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Yet another death wobble help request

When you get some time, tell us the specs on your stroker build and the issues in another thread!



I’ll do an update on the stroker when I rebuild it. Again. First rebuild was because a cam gear. Second was a bad wrist pin and I didn’t wanna chance it. This time it’s bottom end making my noise. Just an excuse to put a bigger cam in. It’s currently .060 over, mild cam, head worked over buy a reputable local, 4.0 rode, 258 crank and the auto.


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I would do a tape measure alignment for toe. See if that solves anything.
When I lifted my MJ, the cure was using my ironman4x4 tie rod. Stock is basically a toothpick.
I meow have WJ 30 under it with better steering and brakes.
 
Well. False positive. Welded and added a stiffener and it is worse. But I hear something that sounds like a hammer hitting the driver side floor when it wobbles. Also, it’s harsh. Like it is almost impossible to hold on to. It also dives right when it wobbles.


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Not to state the obvious, bur if you have not, id suggest to have a friend sit in the jeep and cycle the suspension lock to lock as you look very closely under the Jeep. The slightest part moving ever so slightly, can cause major issues. I found this out many times offroad, would have my girlfriend hope in the seat (BABE KEEP IT IN PARK 🤣) and bam, would easily find the issue i couldnt see otherwise.

Is the track bar tight at the unibody end?

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Not to state the obvious, bur if you have not, id suggest to have a friend sit in the jeep and cycle the suspension lock to lock as you look very closely under the Jeep. The slightest part moving ever so slightly, can cause major issues. I found this out many times offroad, would have my girlfriend hope in the seat (BABE KEEP IT IN PARK 🤣) and bam, would easily find the issue i couldnt see otherwise.

Is the track bar tight at the unibody end?

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Sorry for letting this go dead. I had other issues come up. It still wobbles. I had done that many a times to see the lose parts. The trackbar is indeed tight on both ends. I’ll revisit the UCA on the driver side because it makes noise when it wobbles and I feelnit I’m the floor. Possable bushing didn’t make it all the way in? Maybe I’ll jack it up and set it on stands and push and pull and see what’s loose. I just wanna say thanks to everyone who’s involved here. This thing has me scratching my head.


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As has been mentioned before- you're not wasting money, you're resetting the maintenance clock on all this stuff.

That said- EVERYTHING on the front end that moves needs to be replaced if you aren't seeing anything moving when you steer lock to lock.

I had this same problem on the wife's ZJ last year. I forklifted it everything in the front end that slides, rotates, or pivots (except for brake pads, calipers, R&P and those associated bearings) was replaced-

control arms with bushings
steering- from the draglink sttachment to the pitman, to the TREs at the wheels
wheel (hub) bearings
axle shaft ujoints
driveshaft ujoints
balljoints

And the problem went completely away.

Did you look at your steering box spacer? Bet it's broken too.
 
That list is pretty much what I am doing to my current XJ that I'm also converting from 2WD to 4WD. It's low miles (105K), the last one I had was a 97 that I ran from 92K to 220K, redid the front end as you described and it ran straight and smooth the whole time. Last time was a 2" budget boost, this time is a 4" RE lift. Good stuff.


As has been mentioned before- you're not wasting money, you're resetting the maintenance clock on all this stuff.

That said- EVERYTHING on the front end that moves needs to be replaced if you aren't seeing anything moving when you steer lock to lock.

I had this same problem on the wife's ZJ last year. I forklifted it everything in the front end that slides, rotates, or pivots (except for brake pads, calipers, R&P and those associated bearings) was replaced-

control arms with bushings
steering- from the draglink sttachment to the pitman, to the TREs at the wheels
wheel (hub) bearings
axle shaft ujoints
driveshaft ujoints
balljoints

And the problem went completely away.

Did you look at your steering box spacer? Bet it's broken too.
 
I hear you. I'm in the process of doing the same to my son's 97 XJ now... and while I'll rehabbing my 90, I'll wind up doing all of this as well, just so when the darn thing is done, it's ready to go. Though cheap, I'm sick of paying insurance and tags on a vehicle that's just sitting there killing my grass.
 
One thing that doesn't come up very often in DW threads is motor mounts. While bad motor mounts themselves don't necessarily cause DW, they can make a small shake a lot worse. The motor is after all the majority of the mass being tossed back and forth.

