Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Need help with castor correction kit	4		09/28 11:21am

By bryan on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 08:39 am: Edit

I have a 97 US Discovery. I too have had this problem for quite some time. I just had the tires rotated and balanced. But, at about 65 miles per hour, the vehicle exhibits some oscillation of the steering wheel and an accompanying rougher/vibrating ride. If I should encounter rougher roads, the wheel gets into some sort of uncontrollable battle and moves between the 10:00 o'clock and 2:00 o'clock positions for quite some time until I slow the vehicle down quite a bit. Is this condition known to occur on the discos? I had the rear drag link replaced to correct this but I don't think it helped. I have heard this could be the steering damper, but I took it to the dealer for the tire/rotation and drag link. You would have thought they would suggest replacing the damper, but they did not. Is this going to help the problem. Sometimes, the vehicle shudders so much that it is quite scary. It usually occurs at 60+ MPH or so. At 70, it seems to quiet down again.

Thanks

Bryan

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 08:49 am: Edit

it's all related to steering and caster problems.
how much lift do you have, if no lift, then alignment is needed.

i've had mine slightly toe in and was shaking like your description. then i set the toe slightly out, and all was fine.

By bryan on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 08:52 am: Edit

Was your vehicle shaking as violently as mine? I would never think a little toe in/out would cause such shaking -- I thought it would cause a little pulling, rough ride, and uneven tire wear. Wow.

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 08:57 am: Edit

yes, shaked violently... like when shaking a martini.

By bryan on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 09:22 am: Edit

Ho,

Did your's shake at a particular speed? On my vehicle it is very speed specific. A about 63 - 66 MPH, the shaking can easily be introduced by a rougher than normal road.
Thanks
Bryan

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 09:37 am: Edit

yes, same speed like that, then started getting worse and started shaking at pretty much between 40 and 60

By Jarrod on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 09:55 am: Edit

Could it be due to uneven wear on the tires and then rotating them. I called LR about rotating tires, and they said that the wear on each wheel is different, therefore if you rotate them they'll start wearing different part of the wheel and sometimes cause vibrations. I don't know if I really belive it or not, but I haven't rotated my tires becuase of that fact.

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 10:00 am: Edit

bad tires do vibe indeed. but won't shake the steering like a martini shaker.

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 10:03 am: Edit

In the General Data section, it says "do not interchange tyres from front to back".... I would take that to mean "don't rotate".

If you do rotate them, do it very frequently, I'd suggest. IF you wait a good long while and then rotate, it'll beat you to death (don't ask me how I know!)... so I don't rotate them now.

-L

By Drew on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 02:25 pm: Edit

could be steering damper, worn out tie rod ends or the preload on the swivel pin bearings.
Drew

By Javier Velador (Jvelador) on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 10:33 pm: Edit

I had the exact same situation. As soon as I hit 60MPH, it would begin to vibrate and the steering to oscillate. As soon as I hit 70, it would quiet down. Even on smooth freeways, if there was a turn, it would again vibrate.

Last year, I had Hornburg in LA

- $307 replace motor mounts (they recommended it be done, possible cause) and
- retorqued/tightened front suspension
- $50 4 wheel balance and rotation, my request
- $196 replace 'propshaft'
- tightened all doors, no charge

Long story short, 30 days later, after riding smoothly, it started doing it again. The service warranty was only good for 30 days

Just recently, I replaced the original shocks and springs with OME as well as the steering dampner. I also had the bent left-rear trailing arm replaced (which I understand may have slightly skewed my rear axle).

Now it purrs at any speed. Whether the ultimate fix was replacing the trailing arm, the steering dampner or a worn right-front shock, I'll never really know.

Hope this helps you, Brian.

Javier

By Steve (Oz93discov8) on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - 03:19 am: Edit

I had exactly the same symptons. Eventually replaced the steering damper (with a Bilstein) and the problem was 98% fixed. Recently replaced the panhard rod bushes and I would say that it's now 100% fixed. The last steering damper had slight "flat spots" which could be felt when removed and when the rod was moved in and out. The old panhard rod bushes didn't look too bad but they were worn all the same. I don't think it takes much to cause a problem.

By Ho Chung (Ho) on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - 04:20 am: Edit

i guess this is one of the "characters" that the disco has? liek the lean and oil leak?

By bogeigley on Monday, September 24, 2001 - 04:11 pm: Edit

I had the same problem on my 99 - an old man emu damper, balance, and tire pressure check solved it all!

