+1. Thats what I was going to say.
- Thread starter Rannsachair
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same idea as balance bags they throw into lorry tyres , I never actually sussed out how they work , but they do .
wheel spacers and fixings worthy of a check if fitted , lots of the big tyre brigade fit spacers too , they may clear the shocks but they mess with other things too.
sako243
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If he can, lie on his back infront of the vehicle, put a foot against a wheel and then pull the bumper side to side. If there's any play that'll be the panhard rod as it's the only thing that ties the lateral movement of the chassis with respect to the axle at the front.
Eliminate that first, in my experience the "death wobble" is due to either panhard rod bushes or radius arm bushes. I've had those collapse before and it was only when I took them out of the axle that you could see they'd failed.
All other bushes I've not found produce the bad wobbles. If the steering arm ball joint goes I've found it tends to require correction when the camber changes and there's play in the steering but rarely does it cause wobbles because you can "preload" it.
Eliminate that first, in my experience the "death wobble" is due to either panhard rod bushes or radius arm bushes. I've had those collapse before and it was only when I took them out of the axle that you could see they'd failed.
All other bushes I've not found produce the bad wobbles. If the steering arm ball joint goes I've found it tends to require correction when the camber changes and there's play in the steering but rarely does it cause wobbles because you can "preload" it.
pressbrake1
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If he’s unlucky steering box
indy4x
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I've tried then, depends what's causing the imbalance, IIRC and hoping I'm using the right terms, they can sort out rotational (out of round) imbalance but don't help with lateral (side to side) imbalance
In my scenario they were 34" Insa Special Tracks i.e. remoulds and super aggressive tread pattern. Couldn't go above 30mph without it trying to shake itself to bits. Balancing beads failed to resolve and the worst wheel ended up with 750g of stick on balancing weights to sort it out
I have a picture somewhere, will dig it out for giggles
Rannsachair
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Checked he has swapped front to back and spare all round - no change,
willie.macleod
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+2, swivel preload is one issue that lots of non marque specific mechanics will struggle to pick up but will give the symptoms mentioned.
Has your friend had the Defender long and if so has the shake just started or is it something that has got progressively worse. Did wonder if it could be a front wheel bearing as on the Td5 they are tightened by shims and you have to measure end float with a dial gauge and change the shims accordingly. Sometimes owners who've been used to 'conventional' wheel bearings don't follow the correct procedure and although they think they've tightened the bearing, it still has play. Just a thought.
Rannsachair
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He has had it about 10 years. The shake just started a few weeks ago.
I originally had the shims in mine and reverted back to the old type locknuts. I will check if he has replaced the bearings, he is pretty good, his day job is a marine engineer on a ship doing deliveries around the fish farms.
Tinbasherdan
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I’d look at swivel pins first, Jack the wheel up and rock top and bottom. If it moves it’s pins
This is exactly what happened to mine, ended up with new everything on the swivel front, cost enough but will last at least
Rannsachair
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Tried the pull the bumper this morning and only movement and clunk was from the steering arm ball joint. The old joint dropped out too easily and the arm is quite pitted inside, so just ordered a complete arm assembly.
Confirmed swivels were redone a couple of years ago with good quality oem parts, all shimmed and spring balance set.
UJs are all good.
Rannsachair
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Looks like the steering box needs replaced! moving the arm there is radial play and a rattle from the steering box when you move the arm - 10 year old reconditioned one from mm4x4.
willie.macleod
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Do you have a puller to get the old arm off? They can be quite tight although you can buy reasonably priced pullers now. Normal just to rebuild the end in situ. At least you'll have a spare arm to rebuild at your leisure.
Rannsachair
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I have lent him my Sykes pickavant pulller kit, not sure if a new steering box will come with them.
Can't usually get a conventional puller onto the arm as insufficient gap and no flats on the arm. When I did one on my 90, I ended up taking the box off and cutting through the arm to remove it. I was putting a whole new arm on anyway. Certainly worth trying to get one of the specialist pullers to save the agro of removing the box.