This video does a great job of showing this. Notice the opposite motion of the engine and axle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yvJuhnUYM
 
Also, the tire shop I had mount and balance my tires said that the tires didn’t balance too well.

This might be worth revisiting.

Do you have a buddy with another XJ whose tires/wheels you could swap for long enough for a test drive? Ideally a set of tires/wheels that are known to be well balanced.
 
One thing that doesn't come up very often in DW threads is motor mounts. While bad motor mounts themselves don't necessarily cause DW, they can make a small shake a lot worse. The motor is after all the majority of the mass being tossed back and forth.

This video does a great job of showing this. Notice the opposite motion of the engine and axle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yvJuhnUYM


That video is quite humorous! :worship: Thanks for sharing that.

I too had death wobble at nearly 300,000 miles. It start at about 50 MPH and end at 30 MPH. I stayed off the highway for several months because of that.
The fix?
I replaced everything on the front that moved except the shocks and the steering damper which were relatively new.

All steering knuckles;
All ball joints;
All hubs and associated bearings;
All control arm bushings;
Panhard Rod bushings;
Balanced all wheels and tires combination;
Tightened all fasteners to specs.

Did I miss something?

While I was there, I made custom steering linkages because of the extra weight exerted by Jeep WK brakes and JK OEM wheels. Did a drive way alignment which I think is maybe 90%+ accurate. I was then able to drive in excess of 85 MPH with no steering damper attached whit the XJ remaining as steady as the average family sedan.

I have since re-installed the steering damper (needed a clamp to fit the drag link),... peace of mind and legal liability issues.

A person do not have to do what I did, change everything. However, every part, every item that you have to question whether or not it is good should be replaced. Your well being and that of everyone else in the same area of town as you are depends on those questionable parts.
 
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That is funny! Where's the trackbar?
 
He said "Panhard Rod". Same exact thing.
 
This might be worth revisiting.

Do you have a buddy with another XJ whose tires/wheels you could swap for long enough for a test drive? Ideally a set of tires/wheels that are known to be well balanced.



The jeep has sadly taken the back burner as the motor has $h!t the bed. Had a lifter fail. Not a big deal but seeing as it’s lived 9 months with very low oil pressure ( 10 psi ) it’s due for a rebuild again. So now my project truck takes the lead as it needs less work to be reliable.

As far as the jeep goes, I have no good balanced tires to test with. Hell the jeep drove fine with 33x12.50 boggers on it, well maybe a little wobble but not so bad as to be death wobble. Those 15 year old tires have failed though. Thanks everyone who participated in helping. So far I haven’t changed the hub assembly’s, upper/lower ball joints, the control arms themselves, the steering box spacer, ( although when I swapped the box to a known good one it looked fine. So I’ll call it inspected) and steering dampener. Also I am running some 1.5” wheel spacers if that brings anything into this


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Something I just ran across on the kid's 97, I can't verify it's fixed it but it assuredly has been contributing...
-axle shaft ujoints, or damage to the yoke ears. The passenger side on his jeep has tons of slop, and the I error shaft has a cap that is either glued or welded on - poorly. This caused the shaft to oscillate back and forth in the axle tube, just with manual movement. I can see this being a source of intermittent wobble.
-hub bearing. Probably related to the above, the hub bearing is notch on this side. I can also see this relating to the issue.
I haven't done the driver side yet, and the vehicle is deadlined as I sheered two of three hub bolts trying to get it off. New hardware arrives Tuesday, I'm hoping for a shakedown ride by Wednesday evening.
 
I have had worn brake pad sliders on the knuckle causing the pads to hang up causing death wobble.
A sticky caliper will as well.
Lots of potential causes you just need to keep picking away at it

WOW. I'm having wobble issues as well and before it started, I changed the rotors and pads on the front.

How is a sticky caliper and sliders diagnosed?
 
WOW. I'm having wobble issues as well and before it started, I changed the rotors and pads on the front.

How is a sticky caliper and sliders diagnosed?

Bright red, glowing rotor behind the wheel, smoke, odor, etc. If the paint is cooked off of the pad's backsides, the caliper is sticking.
 
Bright red, glowing rotor behind the wheel, smoke, odor, etc. If the paint is cooked off of the pad's backsides, the caliper is sticking.

Thanks. I'll be giving them a good check after church tomorrow.
 
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