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Right hand drive death wobble!

Righthanddrivexj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
San francisco
Run down.
1995 jeep cherokee 4dr 4x4 sport japan import.
Ome v8 front springs with 2inch poly spacer at the top as included from dpg off road.
Ome shocks
Ome packs with 1 additional ome leaf
Ironman4x4 upper and lower control arms
Ironrock track bar and mount
Rustys drop pitman and hd tie rod
3 new tre's and drag link and sleeves
Re front sway bar drop brackets
Added kyb universal steering stabilizer kit
Jks quick disconnects
New moog ball joints
New wheel bearings
New pads and rotors
Roadforce balanced duratrac 31x10.5 goodyears
Alignment specs have changed between low and high caster numbers and toe has gone in and out.

35+ and you nail a bump with the right side and it triggers it. Will not get triggerd by bumps on the left side. Left hand freeway sweepers feel good. Right hand sweepers dont. No vibration no symptoms or warnings of occurance. Aside from this issue truck is great.


Im a automotive tech and have lifted and solved death wobble issues on multiple jeeps and fords and just can not figure this one out. Everything suspension and steering related has less than 300 miles. Nothing left to replace except gear box but gear box doesnt have any play in it. Ideas?suggestions? Are right hand drives not meant to be lifted? Thanks
 
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Did you replace the axle side control arm bushings also ? Axle the is centered under the frame ? Frame is not cracked at the steering box ?

A drop pitman arm is unnecessary, may be contributing to the problem, and should be removed. Toe should be about 1/16" toe-in.
 
Well your Jeep suffers from all the same ailments as a regular one but with the exception of good available parts.
Did Ironman fab you a special trackbar set-up?
Road force balancing usually means they had difficulty balancing your tires/wheels!
Have you performed the steering wheel test with 2 people to see what's moving?
A pic of your set-up would be helpful!
 
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Axle side bushings replaced with oem parts. No craxking on frame. Even spot welded all the seams in the front end hopeing it would help. Ironrockoffroad has a rhd track bar and bracket on the shelf nothing custom. Tires only roadforced to rule out a balancing issue. Only added drop pitman to see if helped the problem.
 
New control arm lengths, What are they when measured against the OEM ones? What are the caster numbers?
 
Thats one thing im not sure of. I have it adjusted to the point wher the track bar lines up into its bracket without binding. Caster is currently at the max given spec of 8degrees positive. Ive had caster on its low range and even set it thru the pinion before. With 2 people steering and watching nothing has play. The frame obviously flexes a bit but all xjs ive seen do that. Track bar frame mount works its way loose after 2-3 dw occurances but i feel like thats due to dw. Im ready to try anything at this point. Should i pull drop pitman and set arms to xx length and realign?? I feel like its not lifted enough to have these issues.
 
One other thing I forgot to mention is the truck sags a bit to the front right. I ordered some 1/2 inch poly spacers to level it out. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Is the iro not a good track bar? Should I set the upper arms to 15 inches? Should I set caster with my alignment machine or set pinion angle? Should I weld the track bar bracket to the frame? Thanks for all the replies so far.
 
Wobbled out holes in the mounting points for control arms and track bar can cause problems. The seem tight but will move under load. Try painting over the bolts/brackets then drive and see if any of the paint has been chafed.
 
Make sure your rear spring bushings are not shot and while you are at it, check the motor/tranny mounts.

Difference in trigger direction could in extreme instances be linked to a bad wheel bearing.
 
Thats one thing im not sure of. I have it adjusted to the point wher the track bar lines up into its bracket without binding. Caster is currently at the max given spec of 8degrees positive. Ive had caster on its low range and even set it thru the pinion before. With 2 people steering and watching nothing has play. The frame obviously flexes a bit but all xjs ive seen do that. Track bar frame mount works its way loose after 2-3 dw occurances but i feel like thats due to dw. Im ready to try anything at this point. Should i pull drop pitman and set arms to xx length and realign?? I feel like its not lifted enough to have these issues.

My XJ is sitting at 4" of lift and 5 degrees of caster and run grate at highway speeds i.e. up 80 MPH. The factory specified of up to 8 degrees may be too much. The 1996 XJ manual say 5.25 to 8.0 degrees is acceptable with 8 being the highest point. It is rumored that a lifted XJ with larger wheels work better at below/less than the factory caster settings.

Everything and I mean everything on the front end that is loose, working loose or questionable need to be re-evaluated,...no exceptions. Old_Man posts about bolt holes becoming elongated should be looked at and remedied. Check the tires for bubbles and delamination,...bumps where it touches the ground. I experienced one on the left front that kept trying to tear the front half of the XJ from the rear every time it hit a bump or pothole above 45 MPH. When driving, if I pay enough attention I feel an up and down bounce like one would get from bad shocks for one or two seconds before it transitioned into a full blown death wobble. At slow speeds that tire had an up and down bounce which seem to disappear at highway speed and therein lies the danger.

