More questions on death wobble

[zfinger]

So after a lengthy search and conflicting answers...I have to ask, I'm sorry.

97 XJ with 190K
2" spacers and cs8228 71-79 Ford coils making roughly 5" of lift in the front.
2" Shackles and S-10 bastard pack making 6" in the rear
1" T-Case drop
Aligned with the 2" shackles and lift last month
New OEM track bar last month with 2" kit

So I have death wobble at 45-50mph, none before and none after
It isn't the tires, I know 100% for sure.

is it...
Steep stock control arm angles
Track bar is too short
Worn out steering stabilizer
Alignment being off

I have a limited cash supply, so what would you try first if you were me?

 

[uwphoto48]

What seemed to cure the wobble on my XJ was a combination of four changes I made to the front end. I installed a dropped pitman arm, Rancho steering dampner, Rancho adjustable shocks adjusted to 3 or 4 stiff setting, and I have the front wheels spin balanced on the vehicle. I mark the wheels so if I have to take them off they get put back on in the same position. No problems since doing thiese changes. I have tried running the front shocks softer and I can feel a slight shake after a bump in a corner, so I keep the front at 3 or max.

1989 XJ Pioneer
7" lift
Warn front axles & hubs
32x11.50x15 BFG
front detroit locker
rear Air locker
Stainless Steel Brakes-rear discs
4.0L w/ax15 & NP231 w/ sye
Six States driveline

 

[phurealdeaux]

to correct MY death wobble, i installed adjustable control arms (rubicon express) to get my steering geometry correct then aligned it (but, i need to replace my axle end upper control arm bushings to be completely "wobble free")..... you might also want to get an adjustable track bar (rusty's heavy duty with mount and brace) to correctly center your axle....

but, to answer your question, first, i'd align it.....

good luck....

 

[Jess]

I also fixed my wobble with control arms. I am only running 3 inches, so I only had to change the lowers and used BDS arms. I found this after changing all tres, track bar, tires, wheels, u-joints in axles and drive shafts, along with a new rear drive shaft. Good Luck!

 

[cwlongshot]

Also be sure to check the level of your blinker fluid. Something else everyone forgets is those troublesome muffler bearings!!!

But really, "death wobbles" that come on at a certain speed are mostly tar ballancing problems.

Do youself a favor, try a search, there is NOTHING in there that has not already been answered. As a matter of fact....just cast you eyes to the bottom of this page...there is a couple of threads on just this subject!!!

CW

 

[zfinger]

Also be sure to check the level of your blinker fluid. Something else everyone forgets is those troublesome muffler bearings!!! CW

Come on now buddy, dont try and make me out to be a fool. A simple question I cant find solid answers too doesn't classify me as someone who needs blinker fluid, a muffler bearing, a radiator insulator, cross-drilled brake lines, gas wetter or even an engine oil bypass kit. We've all seen the site www.kalecoauto.com

But really, "death wobbles" that come on at a certain speed are mostly tar ballancing problems.

Do youself a favor, try a search, there is NOTHING in there that has not already been answered. As a matter of fact....just cast you eyes to the bottom of this page...there is a couple of threads on just this subject!!!

CW

I have searched for "death wobble", and got sick of reading through usless posts such as your above. If you dont have anything technical to say in the tech forum, dont say it. It's all the jibber-jabbers such as yourself that make searching a reading 10 million posts a PITA!!! So lets stop for a moment, and think about a few things... Will my post contain usefull information or will it be a waste of space? Does my post contain key-words that will help the next person searching find usfull information? Will my post contribute to the greater good of the forum? Are you a post-whore just trying to raise your post count?

This thread insists its tire causing the problem...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=88504&highlight=death+wobble
This thread says its the alignment...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87221&highlight=death+wobble
This thread says its caster, track bar, steering stabilizer, control arms, the works...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87042&highlight=death+wobble

So I'm just asking for a little input on my perticular situation here, considering I just had it aligned, replaced the track bar, and had no death wobble the night before I put the front springs in.

 

[cal]

You can rule out the stabilizer, it may help to mask the problem but will never be the cause of it.

5" of lift on an OEM trackbar is alot, you may be maxing out the TRE at the top of it, causing it to be loose already. Check the bushing at the bottom as well.

I'd check the steering components next, it may be that with the ride height of the jeep changing, the tie rod ends are now sitting in a ovaled out track.

Next check your trackbar vs draglink angle..

I'd probably try and get some longer lower control arms next, that much lift on stock arms is pulling the axle 'back' a ways, causing the trackbar and steering tie rod ends to sit at a new 'neutral' point, and they may be ovaled out or worn a bit.

Balljoints. Search here on how to check them, but check those too.

