Hi friends. I have a 2000 Land Rover Discovery II that sat for roughly 6 years with a blown engine. Other than the engine problem, it ran like a top until that day. I found another engine and installed it last month. I am not a mechanic, but I can follow the manual.

With the engine in I drove it around and it runs great. However, at 45 miles an hour it develops a wobble that might be described as deadly. So I've read the forums and, not having done anything on a suspension and steering yet, but it is a little over my head. I I didn't know what a panhard rod was until I read wikipedia. So I am here asking for a little help focusing on the right parts.

Basically it has to be something that deteriorates over time. My first thought was tires. The tires were a week old when it died, but it sat for several years. I moved it some and kept them aired up, but they may have suffered. Is there any way to tell?

I should add that the wobble stops immediately if I touch the brakes, even when I am still in the target speed range. The wobble is clearly in the steering.

I noticed that the bushings at the lowest point on the hub are desiccated.

So, can someone distill the death wobble scenarios in light of the fact that this is something probably caused by time as opposed to rolling wear, that braking stops it, and that those little bushings are bad?

Best,

Charlie V

 

Anyone?

 

Sounds like bushing/ball joint issue...also pull the wheels and check the brake pads/rotors/calipers. Could also be hub bearings. With the wheels off the ground try to move them side to side and up and down, see what happens.

 

You will need to get front end off the ground and do some inspection. Check over steering linkage and everything else already mentioned .

 

rear roto flex coupler. it is made of hard rubber..i joins the rear propshaft to the rear diff. I bet it is cracked and dry rot. replace that. also if it sat for that long your front prop shaft u joints might be a wee bit worse for the ware. grease gun on MAX. be careful that the front prop shaft is not about to fail. It would suck to finally get an engine in her only to need a new transmission.

 

like everyone else said. prop shaft, roto coupler, ball joints, bushings, tires out of balance,... just have to start checking everything.

 

I'm going for the easy fix first: tires. Luckily I have access to a disco with new tires that I can switch. Doing that this morning if I can get his damned lugs off. A tire shop clearly used the wrong size socket on most of his lugs and flattened out the covers. PITA. I can't even beat a socket onto them. Ugh

 

checking to see if the roto-flex is dry rot is far easier that changing all 4 tires.. so is seeing if if the u-joints are in anyway rotting is as well. but since you need to fix the lug nuts....

 

Did you check some stuff out?

 

I switched tires and the wobble seemed to go away. In fact, I drove 75 (previously I could not exceed 45 without thinking I was doind serious damage) and it was smooth as glass.

The lower ball joints look BAD. Need replacement. However, it appears to be that the rubber has dried up or worn away, and the joint itself is okay functionally, for the moment.

U joints and bushings higher than the ball joints all appear in like new condition, relatively. Nothing is loose when the tires are off of the ground, at least not when I am pulling on them. Maybe I am lucky and it was just tires and ball joints?... Wouldn't seem to follow my normal run of luck.