Hey y'all.

So in the last week or so she's developed a steering wobble, which in the last few days has manifested into a full fledged death wobble. Oddly, doesn't seem to be speed dependent (comes and goes at specific speed ranges). It'll come and god, sometimes at 35 mph and other times at 60. Just plain random. Sometimes braking helps, sometimes speeding up helps. Most of the time swerving the wheel kills it for a quick bit. I inspected the wheels and don't seem to have shed a balance weight.

Would a failed steering damper cause this? Known-to-be-mediocre TRE's?

It's also worth noting the inside of the right tire always seems to be wet. I live in Portland, so the whole truck always seems to be wet, but that one tire just rubs me wrong. I've wiped some of it up, smelled and even tasted it. Doesn't seem like gear oil or grease, but idk? I sure hope not, last thing I need is to rebuild the front axle...

Cheers.

UPDATE: Resolved on Pg. 4

 

https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...-wobble-55586/

As for the leak, clean the whole area well and keep an eye on it to find the source.

 

Had a similar issue with my 98'. Seemed that it happened to me when I would come onto a bridge on the highway, or hit one of those pressure bumps on the back roads at slower speeds. I tried replacing the steering damper, but it didn't help. Check all of the front-end bolts including the steering box for tightness and the pan hard bar for play in the bushings by having someone shaking the steering wheel, and you watch under the truck for play. As far as the dampness, it might be a bit of water in the swivel ball. Mine does that from time to time if I am running through water. Need to rebuild them, but am waiting for the looming break job in a few thousand miles.

 

Thanks guys, I'll check all of the above. I replaced the steering box about 3k mi ago with a junkyard one - It was very clean when I pulled it and still had the factory rebuilt sticker on it, so I trust its ok. Also replaced the tie rod (previous one had been bent by a boulder) but only had the existing TRE's, complete with broken dust seals...

Here's hoping it's a simple fix.

 

I was out of town for a bit so haven't diagnosed the wobble, but there's DEFINITELY something leaking from the front pass. hub. I've touched, smelled, and tasted it and it has the qualities of oily water, but beyond that I have no idea. It's sprayed all over the inside wall of the tire and wheel. No such wetness on the drivers side.
What could this possibly be?

 

Brake fluid. You probably have a leaking caliper piston seal or two which is not uncommon in cool weather as the seals will shrink just enough and if your pistons are worn or pitted THEY WILL LEAK. Some pistons are chromed and once that surface is compromised it's time to replace. You can replace just the pistons and seals but if the caliper bores are also compromised then you'll need the calipers too. I replaced mine with lower mileage I bought from Paul Grant. I keep a front and back set of rebuilt calipers as back ups now. Been there, done that.

 

Bugger. I'll check my fluid reservoir and see if it's lost any. I had the driver side caliper fail catastrophically last year and replaced both fronts with a used matched pair. Guess they were't much better?

 

I'd do tie rods first since you KNOW they are bad and after that most likely is the swivel pre-load (tad expensive to do the job correctly) if everything is good to go in your steering system then you don't even need a steering damper.

 

Thanks, I'll start there. I've seen a bunch of people switch out the ball style TRE's for heim joints, is there a compelling reason for that?

As I understand it the swivel issue can be remedied by replacing the swivel pin bearings and thrust washers (to the correct preload), is that it?

 

Slightly more indepth if you want to do it all. But essentially the top swivel pin is torqued onto a bearing sandwiched by two washers. You put spacers in to adjust the amount of pressure. The lesser amount of spacers the more pressure and vice Versa.