New shocks - now have death wobble! HELP :(

Hello,

So i always had a little bit of this famous death wobble on my 2000 Jimny. Just kinda like a bit of a bad wheel balance. But nothing to much to worry me. I put some new OME shocks in last weekend and now the death wobble is here fully! I have read through most of the old posts on here about it including seeing that service bulletin that Suzuki put out.

My question is where do i start?! Have people had luck with just adding shims or do i need to start replacing trailing arm bushes etc?! Have people replaced anything in particular that has made the difference? Steering damper??

I have already swapped the wheels from the front to the back and not much difference. The steering does seem to be quite free to turn when it is on axle stands. Eg pulling and pushing the wheels side to side. Just wondering where to start?!?!? Was thinking trailing arm bushes then shims, but if a steering damper will sort it that sounds like the easiest thing to put on. Its just my daily driver thats all..

Any help would be helpful.

Cheers
Als

1. Do you have alloy wheels that could have been "balanced on the car", in this case by taking the wheels off and not putting them back on in exactly the same position will throw the balancing off.

2. Did the new shocks come with new bushes and are they a good tight fit.

Steering dampers do not cure Death Wobble, they help firm up tendency to wander.

Martin

I have changed the king pin bearings and worked for me first go .....

Check your panhard rod bushes to make sure there is no play. This is how I solved my death wobble.

Hi Guys,

I am running 15/7 steel wheels with fu**ked bridgestone all terian tyres. Have had the wheels balanced and swapped them from front to back. I do have a standard set of Samurai wheels and tyres i will try over the weekend. The shocks where brand new Old Man Emu ones from my samurai. I had to trim a couple of mm of the bushes to get them to slot into the lower shock mounts on the jimny front end. They are a tight fit with the correct steel bushing and no play. Im wondering tho if they are too tight?! May need to trim the rubble down a little more.

I had it up on stands last night mainly checked the panard rod. I didnt take it off but trying to move it with a crow bar it didnt budge. I will remove it and check the bushings.

To me only play in the panard rod or rear trailing arm bushes kinda make sense for this wobble to happen.

I cant seem to find any play in the front wheel bearings or king pin assemble. But think i will replace the king pin bearigs at some stage to see if this make a difference. I would like to replace the rear trailing arm bushes 1st tho. I understand new king pin bearings with correct shims will make the steering a little tighter. But i still think something else has to have play eg move like the trailing arm bushes for it to effect the king pin bearings.. just thinking / typing out loud here....

Thanks so far guys any more suggestions please let me know.

Just my opinion , but I also have a feeling it may be down to the Panhard rod

I was running standard 205/70R15's with wheel spacers - no problems.
As soon as I fitted 205/75R15's - 43mph Jimny Shimny (sorry Death Wobble :evil: ) became noticeable but not scary. - hence, a 10mm lift introduced the wobble.

It appears that Martins kingpin shim pack seams to cure the problem and from what I gather, the fix typically necessitates one of the pins being more shimmed than the other - could this be because the shim is simply compensating for the Panhard rod having moved up 10mm (in my case)

there's some good info on panhard here

I could be talking B~~**ks, maybe our tech members could see if there's any mileage in this,
ps. I can live with my Jimny Shimny at the moment.