-C

 

[Phager]

In my thread, I only said that getting the alignmrnt fixed cured it in my particular case. DW is often caused by many different things, and often won't be caused by the same thing in every instance. In my case, I got DW at any speen above 20 MPH, but that was due to the fact that I had over 2" of toe-in. The only reason I'd recommend checking the alignment is because it's simple to do (at least the toe is) and doesn't cost a dime if you own a tape measure.

Wheel balance could be another issue, and depending on who you got your tires from, they may do lifetime balancing for free, so that's another good possibility. The reason why DW is such a PITA is that if anything in the front end is out of adujustment or worn it can lead to it. That's why everyone insists that it's something different. Because for them it is.

The best way to take care of this is to methodically go through and check all the steering and front end components to either eliminate or verify that it is out if specs, starting with whatever is cheapest/easiest for you to do or have done. By taking it step by step it's a lot easier to keep from getting overwhelmed.

I will agree that the steering stabilzer will tend to mask the symptoms instead of taking care of the problem, I still haven't installed one in my rig, and I'm not having any problems so far.

Good luck

Pat

 

[Smittty9785]

UH check your bolts for your control arms, sometimes they like to shimmy loose and move on you. check that out.

 

[zfinger]

Well the new twist is that I went from 30x9.5 BFG AT's to 33x12.5 Trail Mark Radial DT's and feel a little shake, but not an all out wobble. Maybe the new tires are too big to shake. Who knows, but tomorrow morning I'll be going through the front end again and re-re-checking everything.

Thanks for bringing this back to tech.

 

[cwlongshot]

Come on now buddy, dont try and make me out to be a fool. A simple question I cant find solid answers too doesn't classify me as someone who needs blinker fluid, a muffler bearing, a radiator insulator, cross-drilled brake lines, gas wetter or even an engine oil bypass kit. We've all seen the site www.kalecoauto.com



I have searched for "death wobble", and got sick of reading through usless posts such as your above. If you dont have anything technical to say in the tech forum, dont say it. It's all the jibber-jabbers such as yourself that make searching a reading 10 million posts a PITA!!! So lets stop for a moment, and think about a few things... Will my post contain usefull information or will it be a waste of space? Does my post contain key-words that will help the next person searching find usfull information? Will my post contribute to the greater good of the forum? Are you a post-whore just trying to raise your post count?

This thread insists its tire causing the problem...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=88504&highlight=death+wobble
This thread says its the alignment...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87221&highlight=death+wobble
This thread says its caster, track bar, steering stabilizer, control arms, the works...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87042&highlight=death+wobble

So I'm just asking for a little input on my perticular situation here, considering I just had it aligned, replaced the track bar, and had no death wobble the night before I put the front springs in.

Never meant to make you out as the fool. My point was there are literally volumes written by many prople INCLUDING my self meant to help other fellow jeepers. Your comment about it being too much trouble and a PITA are case in point. If you search and any jeep forum you will find countless answers on how to solve Death Wobble. Its also likely you will find one I wrote...


Now just to show you I lake most people here, am here to help. You mention everything was fine untill you added springs. I assume these where lifted springs, so the jeep is now higher than before? Did you change out the Control arms or where they already adjustable ones? If no, you problem is likely mostly CASTER, I have found lifted Jeeps like to be at near max caster. You also mention new larger tars. The tars them selves could be the culprit. Put you old 30's back on abd see if the problem goes away. That way you have ruled out the tars.

Sorry to come off like a prick, not my intention. post up and let us know what this did.
CW

 

[RCP Phx]

Whats a "tar",and the castor theory is "bull",I run less than 3* now and have never had DW with this setup(I did have it when brand new stock 2k w/1500 miles).

 

[Phager]

Apparently tar = tire in CT

Pat

 

[zfinger]

Well I hit a bump at 40mph and almost died. So I went home, parked the Jeep, ordered a Rustys adj. track bar and am driving my moms old Subaru Outback untill the bar gets here.

It was a great opportunity to trim the fenders as well. Those came out great.

 

[98XJSport]

Definately trac bar will help, the thing that sucks is it can sometimes be caused by a few different things at once. Trac bar helped mine, an alignment helped it even more, and lower control arms helped more than that. My current vibes now are caused by missing wheel weight, and poor shocks.

On another completely note, going to the Show Shine and Drag this weekend?

 

[cwlongshot]

Well I hit a bump at 40mph and almost died. So I went home, parked the Jeep, ordered a Rustys adj. track bar and am driving my moms old Subaru Outback untill the bar gets here.

It was a great opportunity to trim the fenders as well. Those came out great.

Lets see some pics!!! Did you do front and rear?

I did mine last week on the MJ as well!! I like the look!!

I trimmed and moved the factory flairs up and redrilled the fenders. 33 X 10.5 X 15's BFG mt's are sittin' in the garage waiting for my rims to arrive...hopefully I'll be able to get them mounted and on the jeep next Friday.

I hope the track bar fixes your wobble woes!!

CW