Steering stabilizer bar

[Deano]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but has anyone installed the fox damper from agile to there RHD. You would think it would be just the same, just reversed?

 

[MattG]

Yes, I installed mine about 2 weeks ago. When driving around town, the steering requires less input to drive in a straight line and returns to centre much easier than with the much stiffer factory steering stabiliser. Easy enough to install. Only took about 30 minutes. Well worth the investment IMHO.

 

[Aussie Battler]

Has anyone fitted a replacement steering damper in the UK yet? if so what did you go for?

check out bilstien steering damper off a disco 2 ,I think they are the same with the addition of a spacer to make the end near the passenager side fit properly . part #BE3 A580 this is an aussie part number UK might be different . I fitted one to mine but was sold as a
Genadier part because of the spacer which could be made by any workshop in no time ( big difference in price ), it lightened the steering but most improvement came from increasing the castor to the max specification

 

[nuclearbeef]

I removed my steering stabilizer today.

WOW!! What a difference!

Steering returns to center like most every other vehicle. Low-speed turning of the wheel is MUCH quicker. Three point turns greatly improved. The ability to go quickly lock to lock makes the turning circle feel smaller.
No problem steering with only one hand in parking lots and driveways. One hand steering while pulling out onto a perpendicular street, without fear of ending up on the sidewalk.
Highway tracking is improved as well, but not nearly as much improvement as low-speed.

Death wobble...
Rock solid at speeds up to 65-70 mph.
I hit a large seam in the pavement at 75-80, though and could feel it want to shimmy.
The steering wheel began quick oscillations that reduced in amplitude over a second or so until gone.
This leads me to believe that there is some static instability in the steering system, but that there is positive dynamic stability.

In summary, I'll never put the INEOS steering stabilizer back on!
I will, however; keep my speed down until I can get an OME or Fox stabilizer installed.

OK, so; I got the "death wobble" yesterday.
I was traveling at 85 MPH and hit a large pothole. Began to shimmy as I've seen before, but instead of the shimmy quickly disappearing, it increased and did not go away.
I let off the gas and nothing changed. Still shimmying.
Hit the brakes. Nothing changed. Shimmy was established and stable.
At about 65 MPH, I hit the gas and the shimmy disappeared immediately.

This is still the only instance I have had of "death wobble".
I will keep the speed below 80 for now.
I might change the stabilizer from the cheap Monroe unit to OME or Fox.
I will still never go back to the INEOS unit. The benefits far outweigh the downsides.

As for the "death wobble" itself; the vehicle was controllable throughout. I changed lanes while it was going on with no difficulty.
Was able to steer straight easily, if not comfortably.
It was on a straight section of 8 lane interstate. I might not be so cavalier had it occurred on a twisty 2 lane back road. But how many times are you going to be above 80 MPH on a narrow curve?

 

[jcurtin]

Just searched up "death wobble" on the forum as I'm dealing with this issue at the moment. My unit has about 10K miles on it. I had an annoying bell ringing sound that was occurring on my Grenadier when on bumpy dirt roads coming from the steering damper... when I had my vehicle in to dealership for tow package install / routine maintenance, I had them put the fox unit in to address ringing sound, realizing the gains others have spoke of just an added bonus. That said, shortly afterward, I experienced severe and quite close to uncontrollable shaking while on highway at speed of roughly 70mph. The shaking was violent... and I was white knuckling it to get it to the side of the road. I had to park it, Uber an hour and half to an airport to catch a flight, and called the dealer to pick it up and address the issue. They did a detailed review over a week, but could not identify what caused the problem. Best they could gather was "something must have been temporarily caught in a wheel." I was away most of the summer, only recently taking the vehicle out on the highway again. First 60 miles or so... no problem. Then, out of nowhere, the same death wobble happened. No pot hole hit. Just straight, flat highway... again around 65-70mph. Here too, shaking was severe. Bad to point I again parked the car, really unable to drive it other than non highway trips around town. Dealer has now given me a loaner vehicle while they again try to figure out what is going on. Any guidance from others would be helpful as the general sense I'm getting is that I'm making the situation up. Passengers were with me both times... they are now scared to ride in the vehicle. Overall, I love the Grenadier but there is a dangerous issue, hopefully isolated to my vehicle, at play.

