DEATH WOBBLE 80 SERIES LANDCRUISER - CAUGHT ON CAMERA 

I HAVE DONE A FOLLOW UP VIDEO WITH THE FIX ON THE CHANNEL GUYS, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP 🍻🍻

I noticed the problem right off the bat. SHEESH. The steering wheel is on the wrong side. Duh!

Generally panhard bushes or cracked chassis around steering box bud........contact me on ig : @big_80_bus

Your trac/panhard bar looks like it has a loose joint at the frame. ⁹/10 times that's the cause of the death wobble you're experiencing.

80% of the time death wobble is panhard rod bushes and the other 20% of the time its drag link and track rod ends worn. Go over those components with a fine tooth comb and guaranteed you'll find one or two worn things that need replacing.

that damper (steering stabilizer) looks like it's shot.

Couple of things that ive personally seen fix the death wobble. Panhard rod bushes, more preload on the swivel hub bearings, loose wheel bearings, incorrect castor due to lift kit being fitted without drop boxes (if over 3-4”) or offset control arm bushes. (I am a mechanic in aus with plenty of experience on modified 80 series cruisers) Also check the rear bushes on the front control arms. From the footage its still a bit hard to see. Try starting the car up and have a second person rock the steering left to right so you can load up the steering joints while you look for freeplay.

new steering damper and panhard rod bushes

G'day Mr Pig mate, (Part 1.) isn't the GoPro just a bloody awesome little camera hey! I love it man. (Part 2.) Yeah I reckon it's the "panhard bushes or cracked chassis around the steering box" (Part 3.) Now I gotta tell yu that all in "Part 2. is a complete copy and past because I wanted to look like I knew what I was talking about when in fact I got no bloody idea. Good luck with fixing it mate. Cheers from yu bud on the West Side

I had this issue with my Chevrolet M1008 military truck. I looked at everything, and it turned out to be the tires, rotating them solved the issue. I think it happens from a wear pattern / oversize tire / and tire compound combination. I had Maxis tires originally, and they had fairly soft / sticky compound with an aggressive pattern. I replaced them with a BFG that has a harder compound, but still has an aggressive pattern. I also rotate on a more frequent schedule now. All the knuckles, steering gear, and geometry are all designed for a tire and wheel size smaller than what we'd ever likely use off road. I think a bigger steering dampener may help, looks like you may be still running the stock one with the oversize tires..

Steering damper problem...

Wow...could be a bunch of things...alignment, tie rod, ball joint, wheel balance...ugh..... bikes are easier. Good luck with it !

The hole subframe are to loose in sideway direction due to those long arms that holds it, you need something that holds it more tight like crossbraces on those long arms(the crossbraces need to have some bendable joints in each end)

Start with wheel balance weights. The littlest thing can start this off same happened on my defender 90

Generally caused by the wheels being out of alignment or even a different tyre tread can cause extra wear on the ball joints or bushings. Easy way to check the track rods and bearings is the jack a wheel off the ground. Now grab the wheel from top to bottom and wiggle it, then try side to side. Play up and down mean bearings/hub, play left and right means track rod/steering rack is worn. If none of the above it must be pan hard bushes or even shocker top mounts. If it pulls one way while accelerating and the other while slowing it's then it's a wishbone or trailing arm bush. Hope this helps, good luck :)

My 80 did the same for a while. Turned out 1 panhard rod bolt was loose.

My patrol had a similar issue due to flogged panhard bush. Considering the whole axle moves side to side, it's something to do with the suspension and not the steering and driveline

On my 98 dodge 1500 I had replaced all the springs shocks pan hard bar change both steering stabilizer shocks change stabilizer arms and has a wobble start coming to find out I had a tire separate.

Hi mate, Had the same thing on my 80. When 4x4's are modified, big tires, lifts and lots of after market parts, it only takes one thing to be out just a tiny bit and shit like that can happen. The factory steering geometry is set for optimum handling, once you change things, you mess with that geometry. You need to keep things, like caster angle, as close to factory spec as you can. Also check the steering damper. That was the week link in mine. And like others have said, the chassis can crack around the steering box mount. Any unwanted play in anything needs to be removed. Could be just one little thing. Like a slight buckle in a rim and a dodgy steering damper set off by the right bump in the road and off it can go. Good luck

Front Track Bar. Ball Joints. Drag Link/Tie Rod Ends. Upper Control Arms. Lower Control Arms. Suspension Bushings. Steering Stabilizer. Steering Knuckles.

