I just spent the last of my savings to buy a 1997 Land Rover Discovery. I was always told that they were great vehicle's.After i took my Land on the interstate and was going about 60 mi. I noticed the whole truck seem to vibrate and it seem as though i was loosing control. I was told that it could be my suspension,wheel alighnment or tire balancing. Im am concernd because i dont make much money and i cant afford costly repair.

 

wheel balance and steering dampener?

 

Tamango, These trucks are great machines. Your problem could be many differantthings or a combination of some. I had avibration issue with mine and the dealer said it was the wheels needed balanced and rotated.So Ipicked it up and drive homeand it hadthe same problem. Front drive shaft was the problem. U-jointswere the culprit.
Its hard to pin point a problem like this on line. You should take it to a decent garage and let them check it out. Do the tires look in good shape? If so, I doubt it would be them. When you hit a bump at those speeds do you get the dreaded death wobble? Or is it just a vibration? Probably just your U-joints if it vibrates. Didn`t you test drive the truck before you bought? Should always do that before you buy anything.
Good luck

 

Forgot about steering dampner!!!!

 

First thing you might do it look at the wear pattern on the tires, is it irregular, if so that may be the issue.
Can you better describe the problem, where do you feel it, thru the steering wheel or the seat of the truck, can you drive over 60 MPH and will it go away?

 

mine was the u-joints- they brike> art

 

Mine is doing it up to about 60 mmph but after that it goes away. Between 45 and 60 if I hit a bump it does a crazy death shake. I had a power sterring leak but had that fixed I thought it maybe low PS presure it helped but it is not gone. Any Ideas?

 

If it shakes bad enough so you start to lose control, I would suspect a worn suspension or steering linkage (control arms, draglink, track bar, track bar, etc...), especially if it does it after hitting a bump. This "death wobble" is notorious with jeeps, usually due to a worn track bar (I think it's a panhard rod? on landrover's) and very noticable after hitting a bump. I would think that the same think can happen on a Rover. Is your vehicle lifted at all?

Look very closely at you panhard rod (it centers the axle and runs from the axle to the body - at least it should, honestly I'm pretty new to Rover's and haven't looked on mine). Have somebody rock the steering wheel back and forth while youlook at the bushing at each end, they should move some if they are worn (check out your steering linkage bushings too). That's my suggestion, it could be a lot of things though like tires or alignment.

 

When I bought my 97 disco, I didn't have any problems until I got on the turnpike. There is a bump at every bridge and a bridge every mile. If I got up over 55 MPH and hit a bump the shaking was really bad. Pulled off at a McDonalds and checked the linkage and it seemd solid. After a few hours of slowing down everytime it started shaking I found out that if I ran 55 it would ride through the bumps. So I kept on going and drove 12 hours at 55mph on the toll roads to get it home. My son was counting all of the people that gave us the finger for going so slow, but I made it home. Changed the steering damper and problem solved. It takes 10 minutes to do.

-m

 

I always thought that you didn't really need a steering damper if things were working correctly andthatthey really only smooth out the steering. Apparently you need them in Rovers though because I keep reading about this problem. I guess that's why they tend to wear out quickly in Land Rovers.I wonder if they have a bad design in the suspension like not enough caster in the wheels.
I drove from VA to NY once with a horrible death wobble every time I hita good bump, it sucked.