Death Wobble after WJ knuckle in stall...

[northwestxj]

I heard that a steering damper just masks the problem and DW will come back

yep, it's like a band aid. If everything is setup right you shouldn't need to have it.

 

[vegas_baja]

I also had bad death wobble after my wj swap.
With everything new on the axle, I started to think it was my tires.
It ended up being a bad bushing in my lower control arm.
I must have damaged it when I took out the old axle, or installing the new axle.
Either way, look at all the joints on the front.

 

[gorman]

Why I still think that one needs a steering damper is because everything on my front suspension was replaced with new stuff when I did the WJ knuckles - even my diff was swapped out with a HP D30 as part of the process and I fitted new adjustable upper and lower control arms.

If it IS true that a steering damper is only a nice to have and not a neccesity and I have to go search for something that might be causing my DW without steering damper there might be three possibilities I can think of. One is I've noticed at about 80km/h sometimes I get a slight wobble through my steering wheel as if a wheel is out of balance (even though they are balanced) - I had this prior to the WJ knuckle swap as well. Second is I know I have a very slight buckle on my right rear wheel (think the side shaft might be slightly bent) and third is that I'm running short arms on a 6" lift in the stock position which I know isn't ideal and I'll most likely fix it with drop brackets.

 

[POLAR_JEEP_04]

Why I still think that one needs a steering damper is because everything on my front suspension was replaced with new stuff when I did the WJ knuckles - even my diff was swapped out with a HP D30 as part of the process and I fitted new adjustable upper and lower control arms.

If it IS true that a steering damper is only a nice to have and not a neccesity and I have to go search for something that might be causing my DW without steering damper there might be three possibilities I can think of. One is I've noticed at about 80km/h sometimes I get a slight wobble through my steering wheel as if a wheel is out of balance (even though they are balanced) - I had this prior to the WJ knuckle swap as well. Second is I know I have a very slight buckle on my right rear wheel (think the side shaft might be slightly bent) and third is that I'm running short arms on a 6" lift in the stock position which I know isn't ideal and I'll most likely fix it with drop brackets.

ding ding ding

 

[Boostwerks.com]

Why I still think that one needs a steering damper is because everything on my front suspension was replaced with new stuff when I did the WJ knuckles - even my diff was swapped out with a HP D30 as part of the process and I fitted new adjustable upper and lower control arms.

If it IS true that a steering damper is only a nice to have and not a neccesity and I have to go search for something that might be causing my DW without steering damper there might be three possibilities I can think of. One is I've noticed at about 80km/h sometimes I get a slight wobble through my steering wheel as if a wheel is out of balance (even though they are balanced) - I had this prior to the WJ knuckle swap as well. Second is I know I have a very slight buckle on my right rear wheel (think the side shaft might be slightly bent) and third is that I'm running short arms on a 6" lift in the stock position which I know isn't ideal and I'll most likely fix it with drop brackets.

You can have all new parts and still have DW... why? Because DW is simply stored energy (more often than not from the tires) being released caused by certain parts fighting each other. Also, small variances such as rubber bushings easily allow that energy to be stored and released making DW much more of a problem. Utilizing hard joints in specific areas and taking care to make sure everything is setup correctly is the best way to eliminate DW.

Hardjoints make it much harder for energy to be stored and released. Because of that I highly reccomend hard joints on both ends of the TB, and on at least one end of each control arm.

 

[jdxj]

No it doesnt. Bad angles don't cause deathwobble, just bumpsteer.


Something else is wrong.

Agreed something else is wrong

I just finished this swap. Boy a lot of work. I had to raise the TB over the axle to0 stay out of the way of the steering. Is your steering not getting in the way of the TB?

 

[vegas_baja]

polar jeep and bryson are spot on.
As soon as I eliminated my short arms and went long arm w/ hard joints, all my dw and small problems went away.

 

[xj92]

I've got death wobble on my '88 MJ now. First happened around 75mph when I hit a bump and it has gradually worked it's way down to where it will start at 60mph without even hitting a bump. I had this once before about 8 years ago on an XJ and it was solved with aftermarket LCA's, I presume to fix the caster angle. This time around I have a 2" lift with RE Super Flex LCA's & stock UCA's. The steering stabilizer is now shot, but I think that's a result of the DW, not the cause. It was a new pro-comp unit a year ago. My inner c's lean back at 8.6* and I have no toe-in or toe-out after doing a rough measurement. I haven't found any loose joints yet but I'll keep checking. Can too much caster cause a problem? IIRC most rigs run 5-6* of caster.

 

[jdxj]

not sure about the caster.
But you should have a little toe-in if using a tape measure should be about 1/8". Mine didn't have any after installed new steering linkage, you guessed it DW from Hell

 

[Boostwerks.com]

I've got death wobble on my '88 MJ now. First happened around 75mph when I hit a bump and it has gradually worked it's way down to where it will start at 60mph without even hitting a bump. I had this once before about 8 years ago on an XJ and it was solved with aftermarket LCA's, I presume to fix the caster angle. This time around I have a 2" lift with RE Super Flex LCA's & stock UCA's. The steering stabilizer is now shot, but I think that's a result of the DW, not the cause. It was a new pro-comp unit a year ago. My inner c's lean back at 8.6* and I have no toe-in or toe-out after doing a rough measurement. I haven't found any loose joints yet but I'll keep checking. Can too much caster cause a problem? IIRC most rigs run 5-6* of caster.

Tires?
Track bar?

How's your pinion angle? if you have nearly 9degs of castor, your pinion angle must be suffering. Too much castor won't cause DW.

 

[xj92]

2wd, no pinion . 30x9.5 GoodYear tires, older, have not been balanced. That's on the list but I want to check the stuff that doesn't cost money first . Stock track bar, stock location. 1.75-2" of lift so it has not been relocated.

 

[jdxj]

Ballance the tires that could be the problem right there.

 

[asp]

Ballance the tires that could be the problem right there.

probably is.