The day my landcruiser tried to kill me.

Three months ago while driving my landcruiser up the eastern hills on the outskirts of Perth, I had noticed a small shimmy developing in the steering of my faithfill toyota and then as you do made a mental note to have the front end checked and the front wheels balanced. But I did'nt! and thats where it all went pear shaped. A week later I was driving up the same hill in the right hand lane passing a large semi when the right front wheel dropped into one of those square drainage gratings next to the center island, and all hell broke loose.I still cant believe how almost impossible it was to have any sort of controll over that vechicle. Anyway thanks to an alert truckie who quickly summed up my situation and gave me as much room as possible and after clipping the kerb several times, with both hands fighting the steering wheel and the right foot hard on the whoa peddle I managed to bring the beast under control. The following day I dutifully took the cruiser to Tyre Power explained the events to the manager and an hour later with a some what lighter wallet drove away all done.Now you would think that was the end of this story but not so. The following day I'm driving down the same hill when suddenly ( I DONT F......G well believe this ) the vechicle veers hard left, mounts the kerb bowls a few innocent saplings and thankfully came to rest. Now at this point I'm convinced that someones out to get me! The left front tyre's as flat as a pancake so on goes the spare and back to the tyre company. NO WORRIES said the young bloke at the tyre shop..be ready for you later this arvo, and away I went. Unfortunately when I called to collect the wheel assembly , I was in a hurry and instead of changing it over I simply bolted it to the spare wheel mount on the rear door. As I drove away The young blokes protest was ringing in my ears...make sure you change that when you get home. Yeah right. Two days later I,m called to go to Adelaide to pick up a caravan for a bloke, so I put the landy on the arse of car transporter and in return for doing my share of the driving arrived uneventfully in Adelaide. So all hooked up to the van and off home by all accounts a quiet trip, no drama's. A week later I'm up at a mates place waiting on the arrival of a prospective caravan buyer and while I was waiting it dawned on me that I still had'nt changed the spare over so while I was waiting and had nothing better to do, I did. An hour later ( and no deal struck ) I head home out of Mt helena into the eighty kms zone, down the hill into the dip and lookout...The nightmare revisited. Thank god nobody was comming the other way, as at one point I was going backwards across the opposing lane. It came to a holt neatly parked next someones mail box seemingly none the worse for wear. I made a mental note to be sure and change my underpants and very slowly drove out to the Great Eastern Hiway and drove ever so slowly to the nearest
tyre shop. " a balance problem mate " said the nice man...We'll run it up on the machine just out of interest, but if I were you, I'd be putting two new ones on the front. What ever I said, I'm at the stage where I'm to scared to drive it but you know what they say...get back on the horse straight away.
Bulldog.

Have you worked out what the problem is with your cruiser (apart from it not being a Patrol)? I was getting the
worst shimmy in the front end of my Patrol at times it was redicoulous. The first time it happened I thought it was going
to throw the bull bar off. I kid you not it was that bad. I had to pull over as I thought I must have had a wheel coming
off and wobbling itself to death. They were all nice and tight. Had a wheels balanced and rotated all was good. Didn't help.
Changed all of the bushes and had the wheel bearing checked and re-tightened. Didn't help. Replaced the steering dampner
which I think was now shagged and it made a little difference, but didn't fix the problem. Rotated my tyres around myself and
all of a sudden the problem was gone. Put the tyres back and the shimmy came back. Checked the balance again and apparently
they were all fine???

changed to different tyres and haven't had a problem until last week. Went for a tyre rotation as I do every 10,000(they do it for free).
All tyres balanced as well. well after this the shimmy was back again. Haven't had a problem for the last 30 or 40 thousand K's. some
days it was real bad (especially first think in the morning) but wouldn't last and other days it was only slight. All of a sudden a few days
ago it stopped and hasn't come back. haven't done anything to it, haven't changed anything. This was not always just a slight shimmy
some days it would get to what you would call violent and bloody dangerous. i couldn't find the problem and nor could 2 mechanics, but
now it has just stopped and drives as true as Stuffed if I know.

The problems simply a balance problem, but you must have matching tyres on the front axle. had two Kumo's on the the front until I fitted the spare a dunlope. Nothing wrong with the tyre just a variation in composition Eg: one warms up quicker than the other. Diffrent tread pattern and tread depth.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but its a fact.


Sorry to hear you can only afford a Patrol but thats better than a ford!

If it was the 3L I would agree with you. I have the 4.2TD and don't think I would get rid of it
even if I had the money to.

Yeah, I stand corrected. Is it factorey turbo?

It is a factory turbo. Had it to Berrimma diesel a while back and they redid the shims to their specifications,
fuel pump and the injectors. The difference was incredible. It was like stepping into a race car. When you hit
the accelerator it took off like a raped ape and you were grabbing for 2nd gear. It is due to have it done again.
It is starting to get a little tired on the hills. Having said that we just did the Simpson Desert, Oodnadatta track,
Birdsville Track, Ayres Rock, Alice Springs and a bit more for a month loaded to the gunnels and she never missed
a beat. It has been a great car and had some great adventures in it. Like I said I don't think I would replace it.
I would probably spend the money sprucing her back up again, giving her a little make over.

Yeah when you look at the cost of a new one, its hard to justify. Minds 13 this year and still only got 130.000kms on it.

Looks like we are running similar vintage. Mine is a 99 model, just hitting 200,000.

Well my front end shimmy is playing tricks. It comes and goes for no apparent reason.
One day perfect, the next it throws its head around like a wild bull. It has me buggered.
Might have to drop it into a 4wd suspension specialist and and leave it to them until it is
fixed. Not real keen on the open check book method though.

Does yours have a steering damper on it? they tell me they're a must.

Yes it has but I figure it is shagged so I have ordered a new one. Getting one of the return to center ones with the spring on it.