Wobble at 60mph

BigD · Post by **BigD** » Fri May 29, 2009 12:32 pm

New to the world of the magic bongo and am unsure about handling, so thought it best to ask you lovely experts.

My bongo (4wd 2.5l 1996) has a wobble at around 60mph which isn't too much of a concern, but am I right in thinking that it's perhaps just the tracking, or could this be a symptom of something which may get worse later?

BigD

Dillion Dog · Post by **Dillion Dog** » Fri May 29, 2009 12:53 pm

Hi BigD

Is it judder through the steering wheel - if so could be as simple as a balancing weight has come off of one the the wheels. Does it go away if you faster?

timmyt · Post by **timmyt** » Fri May 29, 2009 12:57 pm

I have same prob as i approach 70mph...judder through the steering wheel but then goes as speed increases!
any ideas?

ps nice springer dillion dog......crazy arn't they?!here is ours...

Post by **westonwarrior** » Fri May 29, 2009 12:57 pm

if its a new import or still has the tyres from japan they seam to go out of shape causing this.

A new set of tyres would be a good investment if this is the case

I had exactly the same

kelv · Post by **kelv** » Fri May 29, 2009 1:22 pm

Things to do:
1 If it has non Mazda alloy wheels on it, make sure that spigot rings are fitted .
2 Check the balancing
3 Make sure your tyres are decent condition
4 Check the tracking

apole · Post by **apole** » Fri May 29, 2009 1:33 pm

Also maybe worth jacking up each wheel in turn and seeing if any are buckled by spinning them round. Check to see if balancing weights are fitted, one could have fallen off.

Could be worth swapping tyres round front to rear but only if they are all the same size !!!

I'd get the balancing checked, fairly cheap to do and most likely cause.

One off the bat possible cause could also be if they have had a liquid puncture seal installed like ultraseal, Ron posted a comment here a while back saying how that messes up the wheel balance.

kelv · Post by **kelv** » Fri May 29, 2009 3:27 pm

My wobble was caused by lack of spigot rins ( dangerous) and wheel balancing, also old nankang tyres didn't help .

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Fri May 29, 2009 5:10 pm

Agree with the above, with wheel balancing the first one to eliminate from enquiries. Your symptons are classic for that. As an aside, I had all 4 wheels balanced and found it eliminated a lot of suspension rebound (from the rear wheels as well as the front) when travelling over poor road surface at urban speeds. That was a very pleasant surprise.

PS - That spigot business - you can forget about wheel balancing until thats sorted as the whole wheel will run eccentricly/out of balance

kelv · Post by **kelv** » Fri May 29, 2009 6:01 pm

mikeonb4c wrote:Agree with the above, with wheel balancing the first one to eliminate from enquiries. Your symptons are classic for that. As an aside, I had all 4 wheels balanced and found it eliminated a lot of suspension rebound (from the rear wheels as well as the front) when travelling over poor road surface at urban speeds. That was a very pleasant surprise.

PS - That spigot business - you can forget about wheel balancing until thats sorted as the whole wheel will run eccentricly/out of balance

Indeed, if your wheels need spigot rings, they can't be accurately balanced without em.
And the whole weight of your van will be sitting on the studs, rather than on the rim of the hubs.
Which you will probably notice when a stud eventually breaks

All for the cost of a set of spigot rings ( approx £20 max)

mister munkey · Post by **mister munkey** » Fri May 29, 2009 10:04 pm

Another shot.

I put up with the same prob for months. Had the wheels balanced but made no difference

Last Mot pulled up worn ball joints, fitted new wishbone & now drives like new.

dobby · Post by **dobby** » Sat May 30, 2009 1:46 am

or stay below 60 and save a fortune on fuel......

David Edwards · Post by **David Edwards** » Sat May 30, 2009 10:27 am

Well as good as they were I did have a bit of the same problem with the nangkangs but put it down to bad balancing, however since I have changed over to accelera tyres the problem has gone, it could be coincidence and the new balancing may have cured it, all is well so far anyway so fingers crossed,lol.

loftustowncrier · Post by **loftustowncrier** » Sat May 30, 2009 10:44 pm

Our Bongo had a similar problem. I got the wheels balanced three times over about two weeks, and it didn't help. It had nearly new good tyres on each wheel. Eventually discovered that the bolts on the two front wheels had been put on the wrong way round at some point and damaged the areas where the wheels and bolts meet. The fix? A nice new set of alloys.

Now it drives perfectly (oh, apart from the knackered cylinder head!)

brorabongo · Post by **brorabongo** » Sun May 31, 2009 9:04 pm

I've suffered from this before, but now sorted.......

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ck#p276673

Now done 18k miles since fitted with no problems and they still look good.

BigD · Post by **BigD** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:44 am

Thanks for all the help everyone. What a community!

The tyres are alloys - Fullruns?

Never heard of them, but I did check the pressure and the front two were quite low so I added some air - the Bongo now wobbles at closer to 70mph and when we go faster, it seems to ease off.

Next step is to get the balance checked out and also those spiggot things at a local garage.

Let you all know what the problem turns out to be.

In the meantime, we went on our first weekend away in the new Bongo at the weekend and have discovered some more idiosyncracies that I may need to check out in a seperate post.

Thanks again.

Dave

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