By Jo matthews on Friday, July 20, 2001 - 10:12 pm: Edit

Anyone got any suggestions as to what is causing a vibration in my steering, so for I have re-shimmed the swivel housings, new ball joints, new steering column, wheels balanced, theres no play in the steering box, the rubbers in the hockey sticks are a polyurethane type put in by the previous owner which are meant to be harder than standard but I dont know if that would cause the problem and also the steering damper does not have the same amount of resistance through its travel/stroke could this also be related to the problem.

By Greg on Saturday, July 21, 2001 - 03:54 pm: Edit

Rebalance your tires? I had vibes in my steering after having a rotate and balance. I took it back the next day, they rebalanced them. Yes I still had vibes so I took it back 5 minutes later. They refused to balance them again. So I took it down the street to another shop and have no problems. I think the same kid balanced them both times.

Yes I did get my money back.

Greg

By Jo matthews on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 07:59 am: Edit

Already done that, but the problem is still there. Reading back through the old discussions I wonder wether it could be the bearings in the transfer box as I have plus 2 inch springs which causes the diff to sit at a different angle although I dont consider that to be excessive, still wondering about the steering damper.

By davel on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 12:56 pm: Edit

The problem may be caused by the front or rear drive shaft, I would remove one drive shaft and put in diff lock and drive to see if vibration goes away.

Dave

By L_Tilly on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 02:41 pm: Edit

Probably a silly suggestion to check, but it caught me...Tire pressure. I have never had a vehicle that had dramatically different pressure levels between front and rear tires, at least that I've known of. :-) When I had new tires put on my 96 Disco, they were all brought up to the same full pressure level (35psi). I had some significant vibration at highway speeds (above 60) and was going to have them checked for rebalance.

Then I read a thread here talking about the tire pressure difference. I ran out and checked my manual and sure enough, it stated about 6psi diff between f/r. I adjusted pressures to match the book and the vibes went away. Guess I can't assume that anything I knew previously had any validity... ;-) YMMV.

L_Tilly [email protected]
96 Disco "Beowulf" - NH, USA

By wobbly on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 07:05 pm: Edit

wheels get them balanced again or rotate them

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 07:30 pm: Edit

jo
the vibes, under what conditions? accel? coasting?
deccel? what speed? steering only shakes?
during turns? after rough road?

By Steve (Oz93discov8) on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 03:28 am: Edit

I'd say it's the steering damper. I fitted an "as new" TJM Series 2000 a while back and started having bad wheel shimmy soon after. I was convinced that it wasn't the steering damper so I did the wheel balance, suspension bushes etc and had the front end checked out as OK. Then the mechanic disconnected the damper and checked it's travel for any "flat spots" - he found a few minor ones so I fitted a Bilstein damper - no problems ever since!! Maybe it pulls a little to the right though - apparently that is a thing with the high gas pressure of the Bilsteins - but it's not much and the steering is SO MUCH BETTER!!

By John on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 03:42 am: Edit

Is it a vib or shimmy...Never been a fan of after market poly's myself. Since you have covered the usuals, I would consider looking at pan hard rod bushings and those hockey polys if its a shimmy type thing...A vib has that gut feeling metal feel, if that, proberly a bearing somewhere.People use polys for more flex, but it takes away road ride. Use good stock bushings for good road ride and let your susp provide its normal flex.

By MTB on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 03:48 am: Edit

John
When you talk about Poly's are you refuring to hard or soft or both

Michael B

By John on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 04:01 am: Edit

Both....a poly has no outer sleel sleeve for good support, being like that for more flex. So soft or hard bushings have no stable means of supporting itself in the bushing bores and can offer no real stability to your road ride. What little flex you gain in a poly bushing is in my opinion offset by a more unstable road ride. So I always suggest good stock susp bushings for a good road ride and let the susp do its own natural flex.

By Moe on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 06:12 am: Edit

As John mentions above, check the panhard rod bushings/bolts. Here is an article on steering shimmy that may be of help.

http://www.landroverclub.net//Club/HTML/Disco_Stabilisator.htm

By jo matthews on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 12:02 pm: Edit

Dear everyone who has replied so far, taken both propshafts off (not at the same time) and still a vibration. It starts at speeds of around 80-105 kph, 50-65 mph. It happens while accelerating,decelerating,straight lines and on corners with the propshafts disconected. As this is the case it should then mean that it is the damper as the bushes seem ok although after reading what people have written I think I will change them to original rubbers. I will try a new damper tomorrow and see what difference that makes

By John on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 12:30 pm: Edit

With polys in the links, I bet there will be polys on the hard pan rod as well....I would replace the dampener as its the easier of the things thats left to fix....and you will need a new dampener at some point anyway. Your symptoms are sounding dampener as well. If tht doesnt work....bushings are next...just an opinion...
good luck.

