Re:It caught me: the Death Wobble virus

As per title.

I changed to brand-new wheels and tyres yesterday and today, I noticed the infamous Death Wobble when doing 80km/hr (50 m/hr). It suddenly disappeared and then 10kms further down the road (motorway) it re-appeared again.

I already had an appointment with the guys of a proper tyre centre for aligning the wheels and I've asked them to rebalance the wheels as well. The guy behind the counter commented that one of the things he does, it to make sure that the rear wheels are centred since there's no flange to centre them. I remember that from my Porsche...

I'm sure it will not solve the death wobble, but it can overcome a lot of 'normal' imbalance.

Furthermore, I've sourced a steering damper kit. It will not cure the cause of the wobble, but it will certainly help to make it less worse.

Other ideas are welcome (and yes, I've read the wiki).

Menno

Check the kingpins on the front (see the wiki). The wiki has a section on death wobble, if you haven't seen it already.

Robin

Will be keeping an eye on this, have recently bought a 2005 Santana cabriolet o2 model, with similar death wobble issues. Needs tyres, so have ordered those x4 which will be fitted by local indy, as it needs checking from the wheels and tyres upwards! Good luck OP.

If it's only just started with your new tyres then it's a good start to get the balance checked first.

However this is no guarantee, wobble is a complex mix of factors. The steering system as a whole has inbuilt damping courtesy of the friction in ball joints, kingpins, steering rods etc. Over time, with general ware and tare, this accumulated damping reduces. Eventually the inbuilt disadvantage of solid front axles starts to become prominent, and it's called wobble. Even a change in tyre pattern could be enough to get the 45 - 52 wobble going, especially pot holes and poor road surface's.

The fix ? Reintroduced some damping by replacing all the steering components back to new. The good news is, as Robin indicated, it's going to be your kingpin bearings. When you replace you can fit shims to increase the preloaded, this introduces more friction or damping. For a Jimny on Standard sized tyres shims are not required in my opinion, but you have the option. 
A steering damper wil help, but it could be masking shot bearings.

If you swivel chalices are rusty it's 100% worth taking a look at these bearings, it's likely they are rusty due to water ingress. Even if they are good it's an opportunity to grease them.

Good luck
Mike

 

All of the wheels should be balanced "stud centric", not just the rears.

Whilst there is a flange on the front you will notice by looking around various Jimnys that a lot of standard wheels have a gap and certainly on the steels the centre is not perfectly shaped

Sent from my moto g31(w) using Tapatalk

I must say, it crossed my mind when I installed the wheels, but I didn't give it too much attention because I'd never heard or read about 'trouble' with that on a Jimny.

(As opposed to Porsche where it's 'on topic' on every forum... But then again, Porsche made a few many other incomprehensible design decisions in the past that you should file under 'mistake' and not 'quirky character').

Luckily, the mechanic at the tyre centre looks to know what to do. 'Stud centric' is the first thing he said.