Death wabble here we go.

I know its another DW posting. Trust me i searched a great deal and went over everything i could before adding to the longs list of DW postings. Sorry everyone but im stumped.

97 Sport 4.5" Long arm (radius arms) 33x10.5-15
I did a regear on the D30 as well as knuckle gussets and a simple truss. I took my time welding up all the stuff on the axle to the point it took me a little over a week to complete. I didnt weld to the housing at all. I have done a WJ knuckle swap and run full size tie-rod ends with 1.50 .250 wall DOM. The track bar is made with the same tube and has RuffStuff rod ends. All steering and suspension parts are new for build up reason and not to try and fix the problem. Axle has Ballistic axle mounts as well.

Have had caster settings from 2*-9* with no change.
I have had toe in settings of 1/8 -3/8 with no change.





Stock droop pitman arm
My drag link length is "35
Track bar is "34.250
The two links are .4* off from each other using a digital angle finder.



Body side mount is made out of 1/4 wall box mounted to 1/4" plate with a support to the other Uni rail. Steering box has a brace to the other uni rail as well.



The axle mount is a Ruff Stuff track bar mount.


All bolts and bolt holes are good and i have checked every thing i can think of that could be lose but still i cant get rid of the DW that starts in at about 40-45 when i hit a good bump. On perfect road it drives great. I have used 2 sets of tires with no change. 20psi up to 40psi.
I will be installing a steering damper but its for better life span of the parts and not to fix this problem. I want this taken care of before i install it.

Im not running a sway bar and have not had one for the 3 yrs of owning the Jeep things really just changed after going to a better steering/track bar setup. Well stronger it would seem.

Im at a loss at this point. I have even mounted my gopro to try and catch the problem. But everything looks solid and then shakes the hell out of things.

Just because every joint is new doesnt mean its good.
- Caster should be at about 7* on the bottom of the inner cs. Check both sides.
- Toe should be at 1/2" in
- In my opinion if you set those right and you still have deathwabble then something else is amiss.
- Have someone get in the jeep and start it up. Then have them slam hard on the brakes and hold it. With the brakes held, have them work the steering wheel 45* left and right repeatedly but slowly. Then get under the jeep and put your hands on every joint and watch every part. Watch for flexing in the frame or mounts or otherwise as well. If you are having issues. This will highlight them as turning the wheel with the brakes locked puts the whole steering system under stress.
- last thing to check is balljoints. Look up a tutorial on youtube if you dont already know how. I have extensive experience dealing with deathwabble in multiple vehicles. This is a proven method for me. Hope this helps.

All joints ,rod end,tie rod ends are solid. Everything is solid and nothing moves. I have bound up the front end to try and force things to move and i see and feel nothing. Caster may need to be at 7* but i have done every point from 2 up to 9 with no change. Things have not even broken in yet and still have the preloads.

How does the inner frame look? I know you have stiffeners on the outer side of the rail. Maybe it is cracked on the inner side?

Ya cracking was the first thing i went looking for after knowing i did all this work. Jeep is in really good shape and i have found no cracking of any kind. When i pulled the box i looked very close in the box area as well.

Thats why its really bugging me i have looked at so much.

gordo hit it right,, I never rule out new front end parts, I have gotten many bad pieces. I like your idea about finding the problem PRIOR to adding dampeners, they will only hide the problem. Im gathering up some notes on a recent build that may give you a few starting points , will post later today.:skull1:

If everything is solid and you are certain then the issue is alignment and tire balancing.

If you have a set of stock tires to throw on for testing it would be worth checking into. Dw will likely start at higher speeds with smaller tires. Conversely it starts at slower the larger you go. With 35s it starts and really resonates at about 35mph. 30" tires and it will likely be up above 55mph.

