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Death Chatter.....not death wobble

twoksl2

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Corinth, NY
first off...
90 xj, 4wd 4.0 aw4 all stock 270k ish miles
the car was sitting for over a year before i got it on the road again last fall/summer

i have what appears to be a classic case of death wobble except...
it doesn't happen all the time. the truck must be going faster then 55, it only starts after i hit a bump, or set of train tracks, or something like that. and even then i can pass over the same bump multiple times at the same speed and it doesn't do it al the time. when it does, all i have to do is slow down to 45ish and it goes away.

now i'm pretty darn sure that the shocks are shot, or nearly so. would that cause this???

this also sounds like a good time to do a suspension overhaul, bushings, shocks, springs. so maybe i'll go for a small lift at the same time. (2 or so inches, nothing that would require a transfer case drop or a sye)

i guess what i am asking is if my diagnosis is correct???

thanks

-chris
 
also forgot to add that when it happens the car is NOT all over the road like the DW seems to do. it still tracks straight and true, it just feels like i'm driving over a ton of speed-bumps one after another.

thanks for the quick reply jim
 
funny thing you just posted this, I was coming on here to post the exact same thing.

I have an 88 same set up bone stock.

my shocks are shot as well. I just bought mine and today was the first time i took it on the freeway and i had to exit very quickly. so lets keep the replies coming.
 
Shocks and tire pressure.

Sounds to me like the shocks are totally shot!!!

Good luck!
 
twoksl2 said:
hmmm... ironic


yeah mine was horriffic i thought body panels were going to start falling off.
 
I recommend starting off with a steering stabilizer, seems to fix it most of the time.
 
88 Wagonman said:
I recommend starting off with a steering stabilizer, seems to fix it most of the time.
The Bandaid will help but you need to fix the cause of the problem, looseness in steering/suspension. I'd start with steering components, have friend turn steering wheel slightly side to side enough to engage steering gear with engine off. Use your hands and feel around on all linkages and connections starting with steering box, pitman arm, tie rod ends, track bar, ball joints, or even unit bearings, and control arm bushings.
Happy hunting, and good luck.
 
Whe-e-e-e-e-e-l Balance!

Other things mentioned often contribute to how sensitive it is to imbalance, but the imbalance is the most likely starting point.

Alignment is also a possibility.

The speed range in which this happens is typical for the XJ, I don't know why. All of mine have hit the sour spot at about 57 mph.
 
thanks for the replies guys. just to keep things updated i went and had my tires balanced again today and all seems well. I took it up toaround 63 without a hint of vibrations or chatter. the shop said they were all off. they were new tires from the previous owner so i wasn't thinking it was the problem. well i was wrong.


thanks again everyone
 
I used to have a van that did the same thing. Driving along no problem and then hit a cigarette butt and the front end would go nuts. Very much like what you described here.

The problem turned out to be, if I remember right, the idler arms on the steering linkage. So if I were you start to look at the steering componants for wear.
 
funvtec said:
thanks for the replies guys. just to keep things updated i went and had my tires balanced again today and all seems well. I took it up toaround 63 without a hint of vibrations or chatter. the shop said they were all off. they were new tires from the previous owner so i wasn't thinking it was the problem. well i was wrong.


thanks again everyone


well i retract my prior statement. i took it to work without problem but on the way home it acted up again. once i hit the right bump to get it going again it continued to do it even after i slowed down to smooth things out. As soon as i got near 55 again it would start chattering again.

my next step is going to be shocks and while i'm there i will inspect everything else. its winter so its a PITA to crawl under this thing rite now. i have already taken a quick look and grabbed the track bar and drag link and tried to budge them and they all seem tight.

i'll keep this updated as i go to make this a worth while thread for those searchiong later on.
 
If you can grab it by hand and move it, you wouldn't be driving it.

My wife thinks it's funny, I had to change my alt. during a blizzard.
I put on my coveralls and grabbed my 6yr olds purple saucer, wife got upset thinking I'm going sledding. "Yeah in the driveway, wanna go?"
 
well haha this is turning into a bit bit of a headache. i walked around the jeep today and had a look at the wheel weights that were just put on. However 1 wheel was absent of any weights. i'm guessing that 1 flew off and it started to act up agian. i had the truck up to 73ish mph on the way to work that day without problems and now i cant take it above 55 seems like this is likely what happened.

i'm going tonight to have them rerebalanced and hopefully a new tight wheelweight put in place. i will mark each one with a sharpie when all is said and done so it this does happen again it will be obvious that 1 is missing.
 
We replaced the front axle on our 99', yesterday it started the death wobble.

I checked every joint when installing the new axle.
Wondering why the truck shook so violently, we hit a pot hole and about 5 pounds of snow came flying off the front passenger side rim.

It was fine after that... heh
 
Mine's got a little extra wrench to throw into this business... Was doing the death wobble on bridge connections, occasional pothole, just like everyone's been mentioning. Came time to rotate the tires, and the whole business went away! Never came back, not once. Then came time to rotate them back, and the problem came right back! I figured it HAD to be a balance issue. Took it to the mechanic, they said it was probably the steering stabilizer. I told them, look, just balance the tires anyway. Got it back from them, still doing the wobble. Maybe they're right about the steering stabilizer, but why did I have no problem when this set was on the rear? I'm really trying to work it out, the only thing coming to mind right now is wear pattern. The set currently on the front has lots of wear on the sides, set currently on the rear has lots of wear in the center. Could the wider width of good tread on the set currently on the back have kept it in line a little more when they were on the front? '96, 6cyl, man. Problem feels like it really emenates from the driver's side, but I can't swear by that.

funvtec said:
well haha this is turning into a bit bit of a headache. i walked around the jeep today and had a look at the wheel weights that were just put on. However 1 wheel was absent of any weights. i'm guessing that 1 flew off and it started to act up agian. i had the truck up to 73ish mph on the way to work that day without problems and now i cant take it above 55 seems like this is likely what happened.

i'm going tonight to have them rerebalanced and hopefully a new tight wheelweight put in place. i will mark each one with a sharpie when all is said and done so it this does happen again it will be obvious that 1 is missing.
 
I just changed my shocks this weekend after i had that tire rebalanced. I've been up to 70 mph and hit the same pot holes and bridge transitions that caused the problem before. It seems to have subsided, its been since Saturday and several freeway runs without a problem so i think it finally went away. Don't get me wrong the front end still needs some work but at least now its drivable without problem.

in conclusion if someone else is having a bad chattering problem ( not a side to side motion ) i would suggest looking into the tire balance and shocks. Mainly because they are the cheapest thing to look into repairing and it seems to have worked for my case. Also if the problem seems to have gone away only to come back check to see if your wheel weights have flown off.
 
just got mine back from the shop, had been acting up just like you posted, he said my shocks where absolutely destroyed.......Time for a Bigger Lift :guitar:

doug
 
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