Evil Doctor Death Wobble...

[Yellow XJNJ]

Captain XJ is being botherd by this pesky villan again. It's not a full blown problem, yet. The Evil Doctor is slowly returning to get revenge on the last allignment. However, it seems to me like Captain XJ is still aligned properly. What could be the problem?

Please help Super Friends...there is trouble!

(Sorry, I've been watching cartoon network all day. Gotta love being unemployed.)

TIA,

Mike

[rockwerks]

make sure you have less than 1/8" toe in......make sure track bar is tight and not work out...this is the usual cause of DW.

[Yellow XJNJ]

"make sure you have less than 1/8" toe in......make sure track bar is tight and not work out...this is the usual cause of DW."


This is all foreign to me. Im not a techy. Can I buy an explination?

[rockwerks]

measure from the center one tire to the center of the other tire..do this behind the front tires and in front of the tires use the same point on on the tread for reference...the back measure should be 1/8" wider or less than the front measure

[Eagle]

Originally posted by Yellow XJNJ
It's not a full blown problem, yet. The Evil Doctor is slowly returning to get revenge on the last allignment.

Sigh ... here we go again. Reality Check:

I believe you are using incorrect terminology. "Death wobble" is a full-blown problem. Unless your Jeep's front end is shaking so badly that it feels like it'll be thron completely off the road, unless you are peeing in your pants and in fear for your life, unless your life flashes in front of your eyes as you struggle to bring the vehicle to a halt without hitting anyone or anything ... YOU DO NOT HAVE DEATH WOBBLE

I suspect what you have is a shimmy, which is caused by wheel imbalance. Let me give you a real-world example:

A week and a half ago CHW from the NAC went wheeling. On the way home from work one day during the week, he experienced death wobble -- the real, full-blown, pee-in-your pants death wobble. On Saturday we changed out one front wheel bearing and four ball joints. On Monday, he still had wheel shimmy but it did not progress beyond that into death wobble.

Death wobble only happens when something causes one or both wheels to shake. CHW's bad bearing and ball joints did not "cause" his death wobble, because they had been bad for some time yet this was the first and only time he experienced death wobble. What changed? It appears he threw a wheel weight while wheeling, or else he was so aired down that one or more tires spun around on the rim, altering the balance. Then when the balance problem started a wheel shimmying, the loose components allowed it to develop into death wobble.

So if you have some shaking of the wheel but it isn't real death wobble, check the wheel balance.

WHEEL BALANCE ... WHEEL BALANCE ... WHEEL BALANCE

[Yellow XJNJ]

Sorry for the confusion. Ive had the DW before, then got the sucker aligned. It went away. And whats happening now feels like a "mini" DW. I guess thats the shimmy. Ill check out the balance in the morning. Thanks for the LowDown Eagle.

[bill hitchcock]

if youve had your tires balanced, castor checked, and made sure everything is tight on your steering system give me and email at doctor_colossus@hotmail.com and well figure it out. i had death wobble for a year and a half and no matter what anyone told me the things never worked. as a result i have a huge list of stuff you can try.

[Yellow XJNJ]

Thanks, Ill get back to the board in the morning.

[88justin]

peeing you pants is a great description...lol

[MaXJohnson]

Mike, unless your super friends can read minds, you ought to provide some details.

alignment specs, lift height, what's loose and what's not, tire size, wheel backspacing, what's been replaced, etc.