steering wobble and wander, how do i fix it?

[Jay18]

right.. basically my zuk has alot of steering wobble and wonders left and right as driving down the road, part of this could be the fact i have wide wheels and tires but i need to stop it somehow...

so im going to try and get a pair of bushes for the shackle to chassis mount

i need intructions for a rough country steering damper so i can fit a new damper to it but dont was to spend £80 for a rough country one when i dont do serious offroading, so im looking at using a rangerover damper as theyre only £20, then i will make the brackets myself..

ive tried motor factors but they cant get one for my zuk...

im going to get the tracking done on it as soon as i can drive again after dislocationg my knee im now in a splint and on crutches for 3 weeks :(

once my steering wobble and wondering is fixed i will then be getting a 1.6 8v and all the bits i need to do the conversion from michael as hes given me a deal i just cannot turn down!

i have already had my alloys balanced, one of them is buckled but that have been balanced and best it can and is now on the rear...

front wheels bearings have a small amount of play in them but i want to tighted the kingpins before paying out the money for wheels bearings and fitting them to find its not them causing the wobbling and wondering...

so im guessing edwierd will hopefully have instructions for fitting a roughcountry damper... or anyone at that lol..

[ScottieJ]

The steering damper will not fix the wobble just help hide it. you need to find the real cause of the wobble rather than just fitting an uprated steering damper.

If the front wheel bearings have play then tighten them up to the correct pre-load, as long as they don't sound rough they do not need replacing but they will fail a lot faster if not adjusted.

Check the steering box is adjusted properly. check the toe-in and check the caster angle.



I have 33x12.5" wide tyres and my SJ doesn't wander

[Jay18]

just ordered a new steering damper from jimnybits..

£30 is alot better than £80..

i know my steering damper is knackered so ive got one of them as it needs it anyway...

i will check all of that and get it tracked by ats..

also, how do i go about setting the preload on the kingpins? ill be replacing them too...

[Jordi]

Now i don't have one solid front caliper mine doesn't wander anymore / try and kill me under heavy braking.

[Jay18]

it only pulls to the left when i really brake hard, im talking about just driving along and it wanders off to one side, not a specific side just either way, im thinking it could be the tracking being wrong, but basically im going to sort out everything, like scottie said, the steering box needs tightening, dont want to over tighten it and lock my steering though, so how much should i do it at a time? ive got a steering damper ordered so will see how that does when im off the crutches lol, and will get the tracking done aswel after doing my kingpins and possibly wheel bearings, i just have no idea how to set the preload on them, well to be honest i have no idea how to do the kingpins either lol

[ScottieJ]

It's got leaf springs of course it's gonna wander a bit with changes in camber in the road and react funny under heavy breaking it shouldn't be really bad but its never going to be the same as a 'normal' car

All info for checking steering box and Bearing preloads etc can be found in the stickies

http://forum.suzukiclubuk.co.uk/vi ... =15&t=3310

http://forum.suzukiclubuk.co.uk/vi ... =12&t=3182

If bearings are within spec, not seized and there is no play there's not much point changing them.

Knuckle seals also play a part in the steering resistance, if the seals are bad, cracked, gone hard etc it can be part of reason you get a wobble.

My advice is to give everything to do with the front axle and steering components a thorough check using procedures in the service manual etc.

[twiss]

You should be able to feel/see if the kingpins and wheel bearings are knackered by jacking the front of the SJ off the ground and wobbling the wheels top to bottom and side to side.
If there is up-down play between the whole steering knuckle/hub assembly and the axle tube its probably a knackered kingpin
If just the wheel/tyre and the brake disc have play its time for new wheel bearings

Kingpins are quite easy to get to, take of wheel and caliper, and then you can see their square-ish mounts on the top and bottom of the axle. Each held in with 4 bolts.
To get them out you have to move the whole steering knuckle/hub assembly out of the way, so you have to take the 2 semi circles of metal off from the back of it. They are held in with a load of 12mm bolts. Underneath them are felt pads, 2 more semi circles, and an oil seal.
Once you have moved them carefully out of the way, you should be able to pull the whole hub and shaft out of the axle casing. Its a good idea to find something the same height as the axle tube to sit it on, leaving it dangling can damage the oil seals
Then you can access and replace the bearings and their races.