from UK so should be good although not too sure about Britparts. The problem occurs as soon as I get up to speed and hit a small bump, its not linked to distance traveled but seems to be linked to speed (approx 100kph - 60mph in old money). Because of this I can rule out a whole bunch of stuff that would effect it at any speed. i.e hub or flange distortion. I honestly can not tell if it suspension (axle travelling up and down or wheel shimmy), although I am now planning on standing on the side of the road whilst a friend drives the car past to try and identify which it is. Just hope it does not loose the axle whilst I am standing there! Tyre wear is pretty even but the tyres are now on last legs and there is some irregular spaced scuffing on both outside and inside edges. By death wobble I mean the car jumps up and down, it feels like the axle is slamming up and down, the wheel is not jerking side to side but the motion is so severe that you can obviously feel it throughout the car including steering wheel. How can I tell if its shimmy or the axle?(ie shocks)
The swivels were not tight. it took a couple pounds to move them, when I replaced the swivel bearings I did them as required , to be honest though there was nothing wrong with the old ones, no play and no wear on them when I inspected them after changing. Just like every other component I could check which has been replaced. The problem originally started so long ago I am not sure what caused it now, but looking back I remember that it appeared to be after the tracking was done. When I originally investigated I found that the steering box had not been aligned with the rigging pin hole, when I did this I had to change the steering wheel position to get it all back correct. This actually helped for a while and I thought i had found the problem, but it soon came back. Since then I have resealed the steering box and then changed it last month. All properly rigged and then tracking carried out.

whereas britpart sell genuine oe etc some pattern can be very poor , i havent had any problems with there cellular shocks and dampers only good feed back but thats not to say you havent had poor ones from fitting ,and thats std and ive been very lucky ,just took it the garage had done work with you mentioning them

Please dont think I'm mad you obviously know your stuff. Wheel balancing? I have had problems when the stick on weights are used due to the high profile tyres adding to the vibration And the speed is condusive to poor balancing


My problem was in conjunction with poorly balanced tyre inflation

I would recommend toe in under no circumstances should a vehicle be toeing out

what about front wheel drive car

Hi,
Just re-checked my manual, it definitely says 0 to 2 mm toe out. I only added the toe out to try and prevent wheel shimmy, if thats what the problem is. However, it does not feel any different to drive with the toe out, so will return it to zero. mad

Dartmoor Discovery said:

Please dont think I'm mad you obviously know your stuff. Wheel balancing? I have had problems when the stick on weights are used due to the high profile tyres adding to the vibration And the speed is condusive to poor balancing


My problem was in conjunction with poorly balanced tyre inflation

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Thanks for your input, I don't think anyone is mad, and will listen to any helpful input, thanks. I have already swapped front and back tyre/wheels and replaced the front tyres and had them re-balanced and tracking done. It all made no difference!

I know you said you have done the swivel pins but the symptoms you have are exactly what I had on my old D1. Fitting new swivel bearings solved the problem.

I agree on the swivel bearings. I HAVE to run mine quite stiff to stop violent steering wobble.

Is yours axle shimmy though? Put your head out of the window to see if the wheels are shaking left to right or if the whole axle is moving side to side.

Cheers

Mr Noisy said:

Is yours axle shimmy though? Put your head out of the window to see if the wheels are shaking left to right or if the whole axle is moving side to side.

Cheers

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Maybe get a passenger to do this???

davek0974 said:

Maybe get a passenger to do this???

Click to expand...

Live dangerously

You could try this to eliminate a problem. Toe in the wheels massively like 5-10 degrees and try it over a bumpy surface. If you dont get the wobble it will be because you are getting bump steer.

Hi, Thanks for all the input. After a review on this site and others of the death wobble issue, it nearly always appears to be swivel pins or panhard rod bushes. Its not either of these on my car, they are definately OK. I am beginning to think after reading another account of a similar issue on this site that I have had two sets of bad shock absorbers. I bought both sets from Paddocks, the first set was Britpart Foam items which are fitted now, since they did not make any difference I bought another set of OEM items - Armstrong, these did not make any difference so I refitted the uprated Britpart foam items. I am going to look for some more shocks locally this weekend. Will give them a try and then update the forum.

Try de-carbon shocks

Can you video the car from a car travelling in front of you with attention to what is actually going on, if its the whells you will definatly see them leaping around from side to side, if its axle tramp more difficult to see
Dev