Disco 1 "Wheel wobble"

[eltax91]

Hi folks, I have a Disco 1, 1992 200 TDi, 2" lift kit and off road tyres.

I was out green laning all last weekend, and towards the end of sunday, the steering wheel develops an on/off "wobble". It's not at any particular speed, occures randomly at anything from 25 MPH to 70 MPH. I had a noisy bearing too, and put it down to that, but after changing the bearing today, the noise has gone but the wobble is still there.

The wobble will stop if change pace, so either "power through" or brake. It persists for a few seconds each time when you change speed. I'm really perplexed and have no idea what it could be!! My next suspicion is either steering box or a dodgy CV joint... If it was a tyre/ wheel balancing issue then surely it would be at a certain speed?

Any thoughts?

[jagracer]

It could be the steering damper, does it do it on the road if you hit a pot hole or similar on one side? The way to check it is point the front wheels straight ahead, mark the position the ram on the damper is in, take it off and move it in and out a couple of times and leave it in the marked position. Leave it for about ten or fifteen minutes and then see if there is any resistance as you push it in or out, if it has a spot where there is no resistance it'll probably need replacing. This is the simplest and first check before everyone comes on with the more complicated causes such as worn CV housing shims and changing steering ball joints.

[Psimpson7]

Check all the front suspension bushes, particually the panhard rod.

[anonymous-user]

eltax91 said:

2" lift kit

There's your problem, right there. Pound to a pinch of poo the lift has buggered up the steering geometry.

[andyb66]

Crossflow Kid said:

Pound to a pinch of poo the lift has buggered up the steering geometry.

A suspension lift will affect steering and prop shaft geometry it would not cause a steering wheel wobble.

@original poster. Check simple first. No mud on the inside of the wheel and that the balance weight is still present and has not moved round the rim.

[anonymous-user]

andyb66 said:

Crossflow Kid said:

Pound to a pinch of poo the lift has buggered up the steering geometry.

A suspension lift will affect steering and prop shaft geometry it would not cause a steering wheel wobble.

OK, in itself it won't, but it certainly won't help.
Never understood the urge to feck about with perfectly good suspension heights meself.

[Liszt]

For those of us who like to use ours on rutted tracks, greater clearance under the axles means less time stuck in ruts.
To do this you add bigger wheels then a suspension lift to stop the body rubbing on the wheels.

Not that hard is it?

[anonymous-user]

Liszt said:

For those of us who like to use ours on rutted tracks, greater clearance under the axles means less time stuck in ruts.
To do this you add bigger wheels then a suspension lift to stop the body rubbing on the wheels.

Not that hard is it?

Whatever, just a waste of time/effort/money to gain what, an extra inch or two under the diff.

[Psimpson7]

Crossflow Kid said:

Liszt said:

For those of us who like to use ours on rutted tracks, greater clearance under the axles means less time stuck in ruts.
To do this you add bigger wheels then a suspension lift to stop the body rubbing on the wheels.

Not that hard is it?

Whatever, just a waste of time/effort/money to gain what, an extra inch or two under the diff.

any extra clearance is worth having! 2 inches is a massive improvement!

[eltax91]

Psimpson7 said:

Crossflow Kid said:

Liszt said:

For those of us who like to use ours on rutted tracks, greater clearance under the axles means less time stuck in ruts.
To do this you add bigger wheels then a suspension lift to stop the body rubbing on the wheels.

Not that hard is it?

Whatever, just a waste of time/effort/money to gain what, an extra inch or two under the diff.

any extra clearance is worth having! 2 inches is a massive improvement!

Have to say, after the embarassing incident of many rescues from a frontera yesterday, I'm considering bigger boots to get some lift under the diff.

[m3alex]

2 inch lift gives you no more clearance under the axle as they stay the same, just more body clearance to give better approach/departure angles, and the choice of a larger tyre to give you the needed clearance on the axle line.

sorry it had all ready been said.

Edited by m3alex on Monday 13th September 12:15