The dreaded wheel wobble.

[jman69]

Hey fellas, can anyone out there give me a list of probable causes for the front wheel wobble? Very minor untill about 75-85 kph. Also at that speed while turning through a bend it is almost un noticible. I drive a 1998 GU.

[growler2058]

Strewth theres heaps, swivel hub bearings/ wheel bearings, panhard bushes or any other bush for that matter or bearing, check em all out. if bushes are shot replace with genuine nissan

edit: tie rod ends, nearly any worn front suspension component

[oncedisturbed]

out of balance / alignment and uneven wear on tyres - brakes needing a shim but that would appear more when braking, camber out of whack

[spanner]

Hi jman
Start with wheel bearing adjustment. Most wheel aligners don't bother adjusting this on 4wds as it takes too long ( & care needs to be taken with locating f/wheel hub on assembly) & a lot of cars aren't adjustable now. All components need to be in good nick, but not much wears out on japanese front ends. If your springs have dropped the castor may have increased too much, and this will cause shaking. Castor needs to be less than about 2 degrees. But too low (o- minus 1) & it will wander all over the road. (Shopping trooleys have negative castor). Either change springs or fit offset castor bushes. Steering dampers only mask the problem. If it's done a lot of work, get someone to disconnect the tie-rod ends from the stub axles & check top & bottom pivot bearing pre-load. There should be some (I think it's about 10-13 ft/lbs). Turning should be smooth with out any tight spots on feeling notchy. Theres more, but try the bearing adjustment first.

[bazzad]

As above, but if all seems to be in order. The one thing alot of people don't do on patrols is give them a sideways shake. Get your mate to grab the bullbar and push it sideways then pull back, get a motion going then get under and check the panhard bushes. these devils can look perfect when bouncing up and but it only takes a little bit of sideways to give your truck a real vibration that can come and go.
cheers bazzad

[jman69]

OK thanks to everyone who offered possible fixes. I'll get onto it and see how it goes. thanks again :)

[Big Red]

first check panhard rod bushes ... get someone to push the car sideways while you watch for any movement.
second is wheel bearings ... jack a wheel up and grab it top and bottom then check for any movement.

those are the two main reasons ... lots more to check if they are ok

[Crusher_AU]

I get a nice little shimmer at 85... tried wheel balance, rotation.... nothing will fix it... except ... I jutst drive at 80 or 90... no problem...

Mick

[cookpa]

just did mine today same problem as yours , i had new bearings done and all the seals too also new tyres and a balance in the last week and the local mechanic wanted to pull it apart and do some shims but i said no to that as i dont believe thats a good thing ! i replaced the front panhard rod bush on the drivers side it fixed it( i did not do the left side as it was in very good order )
thats what fixed mine , wont work that way for every one hey :-)

[jman69]

Hey, thanks for all that mate info mate. But i was very fortunate in that it was only the wheels out of balance. One 100 g. the other 106 g. Also tyres slightly out of round. On a road test it went very much better. But thanks again.:)

[gu4500]

I've had my GU get better with first finger balancing the rims (ie a 6 stud fitment attached to balancer and wheel bolted onto that - not just a cone spun into the rim centre as is commonly done).

And then finishing with an on-car balance on the front tyres - only problem there is once you rotate or swap tyres, unless you mark it its gone, and IMO still never quite the same afterwards if swappign from road to play tyres.

[snowy]

my poo does the exact same thing mate, no wobble till 72kmh then bad wobble to about 85kmh. my mate works at a alignment workshop and says its extremely common on the gu. theres shims in the swivel hub somewhere that need attention. im going to look at it in the next week or so. he claims its a very easy task to perform. ill let ya know

[filodore]

my poo does the exact same thing mate, no wobble till 72kmh then bad wobble to about 85kmh. my mate works at a alignment workshop and says its extremely common on the gu. theres shims in the swivel hub somewhere that need attention. im going to look at it in the next week or so. he claims its a very easy task to perform. ill let ya know

Would love to know how that goes because just in a few minutes on this forum, the wheel wobble at those speeds looks to be quite common and I've got it myself. Makes me feel better than it is a common problem in a way, but everybody seems to have a different solution. Keep us updated as I'm moving to Broome in 3 weeks from Melbourne so I'd like to have it fixed before then. Cheers.