 

[anand]

Just searched up "death wobble" on the forum as I'm dealing with this issue at the moment. My unit has about 10K miles on it. I had an annoying bell ringing sound that was occurring on my Grenadier when on bumpy dirt roads coming from the steering damper... when I had my vehicle in to dealership for tow package install / routine maintenance, I had them put the fox unit in to address ringing sound, realizing the gains others have spoke of just an added bonus. That said, shortly afterward, I experienced severe and quite close to uncontrollable shaking while on highway at speed of roughly 70mph. The shaking was violent... and I was white knuckling it to get it to the side of the road. I had to park it, Uber an hour and half to an airport to catch a flight, and called the dealer to pick it up and address the issue. They did a detailed review over a week, but could not identify what caused the problem. Best they could gather was "something must have been temporarily caught in a wheel." I was away most of the summer, only recently taking the vehicle out on the highway again. First 60 miles or so... no problem. Then, out of nowhere, the same death wobble happened. No pot hole hit. Just straight, flat highway... again around 65-70mph. Here too, shaking was severe. Bad to point I again parked the car, really unable to drive it other than non highway trips around town. Dealer has now given me a loaner vehicle while they again try to figure out what is going on. Any guidance from others would be helpful as the general sense I'm getting is that I'm making the situation up. Passengers were with me both times... they are now scared to ride in the vehicle. Overall, I love the Grenadier but there is a dangerous issue, hopefully isolated to my vehicle, at play.

You installed a damper that is notably softer (and less able to dampen large impacts/motions) than the factory damper, it isn't all that surprising you had a wobble at high speed

 

[MattG]

Yes, I installed mine about 2 weeks ago. When driving around town, the steering requires less input to drive in a straight line and returns to centre much easier than with the much stiffer factory steering stabiliser. Easy enough to install. Only took about 30 minutes. Well worth the investment IMHO.

UPDATE:
We towed our 1.5Tonne Camper trailer with our Grenadier (with the FOX Steering stabilizer) last weekend. 3 hours of highway driving at 110km/hr and two days of dirt tracks with no issues at all. Steering seemed much more settled with noticeably less input to maintain the vehicle in a straight line. No “wobbles” either (not that we have ever experienced this before). The Fox Steering Stabiliser gets a solid double thumbs-up from us (so far!)

 

[Shopkeep]

You installed a damper that is notably softer (and less able to dampen large impacts/motions) than the factory damper, it isn't all that surprising you had a wobble at high speed

What he said. If you want a solution put the original damper back on it. IMHO it does not matter if you are using the Fox, OME or other aftermarket damper at higher freeway speeds with a softer unit there is a remote chance of "death wobble". My driving is mainly lower speeds in metro areas so the benefit of lighter, easier return to centre steering is worth it.

BTW has anyone actually died from "death" wobble???

 

[jcurtin]

You installed a damper that is notably softer (and less able to dampen large impacts/motions) than the factory damper, it isn't all that surprising you had a wobble at high speed

Thanks ... I hope it's as simple as that. The dealer was going to put the stock Grenadier unit back on.

 

[Shopkeep]

What he said. If you want a solution put the original damper back on it. IMHO it does not matter if you are using the Fox, OME or other aftermarket damper at higher freeway speeds with a softer unit there is a remote chance of "death wobble". My driving is mainly lower speeds in metro areas so the benefit of lighter, easier return to centre steering is worth it.

BTW has anyone actually died from "death" wobble???

Found an answer to my own question:
"The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) found only two accidents caused by death wobble between 2005-2010 despite close to 400 reports"

 

[Tazzieman]

I might change the stabilizer from the cheap Monroe unit to OME or Fox.

Monroe?

 

[nuclearbeef]

Monroe?

The one I installed.

