Offroad-Express

Hi all, my samurai gets the wobbles ( front wheels only) if it hits a bump or a pothole around 30 to 50 ks p/hr. Has any of you good people dealt with this before and could tell me what to look for? Thanks Simon

Worn ball joints would be my guess

Check for loose kingpin/wheel bearings, have had this a couple of times in my Zook and it was the bearings.

I have just had my wheel alignment done and the guy said SWB + big tyres =wobble, it is a lot better than it was but still got a bit of a wobble ( Zooks are lively little buggers on road at the best of times ) I have been driving mine to my new job every day since selling my old work van, lot's of fun but im over it. Waiting on trade me to spit out a nice v8 Safari so i can make the zook a permanent offroader

Buzuki wrote:Hi all, my samurai gets the wobbles ( front wheels only) if it hits a bump or a pothole around 30 to 50 ks p/hr. Has any of you good people dealt with this before and could tell me what to look for? Thanks Simon

Move the front wheels to the back and backs to the front see what happens. I take it that the wheels have been balanced? Do the simple things first

zukmeista wrote:Check for loose kingpin/wheel bearings, have had this a couple of times in my Zook and it was the bearings.

Hi, When you say bearings, you just mean jack it up, shake the wheels and look for play or pull it apart and check? Cheers

tomsoffroad wrote:Worn ball joints would be my guess

Will check, cheers

Buzuki wrote:Hi all, my samurai gets the wobbles ( front wheels only) if it hits a bump or a pothole around 30 to 50 ks p/hr. Has any of you good people dealt with this before and could tell me what to look for? Thanks Simon

Hi all, I must apologise to the person that telling me about the tyres, I pushed the report that person button instead of the reply button, sorry mate.... Haven't used the site for a while.. And I do appreciate the advise

suzookyman wrote:I have just had my wheel alignment done and the guy said SWB + big tyres =wobble, it is a lot better than it was but still got a bit of a wobble ( Zooks are lively little buggers on road at the best of times ) I have been driving mine to my new job every day since selling my old work van, lot's of fun but im over it. Waiting on trade me to spit out a nice v8 Safari so i can make the zook a permanent offroader

Hi will, chuck it in for wheel alignment and see if it makes a difference.. I have changed the tyres and it done it with the original and the new tyres.. Cheers

Buzuki wrote:

zukmeista wrote:Check for loose kingpin/wheel bearings, have had this a couple of times in my Zook and it was the bearings.

Hi, When you say bearings, you just mean jack it up, shake the wheels and look for play or pull it apart and check? Cheers

Depends, if they haven't been looked at for a while it would be a good idea to pull everything apart and give it a good clean up. You will need a 50mm socket to undo the wheel bearing nuts, other than that it's all pretty simple.
The procedure for adjusting the wheel bearings is to tighten the nut to 90nm whilst turning the wheel, then back it right off and tighten to 10nm. If it isn't done like this (Factory procedure) the bearings will last about 5mins, been there done that. Where are you?

New king pin bearings also made a big improvement on my zuk.

zukmeista wrote:

Buzuki wrote:

zukmeista wrote:Check for loose kingpin/wheel bearings, have had this a couple of times in my Zook and it was the bearings.

Hi, When you say bearings, you just mean jack it up, shake the wheels and look for play or pull it apart and check? Cheers

Depends, if they haven't been looked at for a while it would be a good idea to pull everything apart and give it a good clean up. You will need a 50mm socket to undo the wheel bearing nuts, other than that it's all pretty simple.
The procedure for adjusting the wheel bearings is to tighten the nut to 90nm whilst turning the wheel, then back it right off and tighten to 10nm. If it isn't done like this (Factory procedure) the bearings will last about 5mins, been there done that. Where are you?

Hi, I'm in auckland, got holidays coming up soon, so I might pull it to bits and have a good look, appreciate the advice, cheers

Jack the wheel or front end up off the ground, put a hand at the top of the wheel, one on the bottom, push on each hand and see if you get a slogg or movement. try front and rear edges of the tyre too, if you find movement, get some one else to move the wheel while you look for what is causing it. they usually pick up on warn kingpins it for a WOF.

If you have raised the height or done a leaf over lift, the leaf springs can be too soft for the height which you get a wollow with, longer stronger shocks will help, bad on the road but good off, many mods can help this such as pressure detachable sway bars, where you can click them together when on road, and release for off road. failing that get a wrecker to get you some extra leaves for the springs and longer gear to bolt it all together.