Hello Everyone, hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend. I took my truck to a service station for the front wheels shaking violently every time I would hit a bump. The first thing done was to replace the pan hard rod bushings and a wheel alignment which made no difference. After some diagnostics it was determined that the spindles needed replacing. they replaced them but there is still a loose feeling about the steering. It is the same issue but they refuse to remove any shims because they say it is fixed. During my trucks stay there they broke the drivers glass and the hood latch (which they did fix at no cost) but after me telling them the problem is not 100 percent remedied they do not want to mess with it anymore. They say that it is fixed and if I am not happy , too bad. They said it had a little bit of looseness which they replaced a brand new steering stabilizer and said that took care of the rest. I thought that was covering the issue so they did not charge for the repair which was around $500. I consider myself on the better end of the deal but I cringe every time I go over any bumps since the wheel is very loose still. It has been determined that all of the components under the rig are solid so what should I do? Should I remove some shims? It was the drivers side that had the repair. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. John

 

You can remove shims which will increase the preload on the swivel ball which will likely fix the death wobble issue for a while. Your best bet is go replace the bearing, washer, pin and get some new shims and just replace it all.

 

There's the key showing they don't have a clue. Well, that and the fact they replaced spindles (stub axles) to fix loose steering. Worn stub axles would be the very last thing on a finite list of components that might need replacing.
Have a look at this list: https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...66/#post277783

 

They did replace all the mentioned items as it was part of the correct repair strategy from Land Rover. All that you have mentioned is new. I feel that they just don't want to go back and remove shims. The repair did make the rig drivable again, I could not go over 45 and if it wobbled it lost control. Now it just wobbles over bumps but does not loose control. The issue is i do not know how many shims to remove or if I should touch it.

 

Take it to a real shop and tell them you have the "death wobble", they will know what to do.

 

Is it wores while going up or down hill?

 

So you're saying they rebuilt the swivel pins? All you mentioned were the panhard rod bushings, stub axle and steering damper.

In any case, how many shims to remove is determined by measuring the torque needed to turn the swivel housing. It's described step by step in the shop manual.

Did you read through the list of things to check?

 

They did not set the preload on the swivel pin correctly. You need to measure it like stated in the rave and then remove shims to increase the preload.

Also check to make sure they got your wheel bearings tight enough but grabbing the hub and checking for play with your hands at 12 and 6.

Or take it to a good indy land rover shop

 

Thats right antichrist, I had my terminology wrong. I knew I was saying the wrong word but could not remember the correct term for the life of me. Yes, they did replace the swivel pins and this is as "reputable" as they come as far as mechanics go. jake 1996D1 they followed the land rover shop manual and say that they set the preload correctly and measured the resistance of the steering. When they first quoted me they said they would have to put it together then test the preload and may have to remove shims. However I know that they just put it together one time and never removed any shims. They just wanted to be done with it.

 

Replacing a new steering damper does not sound appropriate to me. I would avoid them in the future.