Death Wobble?

I was driving down a highway at about 65 MPH this evening and when I went around a corner, it felt like I was driving over a washboard. The front tires felt like they were leaving the ground. I added a two inch lift this weekend (http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=927683) and I'm wondering if this is the dreaded "death wobble" that I keep hearing about.

I think I may need new balljoints and I know I need an alignment, but I'm wondering which would be best to start with.

balance tires then do alignment,

if you have play in your balljoints the alignment will be innacurate and a waste of $

Worn front end parts are what cause the dreaded "death wobble". Lift kits and larger tires will amplify the effect, but you can pretty much bet the problem starts with worn out parts. Do not lift a vehicle that's not been checked out for these problems!!! Biggest culpret in my experience...Track bar...

bfred said:

Worn front end parts are what cause the dreaded "death wobble".

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X100!!!

I finally figured mine out today. I lifted 4.5 a couple weeks ago.with stock control arms. Had bad DW. Put on SkyCrapper LCA's (Got em used for cheap). That helped a lot but after the alighnment it was still there,better but still there. Finnaly I found that the drag link end was just a little loose. Once I fixed that. It was gone and hasn't happened since.

i did a 3.5" lift and did not get this dreaded "death wobble" i am even using my stock track bar and it rides fine, however, it does pull to the right (getting alignment wendsday) and its a 91 too. however, after going though the mudrun, i got this "death wobble" but as it turns out, i simply did not get all the mud out of the tires. so have your tires balenced, tighten down all your bolts, and get an alignment, this is the most common cause.

kd5dwy said:

I was driving down a highway at about 65 MPH this evening and when I went around a corner, it felt like I was driving over a washboard. The front tires felt like they were leaving the ground. I added a two inch lift this weekend (http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=927683) and I'm wondering if this is the dreaded "death wobble" that I keep hearing about.

I think I may need new balljoints and I know I need an alignment, but I'm wondering which would be best to start with.

Click to expand...

it's always tons of fun to loose control of your vehicle going 65 MPH. Aint it. Mine was my caster angle... but at 2 inchs of lift I don't think your caster angle was effected enough to cause DW. But ya never know! My XJ has a mind of it's own...

Get an alignment, ball joints, worn parts will all still work if the truck is properly aligned. I know people with blown TRE's and someone else with balljoint soo bad you can see the tires lean. They both are smooth on the road. why? Proper alignment. The only worn part that I belive will cause DW is a track bar. Pay special attention to the Caster angle when they give you the printout. They wont usually adjust caster at a shop but you can do it with shims and/or adjustable control arms. Caster should be 5-7* a little less and the wheel might be "shimmying" but will cure death wobble, I have to go to like 4.5* on 2.5" lift to be DW free. An old set of RE instalation instructions actually reccomends 4* to cure DW.