3" lift DW problems???

[JLane99XJ]

i recently sold a guy my old 3" lift (Rusty's)
3" coils
80k miles oem rear packs w/ long AALs
front & rear shocks.. (kit used about a year +/- 12k miles)

well 1st of all his XJ is a '90 w/ 100k+ miles has been wrecked front passenger side not badly but,

the day after it was installed he started havin problems w/ (some wobbling, ?? not sure i've not seen it myself, have only had descriptions from him..) he went to Rusty's to buy some new TREs & Rusty told him he needed to have his toe-in set (which i also had told him) so taking rusty's advice he went to an allignment shop (the same one that i used & several others w/ lifted Jeeps i know of have used w/ no problems) & also bought a fair set of used BFG ATs in size 31x10.5 & had them mounted & balanced..

he phoned me a while ago & said after his allignment the thing was still doing the wobble @ around 45 mph so badly that it scared him to the point where he would haveta brake & slow down until it stopped mostly by decreasing to 30-35 mph..
he said the allignment shop guy said he couldn't find out what the problem was & spent about 45 min. extra going over all of the possible suspect items TREs trac-bar mount etc. & found nothing wrong..
He then went back to the tire shop (as per the suggestion of the allignment shop) to have the ballance of the tires re-checked.. the ds front wheel was said to be slightly out-of-round/warped & it was ballanced as best as possible & moved to the rear,
& now the thing is still doing the same wobble & has characteristics of what i've experienced w/ my DW issues on my rig lifted @ nearly 6" just not to the same degree of shaking/wobbling..


i suggested to him that he needed to check the steering stablizer for good pressure, not that it was the actual cause behind the wobble but that a good working SS might help combat this issue..
but other than that i'm @ a loss..

this is the same kit that i used for about a year w/ no problems, it actually rode better than oem in my opinion on my Jeep w/ 60k miles, but..

i've never really read or heard about someone w/ a 3" lift having this much trouble..

any suggestion i can pass along to this guy??

 

[xj92]

Is he running the stock LCA's? If so, replace them with some heavier-duty aftermarket ones that are the right length. That fixed it for me anyways. There are TONS of threads on this, just search for "death wobble".

 

[Shanbo44]

I had death wobble with 3.5" lift and I had to get new LCA's and fix my toe myself. I took my XJ to 3 alignment shops and they all said it was fine, but oh no the DW was insane... felt like my front axle was going to fall off! Never trust what those crooks say! The toe should be 0 in the frontand it is easy to adjust. The stock LCA's do not allow for the proper caster and that was the main cause on mine. I got the LCA's from the for sale board for $40 and all is good.

shannon

 

[JLane99XJ]

LCAs are you sure??

i ran 3.75" (the 3" coils & 3/4" spacers) w/ stock LCAs & i had NO problems runnin this lift, nothing like DW at all..

looking @ a chart for

LCAs & UCAs
stock ht. 15-3/4" 15"
3" lift 16" 15"

man thats only a 1/4" of an inch difference..

like i said before i thought problems like these were reserved for lifts over 4",,

???

 

[woody431]

Could it be a driveshaft or xfer case problem? Maybe an SYE is needed...does it have an Xfer case drop?

 

[Shanbo44]

You can look at all the charts you want, but every XJ has it's own personality. I had DW with stock LCA's and then I replaced them with fixed RE's and no DW. My bestfriend runs 4" lift w/stock LCA's and has never had a problem.

 

[biggene]

Ok this is the guy who Lane sold his lift to.

This may or may not be a LCA issue, but Lane suggested also loosening all of the monuting points (Tracbar, LCA's , etc) tonight when I talked to him. DID this and it has helped tremendously, I still have a wobble at around 45 to 48 mph, but it isn't nearly as bad as it was earlier today. I think maybe I might need LCA's, but dont know whether to buy fixed or adjustable. I probably own't lift my XJ any further for quite a while bue to the fact that I also ride horses and pull a traler quite a bit.

Thanks for everyone's help with my issues.

 

[xj92]

Adjustables would be nicer and insurance. If they're the wrong length, you adjust them. Having said that, I have fixed ones on mine and that is what fixed it. Mine were fixed Skyjackers. If I were going to buy, I'd get fixed RE most likely, or possibly Rusty's because they're cheap and have the bend in them to allow more droop.