Wheel shake

I'd welcome the groups advice on this one:

'92 Disco I Tdi 200:

At 65mph the steering wheel shakes and rattles dangerously. The whole front of the car rattles like a shopping trolley, steering is difficult. It does this if I hit a small bump which seems to set it oscillating.

Here's the history:

New springs shocks and damper recently. All tyres are pretty new. Wheels balanced. Fronts put to rear, balanced again. Tracking OK. Mechanics have checked steering joints and pre-loads ( twice at my insistence!) -all OK.

When I had the fronts balanced one required 90g of correction but the problem was the same. When I swapped the fronts and rears over there was no change but when I balanced the fronts there was a very very slight improvement in that it requires a slightly bigger bump to set it off. I'm not sure if the front left and right were swapped when the balanced it or not.

Oddly, there was a slight change of the position of the steering wheel when the fronts went to the back. The steering wheel requires being set slightly off centre to the right to drive straight.

Any thoughts?

TonyB

The tyres originally on the front were Pirelli Scorpio's and the original rears are Kwikfits own brand.

Reply to
TonyB
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Was the steering damper primed properly before fitting?

Not being funny, but my next move would be to go to a different garage and have the wheel bearings and pre-load done again. The symptoms sound bang on for pre-load.

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

Check panard rod bushes, I had this prob, felt like the motor was gonna fall apart and it was down to this.

Regards, Roy.

Reply to
LR90

I know you said you replaced it already but...

sound like the steering damper is bad. As another poster noted re-prime the damper.

Reply to
Jack

I had this on a 1950's truck with no steering damper found it to be worn out king pin bearings changed these and it was spot on..back to normal

Rich

Reply to
Rich

I'm just about to fit a new one to my 110, whats the exact priming procedure please??

-- Subaru WRX Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson) WTB a clean RRC pref 3.9 or LSE 4.2

'"gimme the f*ckin' money"

Reply to
Nige

I had the same problem on my TDI, changed the same parts as you!

Had a chat with the dealer, who suggested even if they are tight, just nip all the bolt's up on the steering shaft. Sure enough, don't know why but it cured it..

Reply to
Bear

Thanks to all - the steering damper was not primed - at least not by me - it seemed to be OK so I just fitted it. Perhaps you could say what the priming procedure is please?

As for steering column nuts, well it sounds amazing but I'll give it a go - it won't hurt and may even work!

My money was on the pre-loads as suggested but when the dealer says they're OK it's hard to know if he's actually checked them!

Thanks again

TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

Yeah! I thought he was pulling my leg too! But it worked..

Reply to
Bear

Have it in a vertical orientation and move it back and forth thru it's full travel until it moves smoothly.

Reply to
EMB

I'm away this week but will try it next weekend and let you know, Thanks again TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

I had a similar experience during the summer, although without the shaking.

I only took off both front wheels (thus lifting the front) to de-rust them and when I put them back on (possibly with a right-left change) I noticed that it was pulling one way with the steering wheel way off centre. Note that nothing else was done to it. After a few 100 miles of travelling, I passed on a bump perpendicular to the direction of travel at about 60mph (on a crap motorway north of France) and it all suddenly went back to normal.

I had it checked in an MOT place I know there where they have all the equipment to detect play in the wheel setting but they couldn't find anything.

Would that be similar?

Cheers,

Fred

Reply to
Fred Labrosse

It would Fred. I wonder if a spring is compressed or something? Anyway, had a look tonight, tried to examine wheels for anything out of shape but nothing. So I've put the spare on the front offside, for no other reason than that's the easiest side to jack up. I'll give it a whizz tomorrow and report back.

TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

Or moving on its seat? I could have moved when jacking it up one side at a time. But then, the same would happen when off-roading, except that in that case all sorts of motion take place, cancelling each other.

I'll have a look next time I go under it, which should happen soon, as soon as I have a grease gun.

Fred

Reply to
Fred Labrosse

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