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death wobble?

BLUECHEROKEE744

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Carolina
I have a 4.5 inch RE lift on my 98 cherokee w/ 2.5 inch spacers just installed. I'm running 33's and its a REALLY bumpy ride. The steering wheel shakes pretty bad. Is this normal? I have the track bar that came w/ RE 4.5 inch lift. I'm getting a longer trac bar, will that help? and when I brake it vears to the right, is there something i can do to get rid of this or make it not as bad? I put in jks adj. control upper and lower and my pinion angle is off. i'm gonna get that fixed, will that help any? I'm also gonna get the control arm drop brackets i just have to get some money.
 
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So, you're at 7"?

This steering wheel shake, is it a wobble in the wheel that increases when you start picking up speed, or is it induced by hitting a bump, or is it a driveline vibration? If you have an angle finder, you can do a rough caster measurement by taking how far off vertical the diff cover is based upon some information on go-jeep's websight. http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

the car veering right in braking may be due to the trackbar and draglink relationship. Run stiffer front shocks to prevent nose dive on braking if you still have trouble after getting the trackbar and draglink best you can.
 
yea I'm at 7", I got an alignment on 7/22/05, and my caster is -1.3, I think the ideal is between 6-8. I'm gonna fix that thursday. The steering wheel just shakes when I'm driving. I don't think its the driveshaft b/c i had a brand new one put in w/ my 4.5 lift. Would a new tie rod help? Is a tie rod same thing as a drag link. Any other suggestions?
 
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The wobble is almost surely because your caster is set at -1.3. Driving it at this setting is dangerously unstable. Even when I had a LP dana 30 at 5.5" I got 2.5 degrees caster and tolerable front driveshaft vibe. What you need to do is make the UCA's shorter and/or the LCA's longer to bring the caster back. This shouldn't be too challenging. Adjust each arm individually, and use a small jack and a pipe wrench to help rotate the axle where you want it.
New tie rod and drag link won't really help if the caster is that far off. You can street stock steering for a little bit while you get the control arms and trackbar in place. After that, I'd recommend some steering upgrades if you plan to abuse it.
 
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