Hi, new to the forums..

I just bought a 93 Discovery, and although I have seen a lot of "death wobble" posts, none seem to be describing what I am experiencing.

It is assumed that I need to change the UJ- the previous owner had the clutch done, and there is a clunk at initial acceleration and when switching gears. I've experienced this with other vehicles, and it feels like UJ anyway, although there is no play in any of the shafts at all.

Since this is my first 4x4, I am wondering if that also might be the cause of my steering wobble. When traveling at 60kph or so and taking a soft curve, especially if it has some bumps in it, I start to get a wobble from the front wheels through to the steering wheel. Slowing down or straightening out and it goes away, although it feels pretty violent when its happening. Its gotta be taking a toll on some part in there.

Anyway, just hoping this is one of those "yeah, thats exactly what I had" questions and someone can help me out.

Thanks

 

You have the Death Wobble, search for it, there are several parts to change, including the tie rod ends (ball joints). An important point is that it is not the steering damper, although a brand new damper may "hide" it for a short time until parts wear and it is worse. On a sharp curve and steep expressway exit it can be exciting.

 

The drive shaft is not causing this issue, although it would be a good idea to grease or replace them based on their age.
As for the wobble, you need to do a complete inspection of the entire front end, bushings, tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings and CV joint, here again, with the age of this truck, it could be any or all of these parts causing your issue.
By the way, make sure your tires are aired up to 40 pounds all the way around to rule out that as a cause.

 

https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...66/#post277783
This was addressed to someone who knew he needed ball joints.

 

Thats the thing, this death wobble thing happens when you are going straight, and that is not the case here- its just in mild curves, not even when doing a 90 degree turn or anything, just during a long rolling curve. And its sort of correctable during the curve too, just easing up on the tilt of the steering wheel helps, and then out of the curve its totally fine.

It just seems like it should be easier to pinpoint than "it could be any of these 10 things". Unfortunately, I don't have anyone handy to turn the wheel for me, but I guess I will try that out this weekend.

 

Well, sitting here talking about it is not getting it fixed, have you even started testing each and every piece mentioned, if not get after it.
You have to remember, you have a near 20 year old 4wheeler and she is pretty warn out.

 

yeah, I should have mentioned that I did get under there and I am just not finding any play in any of the front end bits. And although its 20 years old, it only has about 150K miles on it, so not so bad there.

I was just kind of hoping that "during curves" might pinpoint one piece over another.

 

Death wobble can happen at any time. Straight road or curves.

 

I had a bad wobble like that and the wheel bearing was about to come off.

 

Hub bearings are covered in the list I linked to.