[big bazza]

Hey fellas, can anyone out there give me a list of probable causes for the front wheel wobble? Very minor untill about 75-85 kph. Also at that speed while turning through a bend it is almost un noticible. I drive a 1998 GU.

I have a GQ 4.2 diesel and same for me. I fixed mine by my self.
This is how and please try this method.
I figured that there has to be an alignment problem even after a few alignments and balances with no improvement what so ever by the so called specialists!!
If you have the front axle to far back in position from the nissan build stage, you can have problems, where some have it, and some don't. As the old saying goes, the Monday and friday cars are the worst finished.
What I did was, take the the nuts holding the Radius Arms off at the rear of the arm directly under the front seats. ( don't take the radius arm off ) take the cover off behind the nuts and take one of them to a nut and washer dealer of some sort and purchase 4 to 6 washers the same size as the hole in the cover Place the cover on one radius arm
and place 2 washers on and screw the nut on until it's just starting to tighten, do the other side the same.
swap from one side to the other tightening the nuts evenly as you go. [ just take your time]
What this does is, it pushes the front axle forward just that bit and at high speeds keeps it smooth. By the way, the axle will move because the universal joints will move accordingly to that forward movement.
This will not change your wheel alignment, so don't be scared of that.
Take your car for a run and if you feel it is a lot better, but not quite there, take the nuts off and put another washer on, or take one off and go for a run, it may only need one washer on each to fix it.
Once you get that right, you will be able to fit tyres, get them balanced and have no troubles. I had my wheels balanced before I did this work.
It might sound funny, but unless that front axle is set up right, that's what you get.
Iv'e had on car balances, the lot and nothing fixed it, this has!!
My GQ has had 2 sets of tyres fitted since I fixed mine and goes like a new one, a pleasure to drive.
Big bazza

[threedogs]

Do one thing at a time so you can let others know your problem' Firsts I'd balance the wheels.

[Stropp]

well just to let you know that my gu developed a wobble and after a bit of investigation i found the wheel bearings are loose so as its been like it for a while now i am installing new bearings, will report back when its done.

[andrewh]

Easy fix and all good! We had a similar problem for ages and tried various fixes. In the end it was a change of tyres that made the difference. Our Kuhmos had 80 000 on them and looked good for another 20K but they were the source of the wobble. Tucked that one away for another time

[whastie]

Hi jman69 - I have a 1998 TD 2.8L manual and had the same problem recently. Took it in for a wheel balance and found out I needed a new tyre (had a bubble in one). Got 2 new front tyres (which were just about due) and problem solved.

Regards
Wayne

[Bob]

I recently had the Work below done by Pedders :-

1. Control Arm Bushes
2. Radius Rod Bushes
3. Drag Link Replacement
4. Sway Bar Bushes
5. Steering Damper Replacement
6. Brake Fluid Flush & Replacement
7. Rear Sway Bar Bushes
8. Sway Bar Ball Joint
Wheel Alignment

Before having this done I had a slight Wobble at approx 80 KPH but now have no Wobble whatsover

Expensive way of fixing the Wobble but that was not the reason I had the above work done.

BTW the old Girl drives like a new one

[Gerry]

Check if the rim is buckled, I had that probem on my GQ, even had the wheel balanced. you'd think the tyre place would have picked that up but they put a cover over the wheel as it balances so the buckle is not visable. Jack the car up and spin the wheel you'll see it straight up if theres a problem.

[Yabb]

Not sure whether this works or not but I've heard about the fix from a few sources.
Check out the vid to see how to remove the shims.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BtdFmyFv9s