[suzijnr]

My 1996 hardtop sierra gets really bad wheel shutter when i hit around 65kms but stops when i either speed out of it or slow down, been told by suzi store that its a common problem when the steering dampers gone which mine is, but can it be anything else? ive checker tyres etc and changed to stock tyres and made no difference?

[Gwagensteve]

Search for "death wobble"

Whilst the steering damper masks the problem, it doesn't do anything to fix the cause of the death wobble, which is most likely due to worn kingpin bearings, and worn knuckle seals.

If it was my car, I would remove the steering damper altogether in order to diagnose and fix the death wobble, then replace it with a good one if you feel like it.

There are a range of other things that can contribute to death wobble (wheel balance, ballpoint wear, wheel bearing wear, phase of the moon, apparently) if the kingpins aren't preloaded to spec none of them will cause wobble my themselves.

Steve.

[suzukikid]

I had the same problem.... I changed the tie rods and everything and ended up being the top front spring hanger bushes were flogged out! Could only tell once I put it on a hoist and the front end went everywhere! Haha

[Gwagensteve]

Did you read my post?

Almost anything can "cause" death wobble once the kingpin preload is borderline, and/or the knuckle seals are worn. The cause isn't the other thing that's worn/wonky/bent/out of spec, it's that there's insufficient preload/drag at the knuckle.

With the preload/seals correct, you'd be AMAZED at how worn out/loose/bent/missing/out of spec everything else can be.

Just to give you an idea, in the 7 years or so I've been driving piggies, it has NEVER had balanced tyres/wheels on it, It's NEVER had a functional steering damper, It's never had stock caster, it's almost never had decent suspension bushes, it's had long shackles with no centre bar and flogged out bolt holes, it's never had an alignment. It's never, ever death wobbled.

It does have good kingpins though.

Steve.

[suzukikid]

Haha I run unbalanced wheels too! I don't know what all the fuss is about there wearing even too!

[tzuukk]

Can buckled or damaged wheels cause death wobble??