Diagnosing Death Wobble

[VAhasnoWAVES]

something that i consider a must when you get your alignment done...

have them print off your before and after numbers.

not only will it give you numbers to reference with us here, but itll show if they actually touched anything. i prefer to go to a shop that KNOWS how do do lifted 4x4s built by offroad minded people. most grease monkeys wont know what to do with an adjustable control arm or track bar. their job is to watch the numbers on the machine, do what the FSM tells them, and get as many done in as short of a period as possible.

 

[Buckskinner38]

something that i consider a must when you get your alignment done...

have them print off your before and after numbers.

not only will it give you numbers to reference with us here, but itll show if they actually touched anything. i prefer to go to a shop that KNOWS how do do lifted 4x4s built by offroad minded people. most grease monkeys wont know what to do with an adjustable control arm or track bar. their job is to watch the numbers on the machine, do what the FSM tells them, and get as many done in as short of a period as possible.

There are a few around here that can pull that off and all are busy... I will post the results when I get them. Thanks.

 

[Buckskinner38]

Outracing; Dude, I am so sorry I hi-jacked your thread. please forgive me.

 

[brngthafnk]

i have a quick question for you guys, can wheel offset affect the death wobble at all? im going through all of my steering and control arms for issues and still not finding anything, and the only thing left that could have recently caused it are the new wheels or the 3 inch lift.

 

[FireghostXJ]

My dw was from old ball joints, but before I did that... I put a lift in, but didnt install longer UC arms. Once I did that I thought it would be fixed, but no.
Then I bought the new ball joints, installed them and my DW was finally gone. I even drive with no sway bar in the front and rear.
Good luck!

 

[outracing]

Thanks everyone, I have been going through all of this information and trying everything. Tires are balanced, vehicle is alined. I have replaced every part I can think of that may be related to the death wobble. I took it down to conrads and had them go through everything with a fine tooth comb. Still no luck...

 

[Buckskinner38]

Thanks everyone, I have been going through all of this information and trying everything. Tires are balanced, vehicle is alined. I have replaced every part I can think of that may be related to the death wobble. I took it down to conrads and had them go through everything with a fine tooth comb. Still no luck...

One other thing I just thought of... How old are your tires? Have you ever thought to look for tread separation? I had a great tire that was 8 yrs past it's development date and served most of it's life as a spare. When it was time for it to be put to work, It developed a bulge, not a very big one but it was very noticeable in the steering wheel. It progressed the more I drove it while I wasted my time diagnosing other issues. I found out later that most tires that serve as spares tend to go to hell due to dry rot. Its just a thought on something I don't recall being mentioned in this thread.

 

[outracing]

My tires are brand new. Less then 3000 miles on them... I hate to do it, but I guess I am going to have to go through and start replacing everything one thing at a time...

 

[Buckskinner38]

Question: I was reading... http://www.4wdandsportutility.com/tech/0702_4wd_steering_wheel_alignment/index.html
and there was some suggestion that one of the most common reason for 4x4 vehicle alignment issues was rear axle misalignment. Since I installed an "add a leaf" pack to my rig, could I have caused some of the issues that I am having? If so what are the specs that I need to follow to get the rear axle back to it's proper place, if there is such a thing, and how do I check it for accuracy? Also, can a rear axle misalignment contribute to death wobble?

 

[trust96xj]

try control arm bushings, and if you have that lift and dont have the right length in control arms itll happen cause the castor angle. i just got my death wobble fixed after a few hundred bucks at the local autozone and some dangerous trips down the I-10. check ball joints, knuckles, steering stabilizer, steering box, all that stuff. even warped rotors, which arent uncommon as ive seen with xj's, can cause it. best of luck, i know how annoying death wobble can be. and make sure youre running a quality tire, may be balanced, doesnt mean its round and youre getting a legitimate ride.

 

[outracing]

try control arm bushings, and if you have that lift and dont have the right length in control arms itll happen cause the castor angle. i just got my death wobble fixed after a few hundred bucks at the local autozone and some dangerous trips down the I-10. check ball joints, knuckles, steering stabilizer, steering box, all that stuff. even warped rotors, which arent uncommon as ive seen with xj's, can cause it. best of luck, i know how annoying death wobble can be. and make sure youre running a quality tire, may be balanced, doesnt mean its round and youre getting a legitimate ride.

What should my caster angle be with four inches of lift, and a set of tires and wheels from a Jeep Liberty Renagade?