My friend change all the bearings specially the ones that are at top and bottom of the steering knuckle; do that on both sides.

hey mate, from my 80 series knowledge, check tyres for separation firstly. -2nd Check all drive arm bolts are tight and bushes -3rd check for any cracks around your steering box 80 series are well known for cracking around there with big lifts and tyres putting pressure on that side. let me know how you go

Hi Skid I had this exact problem it's your damper shock. I can tell from the video it does not look heavy duty enough even if it's new (for those sized tires). Just get a bigger one, doesnt have to break the bank I did the same on my cherokee - problem solved.

My 91 dodge did that around 80kmh and i replaced my steering stabilizer and fixed it

Hi again, was chatting with a mate who fits n sells tyres. He said to swap front to back, don’t Criss Cross the tyres as it’s not common practice for off road tyres as some have a direction of travel. Hope this helps 😊

My work vehicle (PK ranger) randomly does the same thing in 4th gear / 70kmh. I notice it most on cold days.

I had the same problem with a short base patrol and it turned out to be the front springs on the left had snaped off but would sit in place untill you got to 80km then would start shaking. Hope it helps

Front u joints at the wheel, my WJ was tight everywhere....then we checked them as a last resort! Problem fixed!

I have a gq shorty patrol and it had the same thing. Replaced the panhard bushes an still wobbled. Took it back to the hoist an realised the chassis had cracked where the panhard rod connects to the chassis.

Check your wheel bearings for play and check panhard on chassis end, panhard looks like its moving ALOT from that end, i have had an 80 and a few GU with loose panhard bolts also wont hurt to check the hub swivel bearings for play.

Jack front end up look for play in control arms. jack it up gets load off control arms. lift wheel with large pole to find up and down and side movement. Had same thing was my lower control arm, shake like yours. And its easy fix and cheap.

Check your steering box bolts or the panhard rod chassis mount those are both shaking a lot.

The radius arms require offset bushings where the arm meets the axle housing. Any lift above standard height, reduces caster (kingpin rearward inclination at the top) which contributes to "death wobble" with those too large tyres. Offset bushings will help give MORE caster angle, which helps increase return to centre and stability. Also, use stock or re-bent radius arms, do NOT use those aftermarket death trap arms that remove one bushing to "increase travel" or use some form of linkage to increase articulation. A QUALITY hydraulic steering damper will help, too. Avoid using gas pressurised or foam cell dampers, as they suck at steering damping. Just my $0.02.

The preload on the kingpin bearing is to loose easy fix done hundreds of them.

My patrol did the same thing and it turned it was wheel balance and king pins, replaced the king pins and got her wheel aligned and balanced and the wobble went away, seems like a common problem with vehicles with solid front diffs

at 2:00 you can literally hear the tires are not balanced properly. also rotating mud tires you want to keep them on the same side. just switch them front to rear. I'm willing to bet that tire balance or poor tread wear patterns from improper balance is your issue

Are your tires out of balance. That causes a bad wobble that you can't stop without slowing down drastically

I had a similar shake at 100km/h and turned out one of my Bridgestone tyres was no good. Bridgestone head office changed the tyres and problem resolved

My old gq patrol used to do that, it was beach sand or dust getting in the nolathane panhard bar bushes and slowly fucks em out like a peice of sandpaper. Also tie rod ends do it when they wear out. Check the easiest first and thats tyres, good luck mate.

100% it’s your flux capacitor!!

You need to get the front wheels hanging and check the idler arm for freeplay

Steering damper is faulty, 99% of the time

I've experienced the same thing in my patrol. Similar to you, the steering joints were in tight condition, then i fitted an aftermarket RTC dampner and it got worse. (The valving was less than factory) My fix was fitting duel steering dampners which Eliminates the shake 100%. I cant even do it if i try - mud in rims etc. Patrols are known for steering shake, but not mine now! ;)

Wheel balnacing does that and also the prop shaft might have a dent so you can have that balanced too

Check for loose tie rods. Dads cruiser had the same drama. Just done all the front end bushes and after all that it was just a loose tie rod end

Need to rotate tyres & have them balanced man 👍 that’ll sort it out

do you have beanbags in your tires for weights? it might just be a tire weight issue. i use to change airplane tires for a living and this is a common occurrence in big tires.

you check the wheel bearings? they love to loosen up

Just did the UNI Joint in my 80, it was EXACTLY THAT!!! I had the exact same sympttoms Cheap and easy

Looks like tie rod ends possible draglink ? Jack up front of truck move tires side to side you will feel slop in the side to side motion ! Replace as soon as possible if a tie rod end falls out your in for a scary ride !

