[geordie4x4]

I have replace everything several times over in the front end of mine, but the lower panhard bush made the most immediately noticeable difference. Fixing the caster correction with Superior arms made a big difference as well, everything else wheel bearings, king pin bearings, tie rod ends and other bushes all just contribute to the front steering and suspension being loose but I do not think are the key cause or solution.

There is also the other big contributing factor of wheels and poor wheel balance, this is what kicks off the wobble, even before you ever start to feel it, it is beginning from wear on components.

I had tried two different sets of steel wheels, one set of 35" mud tyres and 33" aggressive ATs all of which were hard to get balanced well. I have now gone back to alloys and 33"ATs and I'm fussy about getting the balance right. I believe that the combined forces of larger tyres, wider offset wheels, out of balance and travelling long distances shaking the hell out of the front suspension is the major contributor to loosening up every part of the suspension and steering. But the root cause of the wobbles is the suspension geometry being a fine compromise between: lift/articulation and still wanting nice road manners all from the old fashioned solid axle, three link system.

Nissan have it well set up for standard height, standard wheels and tyres. I noticed how thin and light weight the factory tyres and wheels are now, even compared to the alloys and tyres that came out on the series III GU, the series IV and newer 17" alloys are very light, the 275/65x17 tyres are really light and balance well. They have made it much better for the road or should say street.

PS: woohoo, the poll says that 100% of the voters agree with me
Scrap that, some other cheeky bugger just voted for wheel bearings

 

[geordie4x4]

Anyone with an '88-'89 have the death wobbles?

They didn't go fast enough to wobble or were so noisy rattly that you just did not notice.

But, on a serious note, I have to wonder if there was a steering and alignment difference in the older trucks that made them less prone to wobbles, more caster? Did the Nissan attempts to improve road manners for a new standard height vehicle making components lighter, lighter wheels and tyres did they compromise the system so it is more prone when the vehicle is lifted or has bigger tyres?

 

[geordie4x4]

One noteworthy point to take away from the things I have tested is:
Initially the resistance on swivel hubs was higher on the RHS than the LHS. I had a double set of .5mm shims. I wanted a set of .3mm for the LHS but couldn’t find them. So off the car went with two sets of .5mm installed, and 3 days later I found the .3mm shims and installed them to the LHS. The wobbles got worse. So gleaned from this, evidence that with a higher preload predominance on the LHS the intensity of the wobbles increased as opposed to a higher preload predominance on the RHS where the intensity of the wobbles decreased.

Interesting result with the preload difference. I did both sides the same with new bearings and measured preload using a spring balance scales. I made shims to measure from some hard plastic shim material I got a kit of various thickness and just cut out my own to get the preload correct, slightly tight if anything (2 kg).

 

[geordie4x4]

Yes you are right that it is surprising how much body movement there is and just how much the body moves from steering force alone. On a full frame chassis, I wouldn't have expected it either. I need to revisit the body mounts on mine, they are 14 years old and I can see rub marks where the bull bar touches the corners of the flare despite there being a gap of 20mm or more. When I had bad front wobbles I could see how much the bullbar was wobbling side to side and the body seeming to move in the opposing phase, each wobbling side to side at opposite timing.

I changed front wheels and it did a huge amount to stop the wobbles from beginning in the first place and I changed the front lower panhard bush which also made a huge difference. Since then I have done a total front diff overhaul, reinforced diff, straightened on an alignment jig and then all new swivel bearings complete rebuild of all suspension bushes and bearings etc. It just drives so straight and smooth now, but tyre balance still makes a major difference.