wobble at speed Disco 200td1 1990

[lyndon]

Hi ladies and gents. This is my first post. So please be gentle with me.

I have just purchased a 1990 G reg Disco 1. It has just flown through an MOT.

Last week I had an experience where whilst overtaking a lorry I had a very bad shaking through the steering wheel. I checked everything, bearing in mind I have no experience with mechanics pther than the odd job driving tanks in the army.

It didn't re occur until on my way to work this morning when at 55mph it crept back in. It stopped when I slowed down a bit and started again when I went over a bump?.

Whats causing this?

[dazzawhipple]

Barrett

Welcome to the Mud Club

Steering vibration can be caused by lots of things including Tyre pressure, Tyre Balance, Wheel Bearing play, Swivel bearing play, Steering componants worn ie ball joints

Do a search on the forum for steering wobble or vibration

Darren

[Dr.Ed]

Had this on my 200TDi discovery - vibration through the steering wheel at 65mph, got the front wheels balanced and problem went away - the fact that one wheel needed >200g of lead to balance it showed where the problem was!

Certainly one of the easiest and quickest checks you can do for this problem (after tyre pressures) most tyre places only charge about £5 per wheel however much lead goes on.

Ed.

[Skibum346]

Steering vibration can be caused by lots of things including Tyre pressure, Tyre Balance, Wheel Bearing play, Swivel bearing play, Steering componants worn ie ball joints

As Darren said there can be lots of causes but they are all fairly simple to check involving not much more than a jack. After checking tyre pressures for the most obvious problem try these:

First, jack up front end and climb underneath. Check all the ball joints for excessive play, there should be some movement (they are felxible joints after all) but if there is free movement they need to be replaced.

Next, grip each front wheel at 3 & 9 o'clock and give it a wiggle. If you feel the wheel move with reference to the hub (you'll probably feel a definite stop at the extremes) then it'll be the wheel bearing.

Repeat this for each wheel at the 12 & 6 o'clock positions and if movement is present it's your swivel hubs.

If all of the above is fine, then look at steering damper or swivel preload.

Any of the above is do-able with a good manual and a half decent toolkit but the swivels in particular can be complicated if you have no experience rebuilding things.

Finally, it's time to get the wallet out and get the wheels balanced.

Welcome aboard and good luck!

Skibum

[Paul.K/LuckyTrucker]

Hi there, I had a similar thing on my 200tdi. Swivel bearing adjustment +one new track rod end and problem sorted
Best of luck with it.

[Jake]

Dont forget to check your bushes too
The panard rod ones tend to throw steering in to a wobley mess
 8)

[freeagent]

get your tracking checked, it almost eliminated the steering wobble on mine........

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

Hi Barret,
welcome to the Mud Club. I had a similar problem on mine as well. Mine turned out to be loose panhard rod bolts (bar that connects the axle to the chassis); that wasn't picked up on the MOT.
Any probs, PM me I'll see if I can help out in any way with the spanner wielding bit. I'm not sure where Tadley is, but if its in Hampshire, thats close enough for me.
Cheers

[Range Rover Blues]

The above is by no means an exhaustive list but those are the usual suspects.

On the wheel sbearings, had a mate come over at the weekend, excessive play in a front wheel but a litle concerned that he could feel it top and bottom but not side to side, "is this the swivels then?"

Simply, and luckily no.  The brakes clampo the disk and prevent you feeling the full extent of wheel bearing play.  The best ting to do is rock the wheel from the top, even if the car is on the floor and feel the disk withing the calliper, if it moves then it's bearings, if the whole lot moves but not the disk within the calliper it's possibly the swivel.

Be very careful that the brakes are on though, fingers into moving parts and all.

[lyndon]

Thanks gents. I had 4 new tyres fitted last night so I will see how she goes today. Then start from there.