Swivel hub bearings might have to much play in them you might need to take out some shims my Mk Nissan Patrol use to do it.

Had a similar problem with a Dodge Ram only worse , it would only happen occasionally but when it did all hell broke lose , felt like the wheels had turned into square blocks enough that it would cause the tyres to literally jump off the road surface. Tried everything nothing worked ended up getting rid of it , I do wish you well with yours .

Hello, is it OK to feature your clip in a my chanel for educational purposes (so-called temporary copyright.)? You can stop me from using your content at any time and it will be deleted immediately. It will be credited in the description & comments section with your name. Thanks, MM

I had the exact same issue on my shorty 70 series and i got the wheels balance & rotated, i put new wheelbearing in the front and brake rotors, replaced my front panhard rod bushes and front radios arm bushes, now i dont the issue anymore

Has it been lifted much? With the arm setup on these (land rover is the same) as you lift the car the front castor angle reduces. This is because the arms pivot from a central point. Castor is what gives your steering it's self centering ability and keeps the wheel pointing straight ahead. I've seen replacement arms with mounts that rotate the diff housing slightly to add more castor in to compensate.

I had a similar problem. What's my Jeep? Wrangler Unlimited kind of the same size as your vehicle. The tires weren't properly balanced.

drivers side front most likely castor or pinion angle or out of alignment. but could be something loose there but it definatly starts from the drivers side

My 75 does it too. After raising the suspension it puts the steering arm on an angle that also makes it kick on speed bumps. Solution is to add a Watson Link system to centralise the diff .

Looks Bad ,I’m no mechanic however I have had very similar issue in a Tojo, it was eventually sorted with additional pre load shims on the hub bearing pins.

Inner cv joint bearing broken or one of the 3 on the knuckle is stuck

Mate to me it looks like your caster is set wrong. Simular to a shopping trolley. Now it dose and now it doesn't. Same as what you have.

Did you ever resolve this issue.. If so, what was the problem???? Love the channel

When fitting the aftermarket suspension in your vehicle, the kingpin inclination must have changed a degree or two making the wheels want to caster a bit. In other words, the whole diff housing has rotated with the pinion flange (the bit where the front propshaft bolts in to) moving up towards the body. Some high lift kits do this in order to accommodate the propshaft angle to save the universal joints in extreme movements. The kingpin inclination in solid axle vehicles is built in to the axle, so the moment you tilt the diff upwards to minimise the propshaft angle, the whole geometry goes for a.ball of shit. To fix it, go back to standard suspension, or get a lift kit that does not change the angle of the diff. Or just drive slow...

Skidpig, I have a 61 series and it was doing the exact same thing. I looked at everything and couldn’t figure it out. So I ended up putting a new steering damper in and it ended up fixing it. Mine has a 4 inch dobinsons suspension lift. Hope this helps and keep up the hard work.👍👍

This looks like a geometry issue I'm sure your camber angle has been altered by the suspension lift.

Try to move the sway bar down trying to get it level with the axle the only thing I could think of is when u lift anything u want to get the sway bar level and u might want to upgrade ur steering stabilizer shock that’s what I had to do for my truck.

Check tyres for a bubble could be plies delaminating.

Could be that one of your tires has an egg in it, had a Really similar issue on my jimny a while back, only thing that fixed it was replacing the tires ( the side walls usually give way and that’s where it starts), Really hard to see with the naked eye, take it to a tire shop to check the tires

Look at both your wheels they are moving sideways on the bearings and CV Joints as if you are floating from inner to outer bearing and have no preload at all on ya bearings.(Free wheeling hubs) Each time you stop you realline your hubs with ya disk brakes Check ya Bearing play, "when ya brake disks are backed off" or remove ya Free wheeling hubs and check ya preload. you are driving a TRUCK not a CAR ??

My old man had this same problem on his 75 series troopy he changed the draglink and the bar behind it and problem gone he said it was where the drag link joined to the tie rod end with the clamp it stripped some of the thread therefore giving him really bad death wobbles.

could be alignment, tie rod, ball joint, wheel balance, bearings, steering , list goes on

Alot of times you are looking at the panhard bar booshings and or steering dampner. Here in the US Ford f250 and 350's do it really bad. Those are the typical replacement items, and most of the time when it is the steering dampner it some internal failure related to how the fluid or gas move in it or; the rod is slightly bent and binds. Thus causing it to fight itself.

