8.5" XJ Death Wobble, Can't Keep Throwing Money At This

Yeah i have been aligning it myself but i was fearing it not sufficient. Ill see how it goes when i start working on it... All this has been great. It's nice to finally get good help.
 
lowrange2 said:
Yeah i have been aligning it myself but i was fearing it not sufficient. Ill see how it goes when i start working on it... All this has been great. It's nice to finally get good help.
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I've been doing all of my own alignments with a tape measure since I was 16. On a rig like your jeep, it will be more than sufficiant.
 
Seems that Dumbasses like me is the one who suggested drop brackets. Why can't you just say thanks instead of trying to belittle someone who tries to help? I said absolutely nothing disrespectful and that's the thanks I get? I stand by my wheel chock comment cause that's all your hard head would be good for.
 
IGOCOMMANDO said:
Seems that Dumbasses like me is the one who suggested drop brackets. Why can't you just say thanks instead of trying to belittle someone who tries to help? I said absolutely nothing disrespectful and that's the thanks I get? I stand by my wheel chock comment cause that's all your hard head would be good for.
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Um. He did say thank you, once someone finally gave him a polite and informed answer. "get drop brackets" is more of a command than "here are the solutions that will work and why, along with what i like and dislike about each one", which allows him to make a semi informed decision.
 
lowrange2 said:
Aight. Yeah that link was excellent. One of my good friends have been welding for about 15 years now so It shouldnt be any problem. Ya think ill need to have an alignment done after i do this? It needs an alignment now i dont want to have to do it twice. and how can i go about checking the caster angle myself? I appreciate the help man.
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The "dirty" method to checking caster is to get a magnetic protractor. take the tires off the front, with the floor jack on your axle lower the truck till the angle of the framerails is level, that is at 0*. Then throw the protractor across the top of the upper balljoints and take your reading. it's only as accurate as the protractor, but you can get it +/- 1* if your good about it. Once you think your close, and did a dirty toe alignment since your are having DW I say spend the few bucks and get it aligned. Plus they should give you a printout with a more accurate caster reading to check against your work.

This is the tool I am talking about, I think Sears has em as well as would most better stocked tool stores.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTESearch?storeId=6970&in_dym=1&Nty=1&D=than&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Ntk=All&Ntt=protractor&cmnosearch=true&cm_ven=PPC&cm_cat=I-search%20(Google%20Adwords)&cm_pla=unproven&cm_ite=protractor
 
That brings up another good point. If you've been getting a lot of deathwobble, you probably need to replace *all* of your steering ends. Deathwobble tears through them pretty quick, even if they seem ok to you now.
 
I use a large Socket, that fits just over the top of the ball joint piece. Then place my angle finder on that. On level ground of course. The bottom of the knuckle also has a flat peice where a angle finder can fit.
 
RyanM said:
I use a large Socket, that fits just over the top of the ball joint piece. Then place my angle finder on that. On level ground of course. The bottom of the knuckle also has a flat peice where a angle finder can fit.
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Yeah that will make it even easier. Just doing it my way without the tires and leveling it via the frame rails makes it easy to get in there, and ensures the jeep is level even if the ground it is on isnt. I did it on a "level" dirveway that ended up being 2* when I went for the frame rail measurement, had to then take that 2* into consideration, plus unless your lift is exactly the same inches front and rear that will throw it off too. It's fairly easy to do, and the protractors come cheap. then you can make sure your pretty damn close on your caster. now you know what you are going to do, and how to do it, so get out there and turn some wrenches. :repair:
 
My wife's 2000 XJ had DW. It was at stock height. I replaced EVERYTHING and it still persisted. Had the frontend aligned 3 times by three different shops, 3 sets of tires, 2 different set of wheels, all new tie rod ends, new shocks, new steering stabilizer, new ball joints, checked all the control arm bushings and they were perfect. I think it was just possessed......:shiver:
 
Georgia Mike said:
Okay, first off, if you're referring to me, I wasn't being "smart" when I said you didn't do any serious wheeling, it was just an observation I made after looking at the pics of your Jeep. Chrome 15x10's, 33" all terrains and a nosebleed lift to fit them without trimming anything. I'll bet it's got a Dana 35 in the back, lift blocks, and you're still running stock 3.55 gears, too.

Second, when you are considering a longarm kit, it is going to be hard to install, especially the RE kit. Just because all the bolt holes line up the way they are supposed to doesn't make it automatically an "easy" install. There will be a buttload of drilling to do. You are changing the front end's link setup to another design, so it's going to take time, effort, and it's going to cost a lot of money. That's what happens when you modify a vehicle well beyond what the manufacturer ever intended.

If you are considering Rusty's longarm kit, that's fine. Some people have had great success running his products. Some have had catastrophic failures of his parts. The RE x-member hangs down a little lower than others, but it's plenty beefy, and all the components in the kit are top-notch. I have no experience with others like TnT, so I cannot pass judgement on their products.

You came on here and asked our opinions. Well, you got them. Don't you realize that EVERYONE has their own opinions? I like RE. Others like TnT. Some like only custom fabbed stuff. It really sounds as if you thought we'd all just come on here and sing the praises of a single product or company, and make your descision easy. Life doesn't work that way, sonny. You make your own descisions and live with them.

:rattle:
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Haha, thanks for the laugh!
 
Georgia Mike said:
My wife's 2000 XJ had DW. It was at stock height. I replaced EVERYTHING and it still persisted. Had the frontend aligned 3 times by three different shops, 3 sets of tires, 2 different set of wheels, all new tie rod ends, new shocks, new steering stabilizer, new ball joints, checked all the control arm bushings and they were perfect. I think it was just possessed......:shiver:
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Really!You forgot two of the most common causes:trackbar and control arm bushings.The was even a TSB on the control arm bushings!
 
RCP Phx said:
Really!You forgot two of the most common causes:trackbar and control arm bushings.The was even a TSB on the control arm bushings!
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Yes, I forgot to mention the fact that I did put on a brand new trackbar, too. The control arms weren't bent that I could see, and the bushings all looked like they were in great shape. No cracking or anything. I swear, I tried all I could, but it seemed like the more I tried to make things better on that thing, the worse it got!
 
what the hell happenedto my post, half the shit on here is somebody elses xj, but anyways i've realized to be done correctly money has to be spent, ive done away with homemade arms, and running adjustables until i can build a long arm set up, but running my old 30's seems to have no problem, so i ask if anybody has had any luck using balancing beads on 35's, or should i just poundthe lead on?
 
crazychris454 said:
what the hell happenedto my post, half the shit on here is somebody elses xj
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Yeah you thread got hijacked but that seems to happen with DW threads. At least it's all good info eithor way. Seems like you have balance issues if your ok on the 30's I will leave the advice on larger tires to other's though not much experience with them here. :soapbox:
 
crazychris454 said:
so i ask if anybody has had any luck using balancing beads on 35's, or should i just poundthe lead on?
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I run 9 ounces of airsoft pellets in each of my 35's. At 80 mph its like driving a well tuned sports car.

I wish my driveshafts were that balanced. ;)
 
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