Amazon.de

 

[jcurtin]

What he said. If you want a solution put the original damper back on it. IMHO it does not matter if you are using the Fox, OME or other aftermarket damper at higher freeway speeds with a softer unit there is a remote chance of "death wobble". My driving is mainly lower speeds in metro areas so the benefit of lighter, easier return to centre steering is worth it.

BTW has anyone actually died from "death" wobble???

Thanks, this is helpful (I'm new to dampers, differences between them). The wobble I felt was such that my immediate thought was that lugnuts had loosened on a wheel, wheel was about to come off. When I got vehicle off road, first thing I did was grab each of the wheels to see which one it was. Also, dealer (after working through the vehicle) assured me it was not due to the damper they put on ... it seemed the most obvious place to look as they had just put the new one on. So, a few gaps exist in what I'm hearing.

 

[Quartermaster]

I have the OME installed on my Quartermaster and had no wobble issues when driving 120 km/h and a short time 150, it felt stable. Only on bad roads you can feel sometimes some input, but no wobble. For me, it is a safety and comfort win, especially with oncoming traffic on narrow roads. The Gren (or Quart ?) just keeps the lane better.

 

[[ Adam ]]

You installed a damper that is notably softer (and less able to dampen large impacts/motions) than the factory damper, it isn't all that surprising you had a wobble at high speed

Yep - The only instances of death wobble I've heard of have been with aftermarket dampers. The truck drives fine with the stock damper. Deathwobble isnt something I'm interested messing around with.

 

[FlyersFan76]

Just searched up "death wobble" on the forum as I'm dealing with this issue at the moment. My unit has about 10K miles on it. I had an annoying bell ringing sound that was occurring on my Grenadier when on bumpy dirt roads coming from the steering damper... when I had my vehicle in to dealership for tow package install / routine maintenance, I had them put the fox unit in to address ringing sound, realizing the gains others have spoke of just an added bonus. That said, shortly afterward, I experienced severe and quite close to uncontrollable shaking while on highway at speed of roughly 70mph. The shaking was violent... and I was white knuckling it to get it to the side of the road. I had to park it, Uber an hour and half to an airport to catch a flight, and called the dealer to pick it up and address the issue. They did a detailed review over a week, but could not identify what caused the problem. Best they could gather was "something must have been temporarily caught in a wheel." I was away most of the summer, only recently taking the vehicle out on the highway again. First 60 miles or so... no problem. Then, out of nowhere, the same death wobble happened. No pot hole hit. Just straight, flat highway... again around 65-70mph. Here too, shaking was severe. Bad to point I again parked the car, really unable to drive it other than non highway trips around town. Dealer has now given me a loaner vehicle while they again try to figure out what is going on. Any guidance from others would be helpful as the general sense I'm getting is that I'm making the situation up. Passengers were with me both times... they are now scared to ride in the vehicle. Overall, I love the Grenadier but there is a dangerous issue, hopefully isolated to my vehicle, at play.

Putting the original stock unit back on is a good first step. If a new stock unit is back on you are right back to day one where the steering might be very tight again. I had 8,500 miles on my truck before trying the Fox stabilizer. Highway speeds or Pennsylvania roads that are horrible can produce a wobble. I tried the Fox for 1,000 miles and then put it back to stock. Going back the factory stabilizer is better for me.

 

[TheDocAUS]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but has anyone installed the fox damper from agile to there RHD. You would think it would be just the same, just reversed?

There is also an Australian option now, from XHQ here. Pre-order but delivery is not far away Ric told me yesterday.

 

[LC0013]

$695

 

[RSCS]

Yes, I installed mine about 2 weeks ago. When driving around town, the steering requires less input to drive in a straight line and returns to centre much easier than with the much stiffer factory steering stabiliser. Easy enough to install. Only took about 30 minutes. Well worth the investment IMHO.

Hi Matt, where did you buy it and do you have a part number? I am in Melbourne

 

[grenadierguy]

$695

That's Australian dollars... it's roughly $450 USD.