Wheel weights are the problem almost all wheel wobble above certain speed is caused by unbalanced wheels. Deal with this on a daily basis in the garage and 99% fixed when wheels are re- balanced.

Poped the tire of the bead and waters in the tire?

Yeah balljoints, tie rod ends, steering rack or box panhard joints. I lived with this on a Jeep JK after a year. Big tyres, smashing tracks, it wears shit out man. It all costs money but the longer you leave it the more expensive it gets. Death wobble will end up tearing off mounting points and totally tearing apart every joint and bushing in the front end, or it will kill ya. Stay safe bro...

Had the same problem with a falcon- seized brake calliper.

Id start by replacing all bushings/bolts/ball joints and the steering stabilizer!

My Suzuki Sierra does the same thing. Only goes away when l put new tyres on it. But comes back when they get worn.

Everything I’ve looked up said the track bar!!

Need to check kingpin berrings setting

Toe in is off. Had the same problem when they put in time rod end in alignment off

I end up working on Jeep's all the time with the same problem it's almost always track bar bushings if your running 35" I'd recommend dual steering stabilizers as well

What's your caster angle sitting at also when they did your knuckles did they do they up to correct preload

My panhard rod mount snapped off the chassis, the cross brace bar snapped off the mount at 110 clicks. Death wobble with almost 180 degree movement either direction in the wheel till i came to a stop in the ditch. That pressure in the steering box also warped the inside of the chassis rail which needed to be cut out and replaced.

No doubt there's 1000 people on here telling you what the problem is. My advise is turn the cruiser on get the Mrs or a mate to jump in and turn the wheels left to right lock to lock while you lay on the ground and look at all the bushes. Castor, pan hard rod, tie rods, radius arm to chassis bushes shocky rubbers everything. There are so many things that cause this. For me it was my pan hard rod mount to axle housing, the bolt had come loose and broken the but welded on the inside off. Best bet is to just tighten everything too.

You didn't see the end of the center link shaking back and forth where it goes thru the chassis, get a new one and tack weld it in place.

At 4:24 you can see that the steering damper is pretty much about to fall off and it looks really shot. That's definitely your problem. If you change that it should help 100%

King pin bearings are worn you can take out the shims like I did or replace the bearings.

Had the same problem just replaced the panhard bushes and fixed the problem. Half an hour and it was back on the road

All the while your driving, there is a wobble heard on the video - from the tires. Listen to the sound, use a music editor to kill the voice and look at the freq's of the noise. Next - I was 20 or so, some 40 yrs ago - and I drove a 4x4 Ford truck from work. Well - this had a death wobble - just like you see in the vid. The Steering shock is working, but you see the transfer of force, from left to right and back, in the tie-rods and the Idler arm. The truck I drove had a broken - worn arm that held the independent Suspension. The side at the frame was fine. On the Axle side - it was loose and worn, once you noticed it. My personal drive truck was a 94 Ford. I got it with 10 years on it and no maintenance. I tore down my 4x4 every summer. I needed to run an hour in snow storms in 4x4, one way to get to work. I had to get to work 24hr, so I just always was quite ready to replace wear parts, long before they ever got even close to a limit. I hope it helps. Cheers

U have a Warped rotor or a nut lose under there check ur rotors in the firing of your truck mate

Looks like its coming from left tire look closely it started the shake, could be that ur bearings r way worn out, is thr a loud woo noise when u get pass 35 mph or 60kph?

nicely done If mine went DW it would be bad day 37s on a 7in lift would get jiggy. I have superior engineering arms king shocks/bumps and dobinsons springs

Its the side to side movement of the solid axle setup it's almost always the trackbar

Put some stock tires on front take for a ride. Check the balance on those big tires.

Kingpins in nuckle assembly need to be tightened ,adjust the shims ,knuckle movement should start at around nine kg weight.Also use a good damper on the steering rod the one which is between steering pin and two point ball joint.I had the same problem kingpin and knuckle tightened all gone.

Change those tires out and test again...... seems like an inner bubble

Try the shocks

Same issues with nissan patrol GQs. What i did is remove the knuckle king pin shims upper and lower on both sides. It would stop the “death wobble”. You might also do wheel alignments as well. 👍

It can be a multitude of things check all steering n suspension components with eye n pry bar !! Check tyres for bubbles or dent in rim they don't have to be big or terrible looking !! A process of elimination rims n tyres can nearly shake a vehicle to bits