Death Wobble with Budget Boost?

[Highmiles]

I've searched and there is a ton of info on this topic, but it all seems to relate to guys who've got over 4 inches of lift.

I've got a '99 that I've done a budget boost to (RRO 1 3/4" front spacers & RE full length AAL in the rear). It's sitting at about 19 1/2" in the front and 20 in the rear. The lift was completed this past winter and other than doing a T-case drop and shim to eliminate driveline vibes - no issues.

I'm now experiencing significant DW after hitting even a minor bump at highway speeds. I replaced the steering dampener - no improvement.

Nothing appears loose in the front suspension and I used coil compressors to remove and install the front springs so I never touched the control arms. Also, I haven't done any off roading since the lift.

My next thought is to have the front end re-aligned and look at new tires, but I'm open to any thoughts..

thanks,
Chris

 

[Big Red]

That's weird that you would have DW after a slight lift like 2". Check your steering and ball joints. Did you do anything different with your track bar? You don't need new control arms or track bar etc with only a little lift. I bought a 91' XJ cheap and it was the tires that caused DW above 40 mph. It could be alot of things, but if you just added the lift and now have it soon afterwards, think what you changed with the lift. Make sure all the bolts and everything are nice and tight.

 

[Highmiles]

One added question - during my inspection I noticed that I could rotate the steering linkage as it comes into the steering box about 1/4 inch in either direction. There is no play in the pitman arm. Is this normal?

 

[Highmiles]

Big Red - That's why I'm so confused... I never thought this was going to be an issue with a 2" lift. I'll check the ball joints tonight...

The crazy thing is that I drove this rig at least 5K miles since the lift with no issues and routinely at highway speeds. The DW first happened last week and is now routinely happening on the highway.

My thought is that something changed suddenly enough to trigger this... would a thrown tire balance weight do this?

 

[aardvark4x4]

Swap your tires front to rear and see if it goes away.

 

[MikeyB]

back in tha day when I put in my 2" BB I got the DW. Get it aligned...

 

[Jeepin Jason]

Yeah, get it aligned. ANY TIME you change the suspension height at ALL, you have to get it aligned.

 

[RCP Phx]

DW is not just a lifted XJ thing,it very common on straight axle vehicles.Ive had it on..
66 J -series(stock)
73 J-series(3"lift)
75 Ford stock
93 XJ(stock)
2000 XJ(3" lift/less than 3000 miles)

 

[Highmiles]

An alignment and a new set of good tires and I think I'm DW free (knock on wood). I did a 10 mile test on the highway at 75 and hit all the expansion joints that used to send me to the side of the road. No issues.

What I think happened was I didn't align it after doing the BB because I figured using spring compressors and not touching / loosening any of the control arms would be OK. Wrong.

The Jeep looked straight, drove straight, and no DW for about 5000 miles, then the DW suddenly showed up with no warning.

I figure the alignment was off enough to burn up my old tires and kill my already dieing steering dampener.

Now, properly aligned with new tires and dampener, no issues. Lesson learned. Thanks all for the advice!

 

[JKTXJ]

Because of the XJ steering design, as you lift the vehicle higher above the axle you actually start to get a toed in condition. The higher you go, the more they will be toed in. Any amount of lift would necessitate an alignment whether anything was removed or not.