need help with front end of 98 patrol

[chippyjim66]

can any one out ther help me out my 98 patrol has a bad wabble in the front end and has started to scallop the front tyres what could be the cause of this

[YNOT]

There are a number of things that can cause front end wobbles in a Patrol.

The most common is worn out panhard rod bushes (panhard is the arm that runs across in front of the front diff connected to the chassis on one end and the front diff on the other side). Worn panhard bushes allow the front diff to move side to side, the more the bushes are worn the more violent the shake will be.

Other things that can cause the wobble/shake include worn drag link rod ends (drag link runs between the pitman arm on the steering box, to the swivel hub on the opposite side). The factory drag link has the rod ends fixed to the arm, worn rod ends requires replacement of the arm. Better idea if you need to replace the arm is to fit an aftermarket heavy duty arm with adjustable rod ends. This not only allows you to replace the rod ends seperately in future, but also lets you centre the steering.

Worn or damaged swivel hub bearings can contribute to front end shake but not as common as panhards and drag links.
Worn out radius arm bushes (radius arms run from the front diff back to the chassis on either side of the vehicle) will also need to be checked for wear and cracking.

If you do find worn or cracked panhard or raidius arm bushes, best bet is to replace them with genuine Nissan rubber bushes, stay away from urethane bushes. Nissan rubber bushes are not as expensive as you might think, last very well and allow more suspension movement than urethane bushes.

Tyres scallopping out is most likely caused by the wheels being out of alignment, but wear in the front end may be contributing.

Tony