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1996 Disco 300 TDI steering oscillation

Gentlemen, there seems to be some people who know what they're talking about in here from time to time and I wonder if you can shed any light.

My father has a 1996 Discovery 300TDi. When driving at A-road speeds (50-60mph) and hitting a bump or small pothole on a corner, the steering more often than not goes into a weird oscillation.

Usually slowing down a bit or dabbing the brakes clears it but it is quite alarming, is getting worse and is no doubt not very good for the thing.

It has steel wheels (original alloys started leaking) with the normal tyres mounted. It has a dirty big hydraulic winch mounted on a new front bumper. Wheel bearings were recently changed which made no difference. I found an Old Man Emu sticker in the garage so I think it's had a new steering damper in the last couple of years.

I'm hoping the group can offer some pointers as to what might be wrong. Typically, the car is at the other side of the country from me at the moment so will have to either relay ideas or try things out when I next see it.

Thanks in advance.

Reply to
Douglas Payne
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Swivel bearings.

Reply to
Nige

Instant gut feel reaction is "swivel bearings worn".

The winch has quite possibly changed the front suspension geometry leading to the issue at hand.

Reply to
EMB

And don't assume the steering damper is ok, remove it to check, there should not be the slightest FREE movement.

Reply to
Oily

Been down this road with classic range rover and a P38. Two things the first is the swivel bearings as stated. Second can be caused by suspension bushes that are two hard or binding. I fitted poly bushes to P38 red set and on talking with "Poly Bush" they had been taken out of production and replaced with the orange ones - softer. Have the bushes been changed ? Any other makes I guess would have the same issue.

Good luck

Gizmo

Reply to
jmillerinbourne

I'll join in suggesting that as the first stop, too.

Or just plain 'knackered' - that's the four between the radius arms and the axle casing. Expand that to include loose/worn bolts and worn bolt holes, too.

Also look at the panhard bushes/bolts/bolt holes.

I wouldn't expect the winch to cause this sort of effect. If everything else is OK, with the winch on it's most likely to feel too soft on the front and spend much time hitting the bump stops.

Reply to
Dougal

Worth changing the shocks too as it's cheap enough, and if there's any noise in the oscillation like a knocking then it's worth changing the steering column too, also cheap and easy to do.

TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@news01.wxnz.net...

Also may be distorted or not properly balanced tyre(s).

Reply to
Oily

On or around Sun, 1 Feb 2009 10:49:00 -0000, "Nige" enlightened us thusly:

Steering damper.

actually, this is "one of those things" - It'll be a combination of many faults, I bet. So far on my Range Rover, I've checked (and re-shimmed one) swivel bearing, put decent tyres on, and changed the steering damper for another (better but not new) and it's better but still there. Prior to all this it would go into the "shimmy of death" - if you think the front axle is about to tear itself loose, then that's the one.

The other thing to check is all the steering joints and the UJs in the steering shaft for play. Done that on mine, too, and all the things made a bit of difference. The steering damper made the most single difference, but I reckon everything was playing a part. Also worth checking the suspension bushes in the radius arms and panhard rod.

it doesn't follow that it was the steering damper that was replaced... check, anyway.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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