Panhard Rods and Death Wobble

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone with experience can tell me how much the panhard rod bushes contribute to death wobble.

My 2001 Jimny JLX has had death wobble since I've owned it, particularly around the 40mph mark, despite me changing both kingpin bearings. Earlier in the year I had a bit of an accident and I bent the front panhard rod and this made it significantly worse (terrifying even at 25mph). I sourced a second hand panhard rod with fairly worn bushes and fitted that. The 25mph death wobble has gone, but the 40mph wobble is noticeably worse than before. It's fine if I can get to 50mph quick enough, but if not then I have to slow all the way down to about 20mph to stop the wobble!

So I'm going to order a HD front panhard rod with new bushes, but when I was looking at them I noticed that you can get a rear panhard rod as well. Could the rear panhard rod bushes be contributing to death wobble in any way? If that's the case then I might be better off replacing both panhard rods. I've had a good look at everything else at the front after the accident. The springs are fine, shocks are good and not leaking, and there's no leakage around any of the bearings so I don't THINK the death wobble could be because of the accident.

Thanks for your help

Bosanek condensed the death wobble thread into a good guide in the BigJimny wiki here:

Wiki Guide on Death Wobble

Be wary that some HD panhard rods are longer than the standard ones (check before buying). Then you need to mess about getting it centred properly (not easy!).

The front panhard bushes could contribute to the death wobble, but not in a major way. Rear will have no affect on wobble from steering, but would make the rear feel like its wandering/slipping when cornering.

Did you change the wheel bearings (front) yet? i notice they are not in your list above and are more likely to be an issue than the panhard bushes. loose rod ends on the steering bars can make it worse, but the bearings are a more likley candidate.

Then theres always the basics to double check as well - tyre pressures, tyre condition, wheel balancing/condition, warped brake discs, etc.