Just a little bit on DW...

I have never had the pleasure of owning, driving, or riding in a vehicle that was afflicted with death wobble until yesterday. Maybe I am lucky?? Well a friend of mine has a '03 TJ. We put half (suspension part, waiting to do the body lift) of the 2.5" DPG Ultimate TJ lift on the weekend before Thanksgiving. I tried to talk him out of it, but the next day he decided to drive from GA to NH to be with his family for the holidays. I totally understand that he wanted to visit them but I hated the fact that he was going to drive the TJ we had just lifted. All the suspension lift consists of is new coils f&r, JKS adj. track bar F&R, jks quicker discos front and extended sway bar links rear. Nothing to warrant too much concern, but I know from experience that you never want to go too far away with out checking your work after driving it 100 miles. He made it to NH just fine, and said he checked everything with the eye test before driving back. At about 200 miles short of his destination, he hit a bump in the road driving about 75mph and DW from hell. He had to have had to change his pants after that... He pulled over to the side of the interstate and looked everything over and said it looked good. Started to drive again, and About 10 more miles down the road it happened again, but this time was 10X worse. At least he was smart enough to be driving slower. He again pulled over and found that the upper track bar bolt was missing. Only then did I get a call. Lucky for him, at least I thought at the time, he had the components for the body lift with him in the TJ. I told him to take one of the bolts for the body lift and see if it would fit through the holes in the track bar and mount. It was a little too thin, but perfect length. The only problem was that he did not have a nut for the bolt. He called the SC hwy patrol, a trooper picked him up, took him to a truck stop near by, and he actually found a nut to fit the bolt from some trucker at the truck stop. He called me back and I advised him that this would not be a solid fix and if he was going to try to limp home he was going to have to go SLOW and avoid harsh movements of the steering wheel. 20 miles down the road the bolt either broke or nut fell off the track bar again. He had it towed 150 miles home. The Monday after thanksgiving, he called JKS and ordered another bolt for the track bar. For some reason or another, JKS decided against grease fitting on the track bar itself, hollowed out the bolt, and put grease fitting on the end of it. I love JKS products but this blew my mind. Maybe they know something I don’t. We reattached the track bar, and I finally got to experience DW.
This is not bump related or turn related. Straight line from 50 to 55mph wobble, wobble. Above that (yes I am crazy) it goes away. We purchased a new steering dampener (his was toast) and installed it. I told him the DW probably killed his OE dampener, and sure enough, the DW is still there but very subtle. You hit 50mph and you can feel a shimmy, but at least now it is drivable, until the dampener goes out that is.
Not really looking for advice, unless someone out there has a no shit fix, and I am sure that is not the case. We have a check list as long as my arm we are going to start on tomorrow. Just thought I would share my, and his, experience.

Heim joint? Fab a brakcet to put it in double shear.

Problem solved.

First,the steering dampner is a "bandaid" thats why your still feeling it.Second,everything thats needs grease on a JKS trackbar has a zerk(only the Currie joint)?

was it aligned after the lift??? it's a must.

Inspect all parts and attaching points for looseness, check wheel balance, alignment is critical.

thanks for the input. I am on the same page with what to check for. I did my search like a good little boy.

Yes there is only one zerk fitting. a little different from the xj one.

Yeah, the dampener is only a mask. I tried to explain that to him but we went ahead and installed a new one so he could drive it.

"Fab a brakcet to put it in double shear."
Could someone elaborate?

Thanks...

How does the frame end of the trackbar attach? Did you have to drill out the original bracket and attach the new trackbar? Or did they provide a bracket that puts the trackbar in double shear?

In the picture below, the heim joint on the left is in double shear. The heim joint on the right is in single shear.

When a joint like that is in single shear the force placed on the bolt is TREMENDOUS and it allows the joint to start walking the bolt back and forth, either snapping it, or eventually oblonging the hole it's in.

That is what I thought you meant by double shear, but never have heard it called that. Never heard it called anything to be honest. TJs frame mount is a single shear welded to the frame, not like the XJs that can be removed. It is a stout piece of steel, but like you said, puts all the force on the bolt that holds the new track bar in place. Terrible design. It works fine with the factory track bar because it has a tie rod end - not a bolt through heim joint. To top it off, the bolt that JKS supplies with the TB is hollowed out to make a grease passage for the heim joint. Like I said before, I like JKS products, but this is just bad engineering, IMHO.
I will tinker with some 1/4" steel and see if I can make a bracket that works. Not sure if we should cut the old one off or try to integrate the new bracket.

I know, this is an XJ forum, and we are talking about a TJ. That’s like sacrilege right??? I should be drawn and quartered...:shhh:

Karl VP, got a link to any more pics of your XJ?

is that an XJ? Did a little cliking around and there is a karl on timber tamers that has a TJ... Dont worry, Im not stalking or anything...

rcmf5525 said:

TJs frame mount is a single shear welded to the frame, not like the XJs that can be removed. It is a stout piece of steel, but like you said, puts all the force on the bolt that holds the new track bar in place. Terrible design. It works fine with the factory track bar because it has a tie rod end - not a bolt through heim joint. To top it off, the bolt that JKS supplies with the TB is hollowed out to make a grease passage for the heim joint. Like I said before, I like JKS products, but this is just bad engineering, IMHO.
I will tinker with some 1/4" steel and see if I can make a bracket that works. Not sure if we should cut the old one off or try to integrate the new bracket.

Click to expand...

The RE HD track bar for the TJ uses a double shear mount that bolts to the stock mount and frame. Like the HD mounts for the XJ, It moves the mounting position and uses a bushing, flex joint or heim, to eliminate binding during flex.

Sweet, did not know that RE made one. I will advise and see if we can get a mount ordered by itself.

Thanks for the help guys...

Does anyone know if the heim jointed JKS track bar is going to fit in the RE double shear TB drop bracket? They both have heim joints on the frame side.

Again, this is for a buddy's TJ, not my XJ...

RE is proud of the bracket, $79.99!! I might have to make one, or call Dirk and see if he can cut me a deal... That is steep for a piece of metal...

sorry, we are calling the joints by the wrong name. They are Currie Johnnie Joints.... oops.

Make your own. It isn't hard. I used some 1/4 inch plate on my TJ and made a mount. Just kinda follow the RE design. Mine doesn't go that far up on the frame as the RE one. It's pretty stout too. I hit a tree doing about 20MPH and it bent the track bar rather than breaking the mount off the frame.

rcmf5525 said:

Karl VP, got a link to any more pics of your XJ?

Click to expand...

I sold my XJ back in 2005. I have a ZJ though so I can still be part of the BFUF.