Swapped to new suspension and NOW I have steering shimmy?

jtszymano · Apr 30, 2003

I have done tons of reading and I thought I would ask here(and JU)before embarking on where/who I should go to first...

But first a little background...
I had 3" all around, with a track bar relocation bracket and slightly longer LCA's. Not one bit of wobble or shimmy at any speeds!

So, I swapped the above with UC stuff and now I have a steering wheel shimmy at 50mph and it really is pretty much at 50mph and then fades.

SO, if I had no shimmy before what do you think its from??

I have the same tires and I also got an alignment(everything was on spec I think except for the camber which was slightly off)...

What else could it be....tire weight fell off?? I dont know, doubt it. BUT my main question is: How should I proceed/where should I go?? Thanks guys!JTS

gw204 · Apr 30, 2003

My completely stock 2000 2-dr does the exact same thing. So did my stock '88 4-dr until I had the tires balanced and rotated. Getting new tires on the '00 soon (the original Wranger RTSs suck!!) and I expect the problem to be resolved.

Have the tires balanced before doing anything else.

Good luck.

Brian

Ronbo · Apr 30, 2003

gw204 said:
Have the tires balanced before doing anything else.

Ditto. Been through the same thing numerous times. With soft shocks it was always obvious when my tires were out of whack. It's easy to spot tire shops that do half a$$ed tire balancing too.

dave · Apr 30, 2003

before you spend money on mounting/ balancing make sure all 4 tires are at the same pressure.. also make sure they are at the correct pressure

Loose_Nuts_Enterprises · Apr 30, 2003

You didn't mention what size tires you have. The alignment is usually done from the rim, so factory spec for toe in with the puny 28" tires may be fine, but when you put say 33 or 35 inch tires on it, the toe in may be way too much. Do your own alignment with no toe or maybe 1/8 inch at most at the outside edge of the tires.
Keep in mind, this is only theory, but it's working for me.

Hope this helps, Dan

rockwerks · Apr 30, 2003

make sure toe in is set at Zero!

jtszymano · Apr 30, 2003

I actually put 30" on it.

Hey what do you think about the camber being slightly higer than the specified range??

Lastly, can local shops(ie not offroad) adjust camber?? Thanks JTS

jtszymano · Apr 30, 2003

can camber be adjusted w/ stock set-up??

jalehman · Apr 30, 2003

I think that you mean castor, and yes, it can be adjusted.

jtszymano · Apr 30, 2003

no, I meant camber.
Caster in normal! JTS

jalehman · Apr 30, 2003

Why? Is your axle bent?

jtszymano · May 1, 2003

no thats just one of the numbers that was off when I had it aligned...

Can the average shop adjust camber?? thanks

EDIT: I found out that the camber cannot be adjusted unless you have offset ball joints...

jtszymano · May 1, 2003

Umm, how many people get bent axles...I have no idea why I would but you never know...

Do you think the shop just screwed up when they said the camber was off??

RCP Phx · May 1, 2003

What are your alignment numbers?

jtszymano · May 1, 2003

OK here are the #'s:

Left front-

Camber) -1 (per the stat sheet, this is the only one not normal)
Caster)6.4
Toe) .04

Right front-

Camber) -0.2
Caster) 6.7
Toe) 0.04

So, even though the left front camber is off the total front is within spec...
Tell me what you guys think!

Flowers · May 1, 2003

jtszymano,

A shimmy in the 50 mph range is typically a tire out of balance. First thing I would do is rotate the tires and see what happens.

I'm not sure what camber specs are, but if the left front is out of spec. it may be A. Blown ball joint. or B. Blown hub bearing. on that side. That is highly unlikely since it's a 2001, and your only running 30's. Jack the front left up and try to wiggle the front tire left to right and up and down. Tell us what you find out.

Flowers

jtszymano · May 2, 2003

Ok, Ill try that. But you know I was going to rotate the tires last night but I said why do that when they probably need to get balanced anyway. But crap I should have done it anyway.

I did have a 3" lift on until about 1 month ago, so ball joints could be messed up...what other types of symptoms would I have w/ ball joints and the other stuff you guys mentioned??

Thanks!

Swapped to new suspension and NOW I have steering shimmy?

jtszymano

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