06 GU Patrol Wheel Vibration

I too have been through this whole problem. Nothing seemed to work. My current truck doesn't suffer from the problem and I actually thought it would when I did a 4" lift and added 315/75 MTZ tyres. Interestingly, the bloke who fitted my 4" lift welded the new castor plates to the axle tube instead of bolting them. It's gunna make it a bit difficult for me if I ever want to go back to a lower suspension.....oh well; such is life.

However, one "trick" I recently read about which I hadn't tried on my previous rig was to add another shim to the swivel hubs. To do this, you need to remove the 4 bolts on the top of each hub, add an appropriate shim and replace the cover plate. It's only something I read on the Patrol forum, but the bloke reckoned it worked for him.

Hi Roachie. Been there, done that and it made an a slight difference but did not solve the problem.

What this technique does is increse the pre-load on the tapered swivel hub bearings. You actually remove the shims to do it. There is a factory spec which can be measured by using a calibrated gauge to pull the steering from side to side.

From an engineering point of view over tensioning bearings to act a makeshift dampener is shoddy at best.

I went to 15", 16" and 17" wheels, highway, AT and MT tyres, brake discs, wheel bearings, RTC steering damper, panhard rod urethane bushes etc etc etc..........all VERY expensive. Some Patrol's do it, some don't....it's just the luck of the draw.

Has anyone thought to check the rims???? if rims aren't true then h that would cause vibration???? to do a check grab another rim same size and see if it is straight with height and circumfrence as well, place either on top or side by side, if the person who does the rim assembelies doesn't reset the jig then youget irregularities and then you have a slight problem then oes to a bigger problem!!!!

Christopher P, see my post above.

I tried 'em all - all sizes, all types of tyre, both steel and mag construction and also went to the trouble of getting expensive 'road force' balancing done.

Checked for mud, runout on hubs, brake discs checked and even had them machined on vehicle for exact 'real life' running conditions.

Bottom line, some Patrols have an inherent design flaw from the factory. It is a complex problem which Nissan acknowledge to the extent there are factory service bulletins written about it, but they have no surefire solution either. It is very well documented on the forums and sometimes it can be fixed, but often there is no solution.

The one simple easy solution approach is about as reliable as saying if your car does not start it must be the battery. It just bdon't work lkike that.

Either way, some folks can live with it much like some people aren't bothered by having a stone in their shoe.

I think the Nissan is a fundamentally good strong farm truck / bush basher but there is a very good reason they are so cheap. I put the whole expensive and time consuming disaster down to experience and went back to Landcruiser.

FWIW I have an 05 4.2 GU and have started having the same problems... I thought it was just me.. same thing happens around 8--=100km/hr but the truck has 65000k's on it and it is only a recent development.. it's there some times and not others. sometimes I feel the vibration/wobbles through the steering wheel, somtimes it feels like its in the back end... have just had balance and alignment etc too.. Guy who did alignment said that Nissan specified a 3 degree outwards toe or something like that but he said this caused the tryes to scrub out faster on the outside edges which i have had happening to me I now have a 1 degree inwards toe which he said is better for the Nissans (or perhaps I have the inwards/outwards mixed up)