When I fought mine, my biggest issue was alignment. Front toe in should be 1/16" to 1/8" (not 1/2" mentioned above). My current caster is set at 5* but anywhere from 5-7* is good.
I ran into an issue where my track bar frame mount was twisting as well, rolling around the bracing we had done. Adding extra gussets stopped that. Wasn't noticeable with the usual checks, only happened under power.
We're it me, I would consider adding another gusset to the nearest bolt forward of the trackbar mount literally going form bolt to bolt with a brace.
That was the issue I found with such an angle on the bracket.
Also look at the steering box and intermediate shaft as well ... Excess play there will also allow a minor shimmy to progress.

With larger than stock tires the measure ment for toe gets incrementaly larger. The degree of toe will be the same for stock size tires and 35s but they will measure different with tape. 1/8" toe on a stock size tire will measure about 9/16-3/4 on 35s if you just swap tires and check again. The degree will be the same but larger measurment is needed with larger tires. 1/2" should be right with 33s. Not trying to start a pissing match. Just dont want bad info floating around.

From someone who is damned picky, your setup looks good.

First off, I would use the old method of putting someone in the drivers seat to rock the steering wheel back and forth while you crawl under and check out each and every joint and mating point for movement. The single biggest problem I find when everything looks good is a worn out hole on a track bar or control arm bracket, allowing the connecting bolt to move.

If you can't see anything when doing the above, paint every bolt and nut head to its mating surface. Let it dry good and go drive. If they are moving, you should be able to see evidence in the paint.

I have been under the Jeep many times looking around when someone was steering. I even setup a thing that would lock the knuckles so it would put as much force on the system as it could. When i say everything feels and looks solid im not joking. I have found no witness marks on the hardware or the painted ares. All holes are new and spot on with no slop.

Where's your steering stabilizer? I don't see one on there! I run 2 and will remove them after I put my hydro assist but till then mine needs at least one! Also tire balance crucial!

Boss Cherokee said:

Where's your steering stabilizer? I don't see one on there! I run 2 and will remove them after I put my hydro assist but till then mine needs at least one! Also tire balance crucial!

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A correct steering setup will not need a stabilizer

Anyone ever see a pitman arm jump splines? I had to use a puller and hammer to get it off the stock box and the nut did feel to be at the right torque. It didn't pop or move turning the wheel back and forth even with the knuckles locked in place. but it would seem a bump would get it to jump.

The girlfriend made a comment and it got me thinking and i went back to take a closer look at the videos i took of the steering. You could see that something was a little off when looking at the arm after the wobble started. It was so miner that i didn't notice before. Looking at the videos with the new box it looked the same way.

So i went Under the Jeep and pulled the tight nut off and i could pull the arm off with the puller just turning the socket by hand. You could see the splines looked rounded a bit but over all didn't look bad. So i stuck some tin foil on the splines and jammed it back on to give it a test run. SOB was 100 times better. I still have a little DW but its not going to kill people in another state like it could before. I really think that's just due to the last caster setting i wanted to try of 1*. So going back to 6.5 or so should fix everything.

Never seen a arm become a ware item before. Thats going into the notes.
Just wanted to thank everyone for the help.

Glad you found an explanation and thank you for posting up the results.

RoyalXJ said:

A correct steering setup will not need a stabilizer

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you should always have one. road vibrations kill steering components.

rockclimber said:

you should always have one. road vibrations kill steering components.

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Never had a problem. 50k with no stabilizer and still good.

rockclimber said:

you should always have one. road vibrations kill steering components.

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Really, not all vehicles come with them and they do just fine.

RoyalXJ said:

Never had a problem. 50k with no stabilizer and still good.

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congratulations, you are for the most part the exception to the rule.

ROBZ95Xj said:

Really, not all vehicles come with them and they do just fine.

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can you list off any makes and models what have solid front axles that didn't?


I didn't make this up on my own, this comes from people who build steering systems every day. PSC would not warranty my box if I did not run a stabilizer. why? because road vibrations kill steering components. most egregiously, the box.

Its another way they can get out of a warranty. And what does a solid axle have to do with anything?