So I've been working on my rovers for a long time and I'm very familiar with all the usual stuff; ball joints, tie rods, and their noises.. clunks vibrations whatever.

This one seems a little different so I figured I'd run it by the forum.

The vehicle is SOLID - bumps and stuff do nothing, solid steering, no clunks, feels good. BUT at normal speeds (45-55ish) if I apply slight pressure to steering wheel (just enough to drift from one side of lane to the other) I can feel a pretty significant "thunk-y-type wobble" in the steering wheel. If I center the steering wheel and drive like normal its about 98% perfectly solid/still.

Any ideas?

I DO have a pretty bad wheel/tire-type vibration at higher speeds (70+) but these tires are almost dead and I'm replacing them in a few months.

Is it possible that I just won't transmit the limited NVH from the old tires at normal speeds into the steering wheel till I move it a little and more force is on the tires/into steering column?

Ball joints were replaced last fall, and I doubt tie rods because there's zero play in steering, no drift, and the entire suspension is very quiet (even on gravel roads, etc).

I'm kinda just thinking it is what it is and I need new tires or at least a re-balance lol.

 

Start with tires, could be the rack shuddering from being bad or from pump going? Or is this only on hi way

 

If the tires are bad, and/or a wheel is slightly out of balance, changing the angle of the wheel can cause the steering wheel to shake. Have you ever gotten a bubble in a tire? Since the balance is changed, you can feel it in the steering when you turn the wheel at the right speed. It's like a tugging on the steering wheel.

 

There were some issues with the steering column too, but those affected the feel at low speeds as well.

 

Time to bump!

New tires and wheels - 275/55/20's @ 32"

Overall I was impressed with how little additional NVH there was. I've gained a little since I installed them, but that might be due to the tread chunk missing on a rear when I got stuck in the snow the other day, but that's another story. (I might throw a .5oz weight in rim where chunk was lol)

What is the steering rack issue you're talking about? There's a high frequency grinding vibration through the steering rack that's more harmonic in nature (it resonates through column at varying intensity based on a number of factors) - VERY annoying and my RRS did it as well. It has gotten slightly worse. I can't think of what would directly transfer this type of vibration through the rack / column though. Unfortunately it probably means whatever bearing IS failing, is probably failing rather significantly. First thoughts were wheel bearings, half shafts, or front driveshaft - possibly front differential as I know it's on the way out based on fluid color/smell at last change, BUT when I changed front diff on RRS the vibration DID NOT go away, so I'm tempted to keep looking.

Back to the wobble.. The off-center steering wheel wobble has increased a bit since wheels/tires. It just feels generally less stable at higher speeds when I move steering wheel now.

Is jacking the front up and rocking the wheels a reliable way to check tie rods, or is the suspension too heavy to really tell? I know with some vehicles it won't show.

I guess I can just remove each tie rod and attempt to move them.

I know the lower ball joints / control arms are a PITA, but how are the tie rods? I believe the entire lower control arm assemblies are new, so ruling that out as well.

 

Your symptoms sound different, but FWIW, the steering column issue had to do with a U-Joint in the intermediate steering shaft (IIRC) that needed lubrication or in some cases replacement. It resulted in a feeling of vaguery and sort of a loss-of-feedback in the steering wheel through a small range of turn, maybe +/- 10 degrees rotation off-center. That's the best I can do to describe it. It was never easy to explain. There are posts about it on this forum or landroverworld.

What kind of tires did you get?

 

Ah okay, yeah there's not really any play in the steering and that's partially why I can feel the harmonic vibration, all the wobble, etc.

They're falken wildpeaks - I'd imagine even with a decent 111 load index, the LR3 is just really heavy for those tread blocks. One tire was down to frozen gravel and the others were slipping on packed snow/ice - diffs locked, I think it just beat them up. They do have a 60,000 mile warranty though, sooo..

Ironically some of the tread blocks started peeling (like a flap) off of my yoko parada spec-x's on my RRS from gravel roads - like I said I think the weight is just brutal for most tires. I'm not entirely sure terra grapplers would have done this though, or a mud tire - but there are disadvantages as well.