Steering Problem

probably wheel balance

if you have lifted suspension need to fit new offset bushes to trailing arms to rectify change in caster angle

what u r experiencing is usually called death wobbles... how may kms on the car? Youll find it on patrols and cruiser. nobody has actually found the fix, u pretty much have to go through replacing bushes, checking steering components, etc

Mal.
If the vehicle has done a lot of K's it will be lose in the swivel bearings and wheel bearings. The swivel bearings [King pins] are normally set up with a bit of preload to stop them rattling around on rough roads. If you want to fix it properly, strip down each swivel housing and fit new bearings. While your at it test the steering joints and adjust/replace the wheel bearings. Eric

Probably a rooted steering damper

Hi

All of the above, plus check tie rods ( any movement and they are shot ) also shocks. Realy just get under it and try to move things also jack it up and grab the wheels and move them side to side and top to bottom, the slightest movement is magnified on road.

Have fun

Craig

Think I would do what extfilm suggests and do a wheel balance first up.

Dave

Hi Mal & Sue,
I had exactly the same symptoms after converting to part time 4wd. The first time it happened it was so severe that I thought That I'd had a blowout!
I fitted a return to center steering damper, had the off-set bushes fitted, (It's had a 2" lift) and had the wheel alignment and suspension checked ( by professional suspension people) and found nothing wrong. This work only reduced the severity of the problem but it did not disappear altogether. Reply 4, "Eric Experience" seems to be on the right track and this will be my next move. Please lt me know how you get on. Mine is a 1990 model with what I
I think is about 300,000 K's
Doug

This is from a Patrol point of view...This may sound like a funny answer, but I have had the death wobbles at different levels, once after driving through some mild mud I got back on the black top and the car felt like it was gunna part company with the chassie at around 80-90 kp/h....I was thinking the worst of course, I got home and gave all around the front discs, coils, disc backing plate and the inside side of the rims a really good flushing out and wobbles went but I must add there was no visible mud there but I did get a bit of sediment out, now as others have said small movements are magnified on the road so if you have say 500 grams of dirt stuffed up there and hit a bump it would be like having a 5 kg lump of extra weight affecting it. Now I once heard of another patrol driver say that water can get stuck between the backing plate and disc and cause a out of balence feel as well.......Best of luck to you I NEVER solved it in my GQ......and my GU does it to a certain extent (very mild) but it does not annoy me YET!!! lol
Cheers Stefan