There at braces that could/should be added to tie both frames together to minimize flexing. Some are attached frame to frame. I built mine and is attached to the track bar bracket on one side and the frame on the other side.

I was surprised recently to discover the large number of solid front axle vehicles that are plagued by the dreaded death wobble both with coil springs and leaf springs. I was also surprised to find that a right hand drive vehicle death wobble usually start with the right front wheel and left hand drive it start with the left wheel. The two times (not two single times,...it usually take weeks to get than monster under control) over 16 years my XJ had death wobble it always seem to start with the left wheel doing an up and down motion.

Here is a bit of reading when time permit.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fixed-the-death-wobble.930337/

Here is another one. There is also some where there a GM pickup exhibiting the same behavior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GupYHM1pCcY
 
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You shouldn't be seeing any flex in the rails, if you are there are a couple things you could do. A good bumper, or trackbar brace, or even frame stiffeners. How's your steering box brace and hardware?
 
Make sure your rear spring bushings are not shot and while you are at it, check the motor/tranny mounts.

Difference in trigger direction could in extreme instances be linked to a bad wheel bearing.

Twelve years ago my '93 RHD had difficult to resolve death wobble. It turned out to be a broken left side engine mount. When I replaced it with an aftermarket mount the death wobble had gone.

I don't know if anyone sells an after market right side engine mount for a RHD XJ. They are different, they have a smaller foot to clear the steering shaft.
 
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frame and track bar holes are not elongated at all. truck has very low mileage and doesn't seem to have been put threw any abuse. But yes I did paint around the bolts to verify that they are not moving. spring bushing? if by that you mean leaf spring bushings the packs are new ome units with factory bushings pressed in. Back end feels great and I feel has nothing to do with whats going on with the front and I've already replaced both wheel bearings. Both motor mounts have been replace with oem chrysler units from rock auto. Trans mount is generic brand unit but also new. Steering box brace? The triangle piece behind the gear box? Its there and intact steering box bolts are tight and do not shift or walk around. Already welded in a plate to prevent gear box tear out. The flex is just a little rotational load twist on the rail as the track bar leverages off it. But my last LHD xj did the same thing and so does my buddy's current xj. I wanted to get a track bar/steering box brace but they nothing on the shelf for RHD xjs. What initial length should I set my control arms? 15 inches? And techno are you running toe in or toe out? I read the info you posted and they say on a front tie rod lay out you want toe out to pre-load the tie rod. Should I weld the track bar bracket to the frame? and remove the drop pitman?
 
My XJ is driveway aligned so it could be off some.

The work shop manual (a CD based I bought 10+ years ago) call for 0 degrees toe but the OK range is -0.107 to +0.125 degrees. Mine is set to 0 according to my tape measure.

Caster is set to about 5.5 degrees using a construction type angle finder after adjusting for the 3 degrees drive way slope.
 
Are you using the axle end adapter drop bracket supplied by IRO?
DPP_00022.jpg
 
Are you using the axle end adapter drop bracket supplied by IRO?
I'm not sure i know what you mean. I'm using the same track bar you posted a picture of a long with the frame mount. It bolts up to stock tb mount on the front axle. Does any one have an answer to my questions about upper arm length? Or the need for the drop pitman? Thanks for all the feedback.
 
Feedback. I dropped the whole front axle today.Arms,steering,track bar. I put a small poly spring spacer on the front right to level it out, set the front upper control arms to 15 inches. Rechecked for elongated holes in the frame they are fine.Hung the axle back up and tightened everything while it was on the ground to avoid bushing preload. Now I didn't have time to throw it on the alignment rack but the lower control arms are closed to their shortest length and it still looks like my caster is very positive/pinion pointing down. Went on a quick test drive down a dw inducing stretch of road and BAM its still there, even easier to trigger. Obviously I cant really assume anything so far because I haven't actually got it on the rack. Tomorrow I'm going to set some toe out and double check the caster numbers. If that doesn't work then I'll pull the drop pitman and go back to stock length pitman. Anyone else using the iron man fab control arm? Are they built to a certain height minimum? do I start adjusting caster from the top arms if in fact it is too positive? :hang::dunno: Thanks!
 
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Further feedback truck still got death wobble. So I got the truck on the alignment rack and set some toe out. caster is in fact stuck at 8 degrees.Do I need to buy different lower control arms that have a shorter collapsed length in order to set caster less positive? Or can I go ahead and extend the upper arms to say 15.25 to get some of the caster out or I have no adjustment up there? I have jks adjustable quick disconnects and a sway bar drop, Can sway bar angle cause death wobble? Should I pull the drop brackets? I cant see it having an effect but I'm willing to try anything at this point. This thing just doesn't soak bumps consistently. I feel like I'm running out of options with this thing. And Monday hopefully I can weld a bar that goes rail to rail to stiffen the frame up a bit. Anyone else running the iro track bar on a rhd? Sorry I haven't figured out how to post pics off my phone yet but soon as I do I'll post em. Thanks
 
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