Re:It caught me: the Death Wobble virus

I've just returned from the wheel shop. An interesting visit. Due to (still) Covid rules, I wasn't allowed in the workshop and had to wait in the visitors' lounge. But the guy who did my car was very communicative about what he'd been doing, keeping me update during the process.

Aligning the wheels didn't show any serious problems. And what was wrong, was easily reset. 

Balancing was a completely different story! Before he started, we'd discussed the 'stud balancing'. Which he did. A clever device with 4, 5 or 6 studs is put on the balancing machines. The studs are mounted to a sliding plate inside the device so that the operator can adjust to any type of wheel. Then all is locked in place and balanced.

Guess what: my brand-new wheels and tyres were not really true and straight! And that's an understatement. Especially the RH front wheel needed a ton of weights! We considered it to be só bad that the mechanic swapped the (also brand-new) spare wheel and tyre for the one at the front. He ended putting the wheels with the lowest amount of weight at the front and the two with more 'lead' on the rear, leaving that 'special one' as spare.

A short test drive on the motorway learned us that the wobble is gone! With the steering damper in the mail to my address, I think that I can make this the best-handling Jimny east of the Meridian.

I think that there's a lesson in this whole exercise.

Menno

That's a great result, thanks for sharing.

My jimny had mild wobble, and changing king pin bearings took care of some of it, but not a huge amount. They were not in great shape anyway, so it certainly wasn't for nothing.

What fixed it for me was play in the steering box. It's a bit of a fiddle to get right, juggling screwdriver and spanners and trying to do minute adjustments. This requires a bit of mechanical nous to do properly, and it can get expensive if it goes wrong. 

I'm not saying king pin bearings should be overlooked, or that my experience is the same as every one else's, just thought I'd share what I found, as not a lot is spoken about the steering box in regard to the "death wobble".

Cheers guys, sorry for the essay!
 

Glenfarg garage fitted the Cooper AT tyres, checked wheels and balanced, then fitted supplied new (BigJimny supplied ) kingpin bearings and swivel seals both to front sides and the wheel wobble is gone, John.

While it was there, we asked he change front and rear diff oil and gearbox oil. He confirmed it's really good and solid underneath just needs undersealing, another job for Lanoguard.