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Unsolvable Death Wobble

N

nrwphoto

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Appleton, WI
Alright I have a 98' that I recently installed a DPG 2.5" Ultimate OME kit on and now I have horrible death wobble. For reference I had the front end rebuilt 2 years ago, all new bushings, tie rod ends and bearings. The steering stabilizer is a 1 year old Rancho that looks in good shape (not leaking).

After the install with thumb nail alignment Jeep tracked straight and went on 100mi test drive and 4 wheeling. All was good until almost home when I got the death wobble.

Re-torqued all bolts, test drive = death wobble.

Had girlfriend turn steering wheel while I looked underneath. Everything looked good with no play except the JKS track bar had slight flex at adjuster (1-2 deg), but mounts were solid. Cranked on Jam nut, looked tight from additional inspection, test drive = death wobble.

Took Jeep in for tire balance and rotation (Goodyear Silent Armor with 8/32 left), tires looked good, test drive = death wobble.

Take Jeep in for laser wheel alignment and inspection at well respected local shop. He said that the Toe was out a bit, but everything else looked good and my thumb nail alignment was pretty good. As it sat caster was at 6 deg. Test drive = death wobble

I am at a loss on what else it could be. I have been fighting this for over a month now and I am getting to the point where I am nervous to drive it. Thanks in advance.
 
Ball joints?
Gear box play?
How much dead spot do you have in the steering wheel? With tires off the ground, crank the wheel back & forth as well as manually turn the wheels lock to lock. Gear box, I've heard but not experienced, can be the cause.
Also, just because it was replaced 2 years ago does not necessarily mean it's still good. Get a smallish pry bar and check each bushing in the front end, each ball joint, all of it.
 
get a breaker bar. put a 18mm on it. Tighten the 4 bolts that hold the trackbar bracket. you cannot verify that the frame side is tight until you have cranked on it. same goes for the axle side bolt .
 
Do you have the adapter deal that goes into the stock trackbar frame mount for the JKS trackbar? That might be loose. I switched to a Clayton trackbar bracket for this reason. I think it's what was causing mine.
 
so you have already Verified:




all LCA/UCA bushings are new/good.
breaker bar on anything to do with the trackbar, tight as hell
Ball joints are new/good
TREs are all new/good
Unit bearings are all new /good
with the following:

all new bushings, tie rod ends and bearings. The steering stabilizer is a 1 year old Rancho that looks in good shape (not leaking).


Then I am 100% certain you have either worn track bar joints or bushings, or the mounts are not 100% tight. Like really freaking tight.
 
I would first loosen everything, make sure vehicle is on an flat even surface make sure nothing has any load on it (bounce Jeep a few times) then re-tighten everything cranked down. If it worked fine then didn't after some wheeling then you may have had only one loose component. Just for arguments sake think about your control arms being tightened at a certain degree which should all be equal and if one is not then it will all be out of whack. If you have one point of the eight points of connection on your control arms with some pre-load your suspension is going to try and compensate for it and this can cause death wobble. I have fixed the wobble on a few XJ's this way.
 
I'm still blaming the play in the adjustment on the Track bar. Ya doesn't sound like much but everyone knows how a tiny bit can cause giant shakes. I say start there and make sure you didn't damage threads on either side.
 
I went through the same deal when I bought my 97. (All stock) I found my track bar bushing was bad, swapped in a replacement and it seemed to cure it, and about 9 months later the wobble was back, this time the ball joint on the track bar was toast.

So in with a new one, replaced a questionable TRE, and a new stabilizer that I had left over from my trail rig that does not run one and it was still there. Got tires balanced, still there. After that I took it to get an alignment. They said the ball joints had to much play to adjust anything but the toe.

After that it was fine for the 600miles of vacation, but the first day back to work it started again, it happened 3 times on the way home. As of now I haven't bothered replacing anything on it since its just a spare Jeep any who.

So the point of that rambling is check your ball joints, non OEM seems to last about 1/16 of the time as the factory stuff. If they are good, move to the suspension bushings, then steering box and so on.
 
You need to strike a balance between good pinion angle and steering geometry. The D30 is sensitive to changes in caster. Without rotating the knuckles the best you can hope for is a half decent pinion angle with acceptable but not perfect caster.
 
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