Could tires be the cause of death wobble?

[rmonte4812]

I have a 98 xj 4 1/2 lift. New control arm bushing, new trackbar bushings , new ball joints, everything tight, steering box tight, new stabilizer. No drop pitman arm, shocks about 2 years old. Toe in about 1/8-1/4 in, camber about 6° Tires are 265/75 r16 Goodyear mt/r kevlars. stock jeep wheels. I've had DW for about 9 months and getting worse. I'm ready to run this thing off a cliff. Don't know what else it could be. Any thoughts on tires. They have about 60% tread left. I balance them every oil change. This slighted bump in the road can set it off. I've tried different pressures from 20 to 45psi. I just don't know what's left. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Yes tires can cause DW. I had some very oddly worn swampers that were un balanced. they caused terrible DW. got new tires up front and all went away. You need to check frame for cracking, and put a breaker bar and really crank down on the trackbar frame bolts, and the 2 trackbar bolts that mount mount it to the frame mount and axle mount. Also check for wallowed holes in the trackbar mounts, or too small a bolt. How are your TREs? Have you gone under the rig while someone cranks the wheel back and forth , for like 5 minutes, and you check every TRE? How are your control arm bushings? Are they crap shocks like white cheap ones? Or some good monotubes? are your stereing box bolts tight ? Unit bearings are good and tight? you said ball joints are new. what control arms are you running?

Show us your steering angles. Show us good pics of your control arm bushings . those tires should balance fnie, have you swapped front to back yet?


replace all TREs if they are old and beat.

 

[OutkastBoss]

Short answer... Yes

I had DW and replaced everything and every part made it a little better but It would not go away.

I also had a wallowed out trackbar bolt and fixed that and it was better but not gone still.

Finally I figured it out , One of my tires was out of round a bit causing it and likely caused all that other stuff to go out as well.

 

[Draven1474]

Oh yes it can! My friend got new tires for his jeep from discount tire, he started driving down the road right away he felt a shimmy, and bumps in the tarmac would cause death wobble. I told him to turn around and make them rebalance it and the problem went away!

 

[xpedition xj-eh!]

YUP! In my case, I had four tires that were "cupped". Run your hand along your tire (pay more attention to the inside surface). If you subtly feel a zillion flat edges instead of a perfectly round tire, then your tires are "cupped". Years ago, I nearly drove my XJ off a cliff after replacing everything in the front end due to death wobble. In the end, it was 100% verifiably the fault of my tires.

My tires were not visibly cupped. It wasn't until I ran my hand across the tire that I could very subtly feel the flat spots.

Here is an extreme case:

 

[SleeperXJ]

I've had death wobble with tires that were not this badly cupped.
I found a shop that does tire truing and that saved me.
Truing is done with what looks like a tire lathe, they shave off a
portion of the treat until the tire tread is true. I think it was $100
for all four tires.

Shops that service truck tires are likely to do this.

 

[xpedition xj-eh!]

I've had death wobble with tires that were not this badly cupped.

The pic above is not my tire, just an example of an extreme case of tire cupping. My tires were nowhere near that bad and it still caused some violent death wobble.

 

[SleeperXJ]

Mine weren't that bad either... but they were close:anon: