THE DEATH WOBBLE THREAD

I am currently running LT 215 / 75 R15, and although they look mean, I think they could be the reason it feels like the Jimmy is sliding about scarily when going any sort of substantial speed.

Took it to a garage as I was worried it could be a problem with steering, suspension etc, all was fine. They said the tyres I had on weren't suitable for normal road use. They said that because the treads etc on the tyres are so big theres little surface area contacting the road.

Can anyone confirm this ?

jackandhisjimny wrote: I am currently running LT 215 / 75 R15, and although they look mean, I think they could be the reason it feels like the Jimmy is sliding about scarily when going any sort of substantial speed.

Took it to a garage as I was worried it could be a problem with steering, suspension etc, all was fine. They said the tyres I had on weren't suitable for normal road use. They said that because the treads etc on the tyres are so big theres little surface area contacting the road.

Can anyone confirm this ?

Lack of grip isn't anything to do with death wobble so you would be best posting in the main area.

Then tell us what tyres you have.

Kirkynut

Action was required as my death wobble had become too extreme with the steering wheel clunking from 10 past to 20 past 3 time per second at 43 mph. I was getting used to it, but the wife's screaming was getting somewhat irritating :ohmy:

The kingpin bearings were well shot and were changed along with the front drag rod track-rod ends

Now the death wobble has totally gone and the "feel" at all speeds is much improved, hadn't realised how bad things had got, :blink:

however, I can now notice very minor tremors at 30 mph or less. It doesn't feel like a wheel balance issue as the feeling isn't direct through the steering wheel ..... wonder if this is the older style control arm rear bush issue that Suzuki have reported on Jimny's up to VIN JSAFJB43V00422454 ... my 2007 truck has an earlier VIN than this

anyway, starting to feel the Jimny love again

I think I have just spent a load of money I didnt need to, to cure the dreaded wobble.
Never had a wobble but did have stiff steering. Turned out to be king pin bearings shot to bits they were so rusty they fell apart when I took them out!
Changed the bearings and very soon after got death wobble really bad. Couldn.t find any play in the kingpins and it happended mostly on braking from above 45mph, so decided it could be a warped disc, the spacers I have fitted (32mm) or king pins themselves so I decided to do the lot, including wheel bearings just in case.
Swapped the whole lot over yesterday, as well as putting poly bushes in the panhard rod. Found the adjustable section of the rod was flexing at the threaded section and discovered one of the lock nuts on the rod was a half turn loose.
Everything is now spot on again, not a twitch,even when braking hard from over 50 on a very rough road.
Could this have been the cause all along and I have wasted a load of money and time?

Leathery1 wrote: I think I have just spent a load of money I didnt need to, to cure the dreaded wobble.
Never had a wobble but did have stiff steering. Turned out to be king pin bearings shot to bits they were so rusty they fell apart when I took them out!
Changed the bearings and very soon after got death wobble really bad. Couldn.t find any play in the kingpins and it happended mostly on braking from above 45mph, so decided it could be a warped disc, the spacers I have fitted (32mm) or king pins themselves so I decided to do the lot, including wheel bearings just in case.
Swapped the whole lot over yesterday, as well as putting poly bushes in the panhard rod. Found the adjustable section of the rod was flexing at the threaded section and discovered one of the lock nuts on the rod was a half turn loose.
Everything is now spot on again, not a twitch,even when braking hard from over 50 on a very rough road.
Could this have been the cause all along and I have wasted a load of money and time?

I don't think we will ever really know as any of those components can contribute to it. At least you have peace of mind in knowing it is all good now.

Kirkynut

Dont no of this has been posted before

I've seen that before but it makes great sense to have it in this thread, so thank you Mark.

The movement of the hub over the swivel due to the king Pins being shot is massive!

Kirkynut

Assuming the kingpins are in good condition and you have a steering damper (recent Jimnys) then the problem is usually solved by removing the front wheels and refitting them carefully. Clean the hub, use a bit of copper grease to prevent sticking and tighten the wheel nuts progressively and evenly (i.e. go round the hub tightening every other nut until you've done all five) by hand, first just tight enough to lower the car back to the ground, then using a torque wrench first set to about 70Nm and then set to the full torque of 100Nm or whatever is recommended for your wheels.

I have never had shimmy when I've fitted the wheels. When the dealer has fitted the wheels there has always been shimmy until I've taken them off and done them again. They generally just whack them on with an air gun and the wheel can end up ever so slightly eccentric on the hub. The sightest eccentricity is magnified by beam axle suspension.

Halford wrote: wonder if this is the older style control arm rear bush issue that Suzuki have reported on Jimny's up to VIN JSAFJB43V00422454 ... my 2007 truck has an earlier VIN than this

The part number is moulded into the bush, you may be able to see it without removing anything.

Just gonna leave my experience with the wooble.

I had a ddis jimny with insaturbo dakars (m/t tread). i had some wobble at around 80kmh (40/50mph), but it only happened like, in the morning, or at least, after the car had been parked for a few hours, and it only happened during the first couples of miles, then it went away. i har heard that retreaded tires could change shape when parked for some time...
then, that jimny met an untimely demise in a head on colision...so i got me another one, this time a 1.3 dohc...
it came with the vitara alloys, and some really old duellers. the front tires where worn out on the outside on both sides, and the rear ones looked almost new, except for the fact the rubber was dry.
at first, every time i reached 40/50 mph onwards till the top speed, the whole car vibrated like hell. it didn't affect the trajectory, but the steering wheel and the gear knobs where shaking like michael j. fox. wheel and rim calibration was fine.
So, to test it out, i switch the tires from one axel to the other, front to rear, rear to front... it helped. now it only wobbled between 40 and 50. so i was decided to check on the bearings, but since i needed tires as well, i decided to get a new set first, not retreaded, as they can be a pain to calibrate. got a set og hankook dynapro atm fr10 and it just went way.

While fitting a set of wheel spacers I decided to kill two birds with one stone & eradicate the 45mph wheel wobble I had suffered since adopting the jimny a month ago.
Removing both front wheels first, I scrubbed off the 10 year old crud from the inside of the 3 spoke alloys ( there are 3 deep pockets which were caked in rust & brake dust) All 4 tyres were nearly new Duellers with equal amounts of tread. I re-balanced the fronts, with the n/s wearing a 30g weight & spot on, the o/s also wearing a 30g weight but subsequently only requiring a 10g weight :dry:
The rears were treated in the same fashion & everything refitted without too much drama.
A subsequent road test provided no wobble at normal driving speeds up to 70mph & back, though some shimmying could be felt over manholes / road patches etc :laugh: There was a definite improvement to stability which I imagine would be down to the spacers I fitted.
I'm led to believe that the fronts especially, are prone to imbalance over time , due to wear & road surface damage & should be balanced
whenever the opportunity presents itself. ( sounds like I own a wheel balancing business )

I can feel the death wobble wanting to start when I go over bumps. The steering is perfect under normal circumstances.
Braking seems to amplify the problem (discs are not warped). I have superpro bushes on the front panhard and I see someone else mentioned that it was the cause of their problem. I'm a bit sceptical. Has anyone else experienced this?