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Another Death Wobble thread. I'm stumped.

Jeep450r

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Nor*cal
96 XJ, 4.5" of lift with short arms and shackle relocators (using RC 4.5" pack with bottom leaf replaced with stock to lower it down). I am running full ruffstuff heim steering and have tried both inverted T and crossover steering setups.

I have been able to narrow it down a little bit. The death wobble attacked just after I swapped my 2" sagging POS bastard pack for the RC pack described above (with leaf swap). It drove fine before but all he'll broke loose after. Connection? I don't know.

Here's what I have done so far.

Ball joints feel fine.
All joints in the steering and track bar are tight.
Wobble at 4* caster.
Wobble at 6.5* caster.
Wobble with toe in a little too much (3/16")
Wobble with toe out 1/8"
Steering box is tight.
Frame side track bar mount is tight, axle side is a ruffstuff mount welded on (no cracks).
Heim joints with roughly 1500 miles on them - still feel tight.
Rotated my tires.
32 psi = wobble.
25psi = wobble.
Inverted T steering setup = wobble.
Crossover setup = wobble
Wheel bearings feel fine
Lug nuts are tight
Control arm bushings feel fine (what is the best way to check these?).

I am hoping to put the jeep up on the alignment rack at work soon and fine tune the toe, but I don't really think it will end up helping.

What I don't understand is how out of the blue all hell broke loose. The most recent thing I did to the start of the death wobble was change my leaf pack setup. The bushings at the shackle side are shot, but they were shot when I ran the pack previously.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I have been fighting this for close to a month now and need to stop borrowing cars to get to work.
 
how violent is it? could it be bad driveshaft vibes? if the shims are wrong, it could cause some vibes, which may transfer through the jeep and make it seem like minor DW.
is your track bar single or double shear at the body side? Tie rod end style or heim?
 
It is full on tires chirping death wobble. Have to come close to a complete stop for it to go away.

Track bar is single shear at the "frame" side with a heim joint. It has a slight forward pointing bend to help clear the pumpkin at full stuff.
 
i've seen someone beat their head against the wall trying to figure out DW, and he finally swapped out the track bar bracket for a double shear one and it completely went away. i dont think a double shear bracket is a bad investment, even though i hate throwing money at stuff.
 
if you toe it out and it goes away, your problem is either, drag link, track bar, or steering box.

make sure all of your u-joints are good, try without the front driveshaft then without the rear shaft (in 4hi front shaft connected)

check your steering box spacer, if it is cracked that will help. invest in a steering box brace and a steel steering box spacer.
 
Mine has a shimmy and my ball joints on the drive side have between a 1/16? To 1/32 of play, I generally know where mine lies but for you

Are your shocks bad? How about tires out of balance? My tie rods "looked" good but you can only crank em down so much...for the cost of stock tre's just grab 3 new ones in hopes the passenger side fixed one isn't the bad one
 
whats your caster set at.. whats your TB and draglink angles like?
Ditto here as well.

Have you wedged the front tires tight then get under the front and have someone turn the steering wheel back and fourth?

You could have frame rail flex or a soft track bar. There might even be a bad weld or cracked steel that doesn't show up under normal checking. Watching all of the steering/suspension components under stress can really point out problems.
 
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