My search for a DW cure.

[xj bmx]

Ok so I know most of you are ready to post your death wobble cure links and quotes about track bars and steering dampeners BUT.

I already know all that, and anything can cause it, this is more of just a journal, though all input is welcome of course.

Here is some back story for those who care.
I bought this Jeep, a 97 4dr, 4.0, AW4, Sport about four years ago, and as we made the transaction the guy says "oh, it has a shake at about 55, just go faster and it stops" :doh: Sure enough, it had a mild death wobble, not horrible but enough to be considerd the DW and not just a shimmy.

Shortly after I did a new track bar and new tires and it seemed to go away, only to come back in full force not more than 7 months later every time it hit a bump wile doing about 55-65mph:flamemad: I'm talking full out pants shitting tires squawking death wobble but Since I only work 2 miles from home it didn't bother me much and never bothered with it, as long as I didn't hit bumps on the freeway I was good, but I soon bought a car to DD wile this would be my Vacation rig.

Now last year I was prepping to leave for vacation and I found the track bar had gone bad again along with a TRE, so I replaced them and also replaced a rim that was curbed pretty hard and had them all balanced and rotated. I then took it for an alignment. The guy said they couldn't do it because the ball joints had play.:doh: so I left it as is for one 500 mile round trip up north and had very minimal DW the whole time, only a few episodes of it. Once I got back home and drove it to go switch plates it came back again, and once again FULL FORCE :doh: It since has sat until about last month when I started giving it a full going over in preps for a 1000 mile+ round trip in September.

So as of last month I've done
All four ball joints
Axle U joints
Wheel bearings
Rotors
Pads
Calipers
Soft lines
LCA bushings
Sway bar links and link bushings
Sway bar frame bushings
Steering stabilizer
And a front end alignment


And not that it has to do with it but it also got
Leaf springs (broken main leaf :scared
Shackles
Full rear brake hard and soft line
Drums
Shoes.

So after all that it had once again a mild DW fit a few times and once a good holy shit wobble. Since the alignment its been quite tame, but you can tell it really wants to on some bumps when driving at aroun 65.

Thats my story, my next area of looking is tires, wheels and steering box.:bawl:

 

[md21722]

The steering box should not cause death wobble? I would closely check all the TRE's. I was surprised how little play I saw with the front end lifted, and how much of a difference changing one TRE made. Now I want to change the others.

Probably best to check the entire suspension, including the steering parts with all 4 wheels on the ground. Have someone turn the wheel back and forth end to end and look. That's how I found my track bar was bad (joint at the frame).

 

[scottmcneal]

How old are your shocks? i have one here now that has bad shocks and it is starting to DW. I broke a shock off my jeep and couldn't go 30mph. So i think you should check them an see.

 

[xj bmx]

The steering box should not cause death wobble? I would closely check all the TRE's. I was surprised how little play I saw with the front end lifted, and how much of a difference changing one TRE made. Now I want to change the others.

Probably best to check the entire suspension, including the steering parts with all 4 wheels on the ground. Have someone turn the wheel back and forth end to end and look. That's how I found my track bar was bad (joint at the frame).

My thought is that since only the few extreme tires squawking cases of DW the steering wheel was also going crazy, now I don't even feel it move, but the whole rest of the Jeep was going nuts.


I did that, that that is how I found the one bad TRE, and that my track bar went bad again last year. I did it once more last week and everything seems tight still. I guess it wouldent hurt to do a new drag link and the other two TREs.

How old are your shocks? i have one here now that has bad shocks and it is starting to DW. I broke a shock off my jeep and couldn't go 30mph. So i think you should check them an see.

Oh wow, think you for that bit of info.

As far as I know, they are factory with 170k on them. They were on my list for replacement since I've read even 50k is too much for shocks but they seem to be in good shape, no leaks or excessive bouncing.

They actually seem stiff really. On my other Jeep I bought a brand new Rustys 6" short arm kit with the cheep white shocks and it rode softer than this one (only put about 300 miles on it before selling the lift) but I can't find any information that says they can get stiff when worn. It's like when I hit a small bump or pothole it feels like I hit a curb.

Maybe I'll do shocks and TREs this weekend.

 

[md21722]

You can check the shocks, but at that mileage is be surprised if they're good.

Sometimes the parts feel tight one day and are ready to fall out the next.

I know what you mean about the jeep shaking and you not really feeling it in the wheel.

The center of the box is going to have some play in it and that's fine.

My guess is the drag link and TREs to the left wheel. Those keep the tires parallel.

I wish they didn't make us by the whole drag link for the joint at the knuckle.

 

[Ecomike]

I had a death wobble in Ford Tempo once, turned out to be cracked frame/body near the suspension parts.

My 87 wagoneer was an easy fix, track bar or drag link, as I recall. About to tackle the problem on the 89 cherokee now.