SO WHATS YOUR TAKE ON THIS.

so I lifted my XJ 4" using rough country TJ coils and a rough country track bar for 4-x" of lift.
all went fine but after about a week of driving it had DW. throughout this story the DW only happens after hitting bumps.
checked everything out found track bar axle bolt had loosened up. tightened it and it helped but still had DW. added a new RC stabilizer in hopes of at least covering it up enough that I could drive it. no such luck. noticed stock LCA bushings were looking kinda bad so I oredered 16.25" fixed lower arms wobble went away for awhile but everynow and then I had a shimmy that prior to LCA's would have progressed into DW. tires are not the cause because it does it on 2 different sets of tires. hubs seem ok steering linkage seems tight. toe has been set caster has not. prior to LCA's it was sitting at 4.8* caster.
took it to a trusted local off road shop and they tell me the tie rod end on the BRAND NEW (less than 5 months old) track bar has some slop in it. they also tell me that this particular type of track bar is kinda problematic in this respect. they reccomend an RE1600 type track bar.

now I can see the tie rod end possibly being a little worn simply because of all the bouncing around its taken from the DW issues I have had. I have a spare tie rod end to throw in there and see if it helps but does anyone else agree with this assesment or is this "trusted" shop maybe not so trust worthy anymore?

I was going to have them do a good alignment while I was there but they told me that I would be wasting money having an alignment done now when I will just need another one after changing track bar out.
also keep in mind they did not try and get me to buy an RE track bar from them or try and get me to let them install it. all they did was suggest that particular style bar over the RC style. they also did not charge me for anything so far, even tho they did spend about a bit of time giving my heep a once over to see where my DW issues was stemming from.

why not get an alignment? they are only 30 bucks here.

i would say theyre right those ball joint style ends are prone to failure switch to something with a bolt like the RE one they specified

Worn stuff or alignment, maybe both. That's the fun of DW!

DW always happens after a bump. The bump causes the front end to be pushed out of the comfortable groove it was in, and instead of going back to it's normal state, it starts oscillating.

Recheck your caster. The LCAs may have either pushed things too far forward, or pulled them too far back. Caster IIRC, is a negitive number, not positive. The top of the knuckle should be further back than the bottom one.

Put your Jeep on stands, crawl under it and check it all over yourself. Ball joints, rod ends, drag link, check it ALL.

Recheck toe in. 1/16" IN should work.

You never mentioned your tires, but you may want to rotate them for shits. I had a set of tires shake really bad after bumps.

So you have a rough country track BAR, not just the drop bracket? I've never seen one, personally, but just the sound is iffy...

The RE one is a tried and true solid design. It sounds like the track bar IS your problem. You can easily check this if someone helps. Just look under the jeep at the frame, and again at the axle while someone turns the wheel back and forth slightly. If something is wrong you should see play, or at least here some creeking.

treat it as one would treat ANY dw.... do both what danman2k and zukiron have mentioned... look for jerky movement..

make sure the tire's are balanced as well...just because they run fine on another jeep, without causing dw, doesnt mean they arent the culprit here.

the more you read about dw... its weird stuff...

also, dw sucks =\

Oh, and if your tires have been recently rotated it DOES make a difference as well. I've learned to toss all the lead weights and go with BB's no matter what tire I use. After a day of wheeling they get so caked with mud, if you use the lead ones it's almost un-driveable.

well I have a spare tie rod end to throw on probably tomorrow afternoon and see what that does.
the shop working didnt want to align it knowing I was just gonna need another one very soon. I plan ongetting all new ZJ steering stuff and a RE1600 track bar hopefully in the next month or so. once that stuff is on I plan on heading back to finally get the alignment done.
thanks.
and danman yes you can buy a rough country track bar. not sure why it sounds iffy to you but meh I'm gettin a new one soon anyway.
yea I did mention tires (atleast I thought I did) I have tried 2 different sets of tires on my jeep with no changes in the issue. I only plan on runnin these BFG's through this year. doubt I will get much more out of them and then I am goin with a BB style balance when I ge my new tires.

