shake rattle and roll....in a bad way!!!

Hey all. A little history about my xj. It is a 95 with a 3 inch Rusty's spring pack lift installed about 2 years ago. I have had absolutely NO problems out of anything suspension related since the lift was installed up till now. I was driving down the interstate the other day doing around 75 or so, and was rounding a slight corner and hit a small pothole in the road(the interstates in Arkansas are not the best in the world). I thought the front end was about to fall out from under the jeep. It started shaking and rattling everything from the headlights to the taillights. It almost shook the steering wheel out of my hands. I got it slowed down, and it stopped. I drove around for most of the rest of the day with no issues, but again, I was rounding another corner(much slower this time just in case) and it did the same thing. Didn't quit shaking until I got slowed down enough to get pulled over on the side of the road. Then it stopped, and acted like nothing ever happened. I had to leave to go to work right after that, and haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I am getting back home in a week, and am hoping to have some ideas as to what to look at first so I can get this fixed. Any ideas or help would be just awesome!!! Also, kind of off subject, but is anyone here even remotely close to me. I live in Marion, Arkansas, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Seems like I am the only one around here that hangs out in here....lol We'll see I guess. Oh well, thanks for the help in advance.

How old are your shocks?

its may be the trac bar... ive got the same set up and when i hit the brakes at 55 slowing to 50 i get the death wobble. You can either get a new trac bar or know your jeep like the back of your hand like i do and just live with it

The shocks are about 2 years old also...they were put on when the lift was added. That is something I am getting ordered and replacing when I get home for sure. One of them has oil on the outside of it, so I know it is bad, but it has been like that for a couple of months now. Also, what would cause the trackbar to suddenly start doing this? I am going to be using my jeep for lots of highway travel soon, and am needing to fix the issue.

My vote is for shocks.

Search for "death wobble". It is caused by loose suspension or steering parts. The most common causes are loose-worn out track bar, worn tie rod ends, or worn control arm bushings. And no, a worn out steering stabilizer will not cause death wobble.hasta

Tks for the info on "death wobble", I will do a search on it and see what I can come up with. I did have my wife(what little help that was) go out and take a look at the front end of the jeep. From what she was describing, it looks like the stabilizer bar bushings are wore out. She said they were rotted and cracked and loose. I guess this is where the problem is coming from....at least I hope it is. Easy fix. Replace a couple of shocks and change my stabilizer bar bushings and see what happens. If anyone else has any ideas, tks much.

Theres no way on the sway bar!Tires are also a known cause(balance and shape).

sgtmack said:

Search for "death wobble". It is caused by loose suspension or steering parts. The most common causes are loose-worn out track bar, worn tie rod ends, or worn control arm bushings. And no, a worn out steering stabilizer will not cause death wobble.hasta

Click to expand...

x2,plus the list is even larger(do the search),theres gotta be several thousand threads on this.

I doubt it is the tires. They have been on for less than a year and have less than 8000 miles on them. they are a set of 31" Toyo Open Country's on aftermarket 15x8 aluminum rims. They still look almost new. I had a set of TSL's on before that(which I still have and am undecided on wether to keep em for trail spare's or sell em...wifey is voting for selling...lol) I could have believed they had caused it...lol So, deffinitely not the sway bar huh? Guess I'm back to square one. I am in the middle of searching the forum for "death wobble", so hopefully I can find something else out. Anything else you guys could think of would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Scroll to the bottom of this page,there are several threads there.

Same thing happened to me except that rolling part was my tire. I wasn't able to slow down fast enought from 70 and the death Wobble Detroyed my alloy rim sending my tire rolling into the other lane where it totalled a corolla! (life achievment for me) My tracbar was to blame, the tracbar tierod end was worn and the death wobble had also loosened my frame mounts on my tracbar be sure and check those out too! Hope you get it fixed death wobble is some kinda scary!

Tks for all the info. I will deffinitely check out the trackbar when I get home. Since the lift the front end hasn't set square under the jeep and I have been wanting to get an adjustable trackbar to fix this...this just might be a good reason to spend the money on it....lol