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death wobble...bump steer?

davidson99XJ

davidson99XJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Greensburg IN
Just put in 2 new wheel bearings and a V8 ZJ tie rod with new tre and still having bad shake at higher speeds (45-50) and whenever I hit bumps 30+....getting ready to put on drop pitman arm. Went to 4wheel parts and told them ineed a drop pitman arm for a 4.5 lift and they gave me a 1 inch drop....is that enough and will it fix the problem??? A local mechanic told me I need to get my drag link lowered back down so got the dpa. What else could it be??? I need help!!!
 
There's a Looong list of what it could be. What's your caster angle look like? In most cases caster angle effects it a lot. Look for worn parts. The dropped pitman arm will reduce bumpsteer but most likely not the dw.
 
A drop pitman will make your angles worse,what you describe sounds more like pre-cursors to deathwobble!
 
None of this happened until I lifted it.... so I figured if I dropped the steering back down down to line everything back up it would help? And that's what a local mechanic told me and the mechanic at our shop. Everyone I've talked to about lifts locally have put dpa on when they lift over 4.
 
make sure its still aligned correctly and make sure all bolts are tight on the tie rod/drag link. that'd be one of the first things i did anyway.

ah i didnt see it didnt happen until you lifted it. check every bolt you touched installing that lift.
 
Take a pic of your angles.Both my rigs are at 5+" on stock steering,My 2000(bought it new lifted it before it even had 500 miles on it) is my daily driver and Ive never even replaced a TRE,drives smooth as silk.
 
RCP Phx said:
Take a pic of your angles.Both my rigs are at 5+" on stock steering,My 2000(bought it new lifted it before it even had 500 miles on it) is my daily driver and Ive never even replaced a TRE,drives smooth as silk.
Click to expand...

I am having it aligned tomorrow at work. I will just upload the print out of the alignment. we have one of the so called best machines lol bet it can't fix this tho ha I'm just to a point to where im getting mad and trying everything. been building the jeep up for awhile and can't even have anything to drive. Going to re-balance my tires too after work. So hopefully that will get rid of some of the shimmy
 
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steering stabilizer has nothing to do with death wobble, I don't run one and have none.

What are the conditions of your ball joints and u joints?

Also what trackbar setup are you running? If its stock/redrilled I'm sure that hole on the axle side is wallowed out. Have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth 10-2 while you stay under there and look for play everywhere. Torque those draglink/v8 tie rod clamps nice and tight and also make sure that the threads are not messed up inside those clamps.

Condition of your tie rod end at the pitman arm? At the passenger steering knuckle?

Control arm bushings? Uppers and lowers both axle side and frame side.
 
Just FYI -Bumpsteer is the condition that when you are driving straight and you hit a bump or something that cycles the suspension, that the tires steer. This is generally caused by adding an improperly engineered lift.

Death wobble is when the wheels start oscilating uncontrolably, whether or not you've hit a bump.

Death wobble and bumpsteer can exist independent of each other. You can have death wobble and no bumpsteer and vice versa.

Like others said, start by checking your track bar. If possible (and while the car is in park and e-brakes on) have someone steer your wheel back and forth while you look under for loose components or movement from the track bar, steering box, etc.

Chris
 
Track bar is tight. Ball joints are good. Mainly only happens when I hit a bump. I think the other shaking I have is unbalanced tires and not having a sye? Could be wrong.....thanks for all the advice. Keep it coming.
 
Did you put on the drop pitman arm? If so take it off! It will mess up the angles and give bump steer. When RCP Phx asked for a pic he wants to see the front end to see if your drag link and track bar are parallel, an alignment print out will not show this. If what you have is "bump steer" it’s coming from the drop arm.

If you have death wobble then you need to do some front end diagnosing. With the tires on the ground have someone turn the wheel back and forth while you look at all tre dle and especially track bar ends, there should be no play.
 
I'd have to say death wobble is mainly due to loose parts or a bad bushing in your steering or track bar. You hit a bump and it causes the steering to move back and forth without any input from the steering wheel. That means either your axle is moving side to side while the steering stays straight, or your steering is moving side to side while the axle stays put and the steering wheel stays put.

Do you have stock steering and stock track bar? Could be the axle side bushing or TRE in the track bar, or the track bar mount on the chassis side. Could be a bad TRE in the steering. Could be your steering box is loose or the sector shaft is bad and wobbling.

A drop pitman arm and bumpsteer have nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, my Jeep is experiencing both death wobble and bumpsteer. My DW is due to a bad track bar bushing.
 
The track bar is tight. I just checked it because it was popping when i locked the steering one way or another. So just tightened it. Control arm bushings are good because I have new control arms. Tie rod has one new tre and the other one is good. The tre on the drag link has torn boots but don't seem too bad. I just keep greasing them. I don't want to change them because I want to upgrade to bigger( which im not sure what i need because I don't want to drill and ream everything. I just want bolt in. I'm not doing anything real hardcore so don't need something like that any suggestions?) The drag link and track bar are parallel...from what I see. So what now? And I have a stock track bar but the bracket on axle side is redrilled over some. And why has a mechanic who has be working on cars since high school (20+ years) tell me I need to lower my steering back down....at this point I'm gonna try anything. I need to get my jeep back on the road. Tired of walking
 
He says that because hes probably used to hearing this from the CJ/YJ guys. With leaf spring fronts you can throw on a drop pitman arm with no problem, actually with most lifts around 4 inches on a YJ you need a DPA. If there is a trackbar involved then you should try to keep them parallel.

I'm still not getting this, when you hit a bump does the wheel shake back and forth a few times or is it just a jerk in the steering wheel when you hit something? I'd reccomend currie steering if you want bolt in and stronger, if the boot is worn I'd take a close look at that joint while someone rocks that wheel back and forth. Regardless if you grease it a lot or not once its open then the joint is free to get contaminated, grease globbing out the hole will also attract dirt and debris.

We can only keep guessing at what your problem is, you really just got to have someone keep rocking that wheel back and forth and find where the slop is. Just cus the jeep is lifted with stock steering doesn't mean it has to drive like crap, there is a worn out part somewhere in your front end.
 
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