Why the shim?

I've done some reading about the 'death wobble' and the Jimny I purchased a couple of weeks ago is definitely suffering from it. When I get to around 45ish MPH I get a lot of vibration and this seems to reduce at 52ish MPH.

Reading about fixes, I got myself some bits, king pins, king pin bearings, oil seal, swivel hub seal etc and when we finally have a nice couple of days I'll give it go. I've also read that shims are suggested.

Just wondering if I need these or not and if some kind soul could explain why?

im no expert but i believe the shims are a sort of last resort fix if you have tried kingpin bearings and wheel bearings.

I had the same problem you describe and Martin sorted me out with the bits, and he suggested trying the kingpins and bearings first. I did as instructed and it sorted the problem out. If i was super picky i would say it still has a very slight wobble on rough tarmac roads, but i am running 215/75r15 BF AT's so i suspect thats the reason (or the mud stuck to the wheels!)

be wary of breaking the ABS sensor when you take it to bits (if you have ABS). they have a really weak bolt holding them in place

finally... if the shaft oil seal is gone then do a diff oil change at the same time, it will need it!

Makes sense. Thank you. I'll replace the king pins and bearings first and see how it is. Good call on the diff oil. I'll do that too.

Shims are a way of taking up slack in the kingpin bearings. The hubs with new bearings in still allows an amount of slack by design and when Suzuki put bigger wheels on a Special Edition they developed shims because they had Death Wobble.

I would use annealed copper washers as they compress to just the right size.

Kirkynut

Possibly a stupid question... but have you tried everything else? I had the same and it stopped when I rotated the wheels to different corners. Check balancing and tyres etc.
Ray

Check tyre pressures