Ok well sounds like you're just going to have to grin and bare it for now. You have multiple factors that could be contributing to it, just need to get them sorted out in a prioritized fashion.

I would say fix that track bar TRE, and make sure the others aren't all messed up. Death wobble takes a HUGE toll on all your front suspension components. If you've ever watched the YouTube video of it, you'll laugh hysterically for about 2.5 seconds and then go WOW my car is doing that?? After all the ends are good, get yourself an aligment. Check your tires, especially fronts and make sure they're balanced. Make sure your steering stabilizer is good as well (functioning, not just attached).

i ran that same trac bar on my old xj and the tj for years and just kept it greased properlly and it worked fine! now it is on another tj... still goin... i reckon that trac bar is going on 3 years old now.


check everything. when i had death wobble my steering/tracbar angles were wacked. also my control arm angles were bad.

Alignment first, then have them check your TRE...I have never balanced my tires, no BB's, nothing..I get NO wobble at all...I drive on the freeway too.. I also have the track bar from Rough country, it goes with my 6.5 lift..My tires are only 33/12.50 BFG Mudders

my old track bar had similar issues to what you are describing. right after i lifted my jeep i had a Lube Oil Filter done at a local tire shop. turns out that place did not due the lube part of what i paid for. with no grease the TRE quickly wore out and became the cause of my first case of DW. i had replaced the TRE and all was well for a while.

the DW did add a lot of wear and tare on my front end. about a year later the axle side TB bracket had wallowed out.

have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while you look at each joint in the steering and suspention. check each one individually and look for excessive play. then have someone else look while you rock the wheel back and forth. two heads are better than one.

if all is found to be ok with the steering then start looking at the suspention. check for excessive play in the LCA bushing and same for the UCAs. check for slop in the TB as well. if still no culpret is found then check the unit bearings and ball joints. dont be afraid to ask a fellow jeeper who has delt with DW before to take a second look at yours.

well at this point it seems alot of people are saying this type of TB is ok but is not the best way to go. I have a lil bit of jeep budget that will be available soon and with that cash I am gonna get an RE1600 TB and all new v8 ZJ steeing stuff. that should take care of any question about steering stuff. then all of my existing stuff will become trail spares. once all of that is on the heep it will go back to the shop for a good alignment

as for the question about the stabilizer it is less than 3 months old. and its attached in all the correct places.

I look at it like this now. at the bare minimum I am replacing parts that (other than the track bar) have 100k miles on them and considering how I wheel my jeep probably need replaced anyway. once the steering is done I am going to be junkyard axle shopping (hoping for 4.10's) once I find a new front axle I will rebuild it with new ball joints unit bearings and U-joints.. hopefully by that point I will have essentially a brand new front end. if I still have problems then I give up and start driving a hybrid

Every time I've had dw like you're describing the trackbar was the cause, either because it was loose at the axle end, frame end, or the bracket.

how is the mount on the axle side? if the mount itself ovaled out at all? id say its the trackbar but if its a rough country trackbar contact jason on here and send it back to him for a new one or see what he has to say about it? i just skimmed through the whole post but did you start with the basics of getting an alignment done AFTER the lift?

MPETESS10 said:

well at this point it seems alot of people are saying this type of TB is ok but is not the best way to go. I have a lil bit of jeep budget that will be available soon and with that cash I am gonna get an RE1600 TB and all new v8 ZJ steeing stuff.

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Dont waste your money on a 1600 bar,get the 1660 and bracket!

what is the advantage of the 1660 and bracket as opposed to the 1600.

MPETESS10 said:

what is the advantage of the 1660 and bracket as opposed to the 1600.

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flex joint and double shear mount.

well for 300 bux its out of my price range right now. I am gonna swap in the new tie rod end and see what that does. if it tightens it up and fixes the problems then maybe I can wait until I can afford the 1660 & bracket but if the rod end doesnt fix it I am ordering a 1600 very soon. camping season is here and I need to get the jeep ready to tow the camper.
I went wheeling this weekend @ Rausch creek and my death shimmy is now full fledged death wobble again so I am guessing my sloppy rod end is now a REALLY sloppy end!