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Front end shake

T

tntberol

NAXJA Forum User
Location
nebraska
You guy's are my last resort! I have a 98 XJ, 3.5 RE lift,30 in BFG's, Teraflex adjustable trac bar. My problem is every time I get above 50mph the front starts to shake violently. I've had the lift on for about two years and it has just started a month or two ago. I've taken it to 4 different shops and nobody has a clue. Everything underneath seems to be pretty tight, I've had it alined and the tires balanced twice, new steering stabilizer, removed the front drive shaft, replaced a bushing in the track bar even put the stock tires back on and it still did it! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
That's called Death Wobble. Have your alignment checked out & reset, it's usually a combination of caster & toe.

-jb
 
Also check your knuckles, my buddy got one of his wheels hung up on a root last time we went wheeling and winched against it. Long story short it elongated the tie rod mount on the knuckle and he ended up with DW.
 
Also check the health of your control arm bushings... as they wear and soften of crack they can allow DW to rear its ugly head.
 
My problem wasn't with alignment but rather the tires just being old. I replaced the tires and it fix my prolem. It happened twice to me, both times the root of the problem was old super swampers that were balanced. I had replaced everything except tires before I finally got it fixed. If you can find someone that has the same size tires and trade them for a test drive. HTH DuG
 
I did talk to someone from RE and he suggested maximum toe-in and minimun camber, but didn't say anything about caster. What should it be? As far as the tracbar, what's the best way to measure it and how long or short should it be? I'm still learning about all this stuff so bear with me!

Thanks again!
 
You want minimum toe-in,camber isnt ajustable,and the best compromise between caster/pinion angle.Trackbar length is not very critical although you may be getting a little bump-steer along with the TRE starting to wear!You might consider up-grading the trackbar to the RE1660 w/ bracket.I got DW after my first lift and only 3k miles on mine.After the RE bar and 5 other lifts,still no sign of DW!
 
The more I read about DW, and experienced it myself, the more I believe it's a combination of things. It may be time to go through your front end, including the sway bar, and replace all your bushings, re-torque nuts and bolts, and do some basic maintainence.

I went wheeling last weekend and took my disconnects off and forgot about them. On my way down the highway, I got the shakes, real bad. Had a few shots and re-installed my d-conns and the venerable DW disapeared.

Just my two cents.
 
No, the trackbars are basically the same. Did you move it out, make it longer after you lifted? Mine had DW really bad 'cuz I didn't move mine out. I made it 1/2-5/8" longer and it went away.
 
tntberol said:
The tracbar I have now is a Teraflex HD adjustable. It is only about 7 months old. Is there a difference between the two?
Click to expand...

There is a major difference between the two,mainly putting the pivot motion in the correct "plane".The Tera-flex is nothing more than a larger version of stock and subject to all the problems of a "stocker".The RE1660 tops the 1600 model by adding the Superflex joint which is the key!
 
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