By MTB on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 09:05 pm: Edit

John
I understand what saying about the sleeve on oem bushings. Doesn't the bushing bore do the same for poly's the only differance I would see is that the inside diameter of the bore would be bigger w/poly's. the poly's come with a inner sleeve(for the bolts). I have a set in my garrage sitting there for the past year&half (Just never had time to put on. Polybush Blue's) I don't know anyone who is running them but Nadim. I have not read if he is have any problems. He did post a while back that he liked them. Today could be a different story.
I remember years ago I read that poly's were good when changed over from OEM rubbers in car mags.. Made handling better last longer & ect.

By John on Tuesday, July 24, 2001 - 02:40 am: Edit

I only have a personal opinion on polys, my opinion may not be everyone else's. The stock bushings are adherred to the outer and inner sleeve...the polys just sit in the bushing bore and react to stresses differently as they "float" in the bore. Some people like poly's and use them.I tried them and didnt like the road feel after low miles of use....just an opinion. Maybe other poly users can offer their opinions as well and help you.

By jo Matthews on Tuesday, July 24, 2001 - 12:53 pm: Edit

Replaced steering damper this morning, drove to work and guess what, still got those vibes. By the way the polybushes are the blue ones. I´ll be taking them out this weekend to check the condition of them and also to see if the hole in the mounting bracket of the panhard rod has got bigger/elongated. I´ll let you know after the weekend.

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Tuesday, July 24, 2001 - 07:37 pm: Edit

toe in? toe out?

By Jo Matthews on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 02:00 pm: Edit

Ok guys, end of problem. It´s 1.37 in the morning and the bad vibes are over. Just spent the last seven and a half hours changing blue polybushes to genuine bushes. When I took the bushes out they had all split on the lip of the bush and fell out rather than having to push them out, the last owner had them put in less than two years ago and as they are meant to last upto five times longer than original bushes that means genuine ones should be good for about four and a half months. The worst one was the panhard rod this must of been the cause of the vibrations. The problem is with that type of bush is that they look O.K. and when you put a lever next to the bush there does´nt look like there is any play, the only way you can tell if there is any free movement is by actually taking the bush out, maybe because the lips of the bushes were seperated from the body of the bush this may have caused movement of the bush and therefore causing the bush to wear. So to anyone thinking of buying polybushes think twice. You have been WARNED !.

By Mike B. on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 02:20 pm: Edit

Thanks for the update. I am sure that we are all filing this knowledge for future use.

Thanks,
Mike B.

By John on Saturday, July 28, 2001 - 10:45 am: Edit

I am glad you found your problem at last...as innocent looking as the pan hard rod is...it plays a major role in handling. Susp. wise always go with stock land rover bushings.You may now want to check your rear links to see if polys are there as well, someone bought the whole kit, they may have used it all.

By Jeff Bieler (Mrbieler) on Saturday, July 28, 2001 - 11:07 am: Edit

Good deal on getting it sorted. The panhard bushings caused my truck problems as well. As soon as I lifted the truck and put on a new steering damper, the bushing failure became very apparent. As soon as I replaced them, everything was fine.

I have no direct experience with poly bushings, but from other boards with RR Classics, it seems that the panhard rod is one area in particular that is better served with LR original rubber bushings.

By nadim on Sunday, July 29, 2001 - 12:41 pm: Edit

Jo...
I have the whole Polybushes "blues" set on my Disco...and actually they GOT RID of the vibes I was having with the OEM...I guess this is what we call "unique rover characteristics"...each disco has a soul in there...lol

By Jo... on Sunday, July 29, 2001 - 03:17 pm: Edit

You may have replaced some worn OEM's with new polys and taken away a problem....but twist those a little while and maybe the shakes come back...it will be interesting to see how many miles they last...we are always learning.

By nadim on Sunday, July 29, 2001 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Jo...
These things have lasted for 2 years now...and with a lot of torture going their way...
If yu see my gallery, well, they do get a beating 9jumps, track roads, and such), and they have lasted through many a river crosing...I have put them through hell, and they have not done anything but pass with plying colors...
they do however squeek just a wee bit when there is some debris or mud around...but that is nothing that a pessure washer wouldn't take care of...