Bongo Fury

Hi All

I'm relatively new to the Bongo Clan (Ford Freda actually) and I'm rather hoping that one of you more experienced owners may be able to offer some advice.

A couple of months ago Fred (yes, it's a boy) started to have a bit of wheel shake at about 65/70 mph. So I got the wheels balanced but to no avail. It still shook at about the same speed.

About 2 weeks ago I got it MOT'd and was advised that there was a bulge in one of the front tyres. Ah haa! I thought. The source of the wheel judder. So I got both front tyres renewed and the alignment done at the same time. I was told by the man that he could not do the caster as it was fixed?

Gradually over the next few days Fred has started to shake and vibrate at any speed over 40'ish something fierce. So much so that it make conversation a shouting contest.

There doesn't seem to be any problems with the gear change or pulling away and so I'm thinking that it may be something to do with the bearings, axle, drive shaft or something else in that general vicinity.

I'd appreciate any help as I'm eager to get this corrected. Equally, however, I don't just want to just dump it into a garage and say “fix it” without some idea of what may be wrong.

Also, while I'm at it, does anyone know of a Bongo friendly garage around Northampton/Northants? As I would feel a lot happier taking it to someone that doesn't go – huh, a what? when I tell them what I've got!!

Thanks in advance.

Regards

-Tiler

Welcome to the madhouse - don't forget to put Northampton as your location in your profile.
Wheel wobble at 65 is common on Bongos, especially if they have aftermarket alloy wheels fitted.
What wheels have you got fitted? - it sounds like one may have gone off-centre due to a lack of spigot rings.

francophile1947 wrote:Welcome to the madhouse - don't forget to put Northampton as your location in your profile.
Wheel wobble at 65 is common on Bongos, especially if they have aftermarket alloy wheels fitted.
What wheels have you got fitted? - it sounds like one may have gone off-centre due to a lack of spigot rings.

Surely the tyre fitters should have spotted that when refitting the wheels.

Check your front drop links, I change mine and most of the wobble went away

PS used mikes tip for the old bike inner tube on the bushes too.

scanner wrote:

francophile1947 wrote:Welcome to the madhouse - don't forget to put Northampton as your location in your profile.
Wheel wobble at 65 is common on Bongos, especially if they have aftermarket alloy wheels fitted.
What wheels have you got fitted? - it sounds like one may have gone off-centre due to a lack of spigot rings.

Surely the tyre fitters should have spotted that when refitting the wheels.

Yeah - but do they care????

francophile1947 wrote:

scanner wrote:

francophile1947 wrote:Welcome to the madhouse - don't forget to put Northampton as your location in your profile.
Wheel wobble at 65 is common on Bongos, especially if they have aftermarket alloy wheels fitted.
What wheels have you got fitted? - it sounds like one may have gone off-centre due to a lack of spigot rings.

Surely the tyre fitters should have spotted that when refitting the wheels.

Yeah - but do they care????

They have a Duty of Care to their customers and if they let a car back out on the road with spigots missing they would be in breach of that.

Just a stab in the dark, but I have had a similar wobble where the van was literally rocking from side to side. It felt like it was the front, but eneded up being a bulge in one of the rear wheels.
Old, crusty, dry, knackered japanese tyres are prone to warping once they get warmed up a bit - if one of the fronts was warped, it could be that one of the rears have followed suit. Worh getting the rears put on a balancer.

Many thanks for the replies everyone. Sadly, however, there have been developments!!

After reading your posts this morning I duly sent the good and obedient wife off to a different garage to have the wheel balancing checked along with all the other things suggested by you all.

As she was approaching said garage there was something of a nasty (and loud) clunk and stuff coming from under the vehicle somewhere. So, as she was at the garage she got a 'man that can' to get under and have a look.

After much hissing and stuff (like they do) it has been identified as being the prop shaft -

And so now we are in the throes of getting a second hand one sent to us and having it fitted early next week.

So I'm afraid that no one wins the chocolate frog but thanks once again for your efforts. It's good to have a place like this that is populated by helpful people.

Here's to getting back on the road very soon.

Tiler

For what its worth, I met a sad Bongo in the M6 services back in Feb this year. The owner had just paid £7k for it in Liverpool and was taking it back to Scotland. Oil was pouring out by the front propshaft and he was stuffed bigstyle. The Bongo was otherwise a really nice one. I gave him a few emergency Bongo numbers to call, but I never heard back from him on this forum.

At least you now know what it is and yours has happened near to home. I guess thats cars for you. Hope you get it sorted OK.

Mike

Hi Mike

As you say, at least I know what it is now and can get it fixed. And there is also a lot of truth in the fact that we were lucky it happened so close to home. At least I don't need to endure several hours in one of those very slow and very noisy RAC relay trucks!

I'll post an update here on the progress/success of the work and report on my experience with both the garage and the supplier of the prop shaft.

How's that for a coincidence?

I bought a Bongo last weekend. 2wd manual gearbox in Burgundy. I'm generally delighted with it, but there are one or two little things that need sorting. And one is that at 65-ish mph the steering wheel starts to shake. It has got some nifty aftermarket alloys on it. I dont think it is the tyres but I will check them, but someone mentioned spigots? Could you explain (to a non-techie) what they are and how many our Beatrice should have?

Thanks

the spigot is a (normally plastic) round spacer, that goes on the the wheel hub or fits inside the actual wheel itself, so you need four, and also when fitting use copper grease to make them easier to take off when you have a puncture or just changing wheels

you may not need spigots though if your hole is the right size, I'd get the tracking checked & get the experts (if there are any that know what they're talking about) to check whether you need them while you're there. It does seem to be fairly common to have a bit of wobble at 65ish due to tracking.

Hi Tiler, your garage could temporarily remove the front prop, and you can still use your bongo whilst a replacement is sourced...you just wouldn't have 4wd during this time.

missfixit70 wrote:you may not need spigots though if your hole is the right size, I'd get the tracking checked & get the experts (if there are any that know what they're talking about) to check whether you need them while you're there. It does seem to be fairly common to have a bit of wobble at 65ish due to tracking.

I'd go with what Kirsty advises. I refitted my alloys (Kirsty same the same type) and teh tyre guy told me how hard it had been to balance them (weights everywhere - one pair harder than the others). Even with his work, I get a slight vibration in the steering wheel around 60-65mph (worth it though as handling improved in every other respect, and its only what I'd expect from wider track tyres). My old 15" - 65 tyres, once balanced, displayed no steering wheel vibration whatsoever.