| Author | Message | ||
     Rich Zellmer (Personalt) Member Username: Personalt Post Number: 42 Registered: 11-2002 |
My 99 Disco I was having some suspension issues. Around town when I hit bumps the truck bounced way too much. On the highway if I hit a bump at 50mph the truck would bounce till I slowed down, I would feel a vibration in the front end. Since I was getting ready to get married right when this happened I put the work off a little and just drove the truck slowly when needed. The big issues was when I would take on the turnpike and hit a bump. Even at slow highway speeds I would feel vibration in the front end like the shocks/springs cant stop the bouncing. I figured the shocks were shot. This was also confirmed by the sound the shocks made when I would hit a bump driving around town with the windows open. It would sound like the shocks were pushing air, almost like a bike pump.. I figured bad shocks and replaced them this weekend. This stopped the bumping around town but on the highway I still have some issues when hitting bumps at highway speeds. The tires somtimes still continue to bounce a few seconds after I go over the bump causing me to have to slow down to get it to stop.. I am trying to figure out 1. Did I install the shocks wrong? The only thing I can think of was I supposed to spin the shocks clockwise to extended them before installing? I pulled the shock out to extended them so I could bolt them but I was not sure if I was supposed to spin them to adjust the resting length? I never changed shocks before as you can tell, but I did notice that if you spun them they got longer. Was I supposed to do that? 2. Was not changing the springs at the same time my problem? I planned to do that also but I ran behind because I had trouble getting off one of the nuts that held the shocks on and had to cut the job short(I did change all 4 shocks) as I had plans for later that day. I plan to change the springs this weekend coming up 3.Is something else wrong? I replaced the steering damper about 2 months ago when I first started having problems so that shouldnt be bad.. I replaced the steeting damper when I first had a front end shake when hitting bumps.. This fixed things for a while but I do wonder that because I didnt change the shocks which probable also needed changing I put to much stress on the steering damper and wore out the damper quickly.. | ||
| thom mathie (Muskyman) Senior Member Username: Muskyman Post Number: 333 Registered: 11-2002 |
more tire pressure | ||
| Mike Rupp (Mike_rupp) Senior Member Username: Mike_rupp Post Number: 264 Registered: 02-2002 |
Do a search on "death wobble". There has been a lot of discussion in the past. | ||
| Rich Zellmer (Personalt) Member Username: Personalt Post Number: 43 Registered: 11-2002 |
Hmm.. the tire pressure could have something to do with it as I noticed it was a little low. I checked out the death wobble thread but most of that seemed to dicuss the steering damper which I just replaced. What about spinning down the shocks to adjust their length. Does spinning them actually do anything or does it just extended them slowly? Is there any adjustments that are made by doing that? | ||
| Rob Davison (Nosivad_bor) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Nosivad_bor Post Number: 853 Registered: 02-2003 |
spinning is not an issue at all. and that bike pump sound is what the stock shocks sound like (i've always liked it) there is no adjustment of anything if you replaced with a normal shock. what car did you drive before? maybe you just have to get used to this. you might also have som worn out bushings in the radius arms and you are feeling "bump steer" frankly i dont under stand you problem well enough to give better advice. | ||
| Rich Zellmer (Personalt) Member Username: Personalt Post Number: 44 Registered: 11-2002 |
The problem I have is when I hit a bump while driving the car will not stop bouncing/wobbling till I hit the brakes to slow the car down. This is not just a single big bump but a continous shaking after I hit bump till I slow the car down. | ||
| Mike Rupp (Mike_rupp) Senior Member Username: Mike_rupp Post Number: 265 Registered: 02-2002 |
Rich, the steering dampener only masks the underlying problem. Check the simple things like the ball joints on the tie rod and drag link. Also jack each front wheel up and see if there is any play in the front wheel (if there is it could be wheel bearing preload or swivel bearing preload.) Also, like Rob said, one of the many bushings in the front axle could be shot. Check the panhard rod (connects the axle to the frame) and radius arm bushings. Any one of these things could cause the problem. I doubt that the front shocks are the problem. | ||
| Bill Bettridge (Billb) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Billb Post Number: 1023 Registered: 02-2002 |
Swivel preload - his description really makes that sound like the issue. Bill |
