newer style knuckles on xj d30 which previously had 2 piece knuckles?

so i did an axle swap with one that was geared and locked, and now i have death wobble. i went through everything, and i cant find the issue. the last thing really left is the ball joints, which seemed good when i swapped it in.
the d30 i put in was an older one which had the 2 piece knuckles. my jeep is a 91, which had the newer one piece knuckles, so i swapped everything over to the new axle so i didnt have to mess with the different brakes and whatnot.

after doing some research, i noticed that the old knuckles had the threaded insert to adjust for the height of the ball joints, where the new knuckles dont have that. i seem to remember that the newer ball joints had vertical travel in them to make up for differences in dimensions instead.
so are the old ball joints incompatible with the new knuckles, potentially causing my DW?

I dunno either, but is there a different PN for the balljoints for renix vs ho/later? If so maybe it is the cause. I was under the impression that an XJ balljoint was just that.

Johnnie Walker said:

I dunno either, but is there a different PN for the balljoints for renix vs ho/later? If so maybe it is the cause. I was under the impression that an XJ balljoint was just that.

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^ this... your DW is something else.

my parts catalog at napa shows 84-99 as the same part number.

i know that, but that doesnt mean the newer ball joints aren't compatible with the older knuckles, so they discontinued anything old knuckle specific. something is wrong.... i KNOW i tightened the ball joints damn tight and i checked them today and one was loose. i specifically remember tightening them since it was a few weeks ago.
didnt fix the DW when i tightened it, but just gave me a bad feeling.

how do the nuts on a ball joint come loose with a cotter pin?

i agree with clean4drxj. i think your DW is something else. or you could replace them.

VAhasnoWAVES said:

how do the nuts on a ball joint come loose with a cotter pin?

i agree with clean4drxj. i think your DW is something else. or you could replace them.

Click to expand...

that's where i think there's an issue.... i dont think the original ball joints for the old style knuckles had the vertical movement like the new style, they compensated with that threaded insert instead. since i put on the new knuckles with the old ball joints, it quite possibly was "fighting" the other ball joint, so to speak, instead of tightening down in the taper.
The cotter pin was still in there and there's no way the nut could have loosened, so i dont think it's seated properly. it did feel tight though when i tightened it, both times. i think i'll see if the upper ball joint is spring loaded like the newer style. if not, then i think that's the issue.

When my ball joints go out (4) now its more of a darting/ messy steering but never death wobble. Have you done the inspection? Prybar under the tire lifting up and looking for play/seperation?

Weren't you saying you have never had death wobble in another thread? Guess you should have knocked harder on wood...lol