Wobble....but not in 4WD !!

Hi....we have had Jimny 7or 8 years....I used to be a member of the forum....but it's been so long I have had to re-register. (Probably because I have had very few issues with Jimny

The RHS front had a bearing kit replacement (of some kind ) in March after a seal leak....everything fine.

We have now, 6 months late,r developed the Death Wobble at 45-50mph its pretty bad......(I am familiar with the closed thread)

What has me puzzled is............if I put it into 4WD and run it at about 45-50mph, there is no death wobble.....and sometimes no DW after I put it back into 2WD for a short time.

I will start with the wheel balance/tyres etc.....but its got me a bit puzzzled.

Did you fit the bearing kit in march, or someone familiar with Jimnys?

It would be good to know if the bearing kit was wheel bearing or kingpin bearings (or both). Its easy to over do it with the grease on the CV when refitting, which can result as you describe. Or a hub could be sticking on/off and causing a shaft to be driven sometimes in 2wd, then releasing slowly and returning to death wobble.

Do you have any diff oil on the swivels?

thanks for the reply

i will have a look in the morning for diff oil and check through the paperwork for what type of bearing....although I think it was both.

Mechanic is pretty good, used him for years and know he has worked on a few Jimnys

Been a great motor (70k), well looked after and serviced and wanted another few years out of it .....has a pretty easy life, 5k per year 40 - 50 mph.. (oh dear....just that speed that it doesn't like... )

In my humble opinion death wobble is controlled by the preload on the steering system provided by the multitude of components that make it up. This preload is a form of damping. A new jimny has "tight" (in the preload sense) wheel and kinpin bearings, the ball joints and suspension rubbers are all tight and new. Over time these components wear and the preload (damping) reduces, hence slight bumps in the road or speed induces the death wobble. Its always been there, its just been damped out until the steering system wears to the point it starts to show.
Fitting a steering damper to reintroduced preload can cure it, I feel selecting 4X4 mode is just damping the system in a similar way. As stated it could be too much grease keeping the hub engaged.
So check the steering and kingpins for any free play, check tyre balance etc.

Having said all that our 2009 jimny has (had) the 45 -50 wobble but only if we hit a bump in the road to start it. I checked everything for play and all was good, even passed its MOT. Its hard to check the preload on the system so I simple fitted a steering damper. For me it solved the problem and was not masking loose or faulty steering components. The only other option was to replace all components and make "new " again.