By peter matusov on Tuesday, September 25, 2001 - 05:07 am: Edit

fwiw,

Carol Samons mentioned it before, and I've looked into it last weekend.
Too much slop in the steering box or steering shaft will allow the front wheels to shimmy, causing the martini shake you talk about. The adjustment of the steering box (10 minutes,
needs one Allen wrench and 3/4" box wrench) is
very likely to fix it all.
On my Disco ('96, 93kmi) I found the lower joint of the steering shaft (collar on the box' input
shaft) loose. Very odd. Allowed for about 30 deg of slop of the steering wheel. Took 15 seconds to fix. Will see how it goes.

Just as an example - the Disco would beat the crap out of me with 245/75 Enforcers at 75-85 mph; I know they can't possibly stay balanced for any extended period of time. However, I put them on my '89 Rangie (no slop in the steering box), and there's no vibration AT ALL!

peter

By Dee on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 07:30 am: Edit

I had the same vibration on my 1997 Disco, Soultion was to replace the warn / missing upper shock rubber.

By doug james on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 09:28 am: Edit

Minor vibration on my 95 lwb (same susp stuff essentially) was cured by 1) adjusting the strg box, as previous post notes;
2) adjust front wheel brgs after repacking grease;
3) swivel preload reset after filling housing w/ lr grease.
Cured it totally.

By Jaco de Klerk on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 03:47 pm: Edit

I only recently acquired The Wobble - it was included for free when I had new tyres fitted. Mine is a light but definate steering wheel vibration at 100-115km/h (63-72mph).

Before, I did not have one bit of this nonsense. The only thing that has changed (apart from the tyres) is the alignment! Camber & caster was not adjusted, but toe was changed as follows:

Left front:
before: -0°15'
after: -0°03'

Right front:
before: 0°03'
after: -0°03'

Total toe:
before: -0°12'
after: -0°06'

any opinions???

I'm having it re-aligned tomorrow, will report back...

Jaco
South Africa

By Jaco de Klerk (Jaco) on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 10:54 pm: Edit

Wobble Solved!!!

One of the RF wheel nuts was not fitted when I had new tyres fitted....

By robert on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 02:13 pm: Edit

This is the first time I've been on this page. I see that you talked about this violent shaking last month. This weekend my son and I were headed to an off road event in Alabama when going down the interstate at 70 our Disco I (97) started shaking violently as described earlier. I thought the front wheels were going to fall off. I pulled to the side checked the lug nuts, the tie rod and the only thing I could find was a little play in the left front wheel. We took her to the Land Rover service dept. in Birmingham the next morning as was told there wasn't anything wrong. I did ask them to have a technician check it throughly today. There has to be something wrong. It scared the hell out of me. Bryan did you find a solution? If so what was it?

By Bluegill (Bluegill) on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 02:51 pm: Edit

Sounds like YOU know something is wrong, even if dealer disagrees. How is your steering stabilizer shock doing? Is is damaged? Is it leaking? How about tire balance - maybe you lost some balance weights? How about tightness of steering components (drag link, tie rod, bushings, etc)?

By Robert Mayes on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 06:24 pm: Edit

the tie rod had some play in it. as far as the rest of what you asked I plan on knowing tomorrow as I had to leave it in Birmingham (my wife drove down to pick us up). However the shaking only occured after hitting any slight bump going over 60 mph.

By Ron on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 06:26 pm: Edit

However the shaking only occured after hitting any
slight bump going over 60 mph.

Ah, Your steering damper is toast. replace and relax. Takes about 2minutes and two 17mm wrenches.

Ron

By Tate on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Robert,
One more thing to check are the front shocks. I was having a strong shake when hitting bumps at speed (when hitting a pothole or seam in the road). A new steering damper helped a little, but replacing the shocks helped tremendously. The old shocks (on my 98) had dead spots that were allowing the axle to jump all over and jerk the steering wheel. With the axle movement damped, this effect is nullified. Yours is different if it's the kind of oscillation where you have to slow down to get it to stop.

By p m on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 07:54 pm: Edit

Ron,

steering damper is there to mask problems with suspension or steering. It should not shake without the damper.

it looks like the mix of bent tie rod/unbalanced tires/loose steering box or joints will bring it up. on my disco, there was little play in the steering box, and much more - in the bottom joint of the steering shaft.

i'd suggest looking everywhere, and replacing the damper as a last resort. It sure is easy and inexpensive, but may cover up for some oncoming trouble.

peter

By Ron on Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 10:08 am: Edit

It
should not shake without the damper.

Untrue!!!!

A bump with a bad or missing damper will cause the exact symptoms he decribied even if everything else is ok

Ron

By John on Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 10:27 am: Edit

Dont forget the pan hard rod bushings....