 

[yankeegearhead]

Death Wobble Fixed - July 2012

I wanted to share my death wobble story since it has affected many of us and it truly sucks not to mention my white knuckles hurt.

I'm running Spidertrax wheel spacer/adapters (4/4.5 to 5.5) and 2011 JK wheels. Stock tires 255 75 R17 were Goodyear Wrangler SR-A (worst tire I have EVER had on any truck I've owned).

I put on the wheels and had been running them for about 45k miles with no issues. All other items (aside from numbered list below) were already installed. Jeep was vibrating slightly occasionally but I didn't think anything of it. One day the front end broke into a full on DW at 60mph and I crapped myself. This was not a shimmy like some guys insist, it was an all out shake that looked like the hood was going to fly off. Had to slow to 40 mph on the highway. After that incident it kept doing it between 50-60 mph consistently. I read all the forums aside from and changed the following after checking all parts for any play (ball joint, tie rods, u-joints, upper/lower CA bushings, etc, etc.)

1. new RE HD drag link and tie rods
2. new RR stabilizer
3. new RE adj track bar
4. new grade 8 bolts all over to replace old ones as I replaced parts
5. new steering box brace
6. adjusted steering box pitman shaft (yes it can be done while the box is in the vehicle - remove the electric fan and it's wide open)
7. professional alignment
8. re torqued ALL bolts eluded to from prior threads
9. adjusted caster to about +8 degrees

Still had DW after all this. I'm not going to bore anyone with what I think causes death wobble, enough people have spoken but at the end of the day it's a nasty physics problem inherent to solid axle 4wd vehicles.

I talked to several guys from local off road shops and everyone had an opinion. So now it's back to the physics problem - what can possibly be causing the vibrations?

Last shop I spoke with said it all looked good that maybe a drop pitman would help with bumpsteer but he also said my tires were "squishy". I agreed the Wranglers are miserable marshmallow crap tires. Went out today and picked up some Falken Rocky Mountain ATS 265 70 R17 and the DW stopped. At the end of it all I ran up a bill of about $1,160 (at least). Every case of death wobble is different and I followed a somewhat logical path but very few threads talked about tires (at least the ones I read) so be advised that tires can be the culprit as well. Although, I admit the tires were most likely an enabler and not the cause so all the other things in combination needed fixing anyhow.

My Jeep

• 1997 XJ 4 dr, auto trans
• 3" HD front coils
• 3.5" HD rear leafs
• sway disconnects
• 2 in transfer case drop
• 2 degree rear leaf shims to adjust pinion angle
• caster adjusted front LCAs
• extended bump stops
• trimmed fenders and quarters
• JCR front bumper, custom rear with tire carrier
• cold air, exhaust, hi flow cat, throttle body spacer
• 2011 JK wheels with Spidertrax spacers

If anyone has any questions feel free to PM me, I suffered through this but no need for others to.

M

 

[Devilfrog]

I had wicked DW before my lift .. started at 80km/h (50mph) and would get progressively worse until about 90-95km/h where it would reduce to just a vibration (between those speeds you'd crap yourself).

tires balanced multiple times, had one with a seperated tread, replaced a tierod end that had 1/4" of play in it (even right after a Insurance repair after the wife destroyed the front axle) ...
In the end I sold the tires lifted the XJ and put my Wifes takeoff's from he JK on it and now I have no DW ... even tried and couldn't get it to shimmy, shake, or wobble.
In the end I blame the tires for my issue ... after the accident they all just went bad, and got mixed up so I couldn't remember which was which anymore (guess I should have marked them). Even the wifes TJ had some before we sold it ... that went away with a good balance.
Don't always assume the tires are good, some are just simply turds ... and I don't have any goodyears anymore.

 

[Fred]

A bent wheel can be the cause. Steel wheels were problematic for awhile. The ones I got for my son from Serious Offroad were good.

 

[DanMan2k06]

While I think wheels (rotating combo) do play a roll in contributing to it, I don't think they can be the sole cause. Something has gotta be out of alignment/too much play/worn etc.

I'm trying to help my buddy diagnose his '00 as well. It's got me pretty well stumped at the moment. I recently upgraded my entire front end lift, and he has literally all my old parts. Swapped right over. I never had so much as a hint of DW, and now he gets it consistently around 50mph. You can feel it building up, and then a bridge joint or pothole is the deal breaker, she starts to twist and shout.

Also, keep in mind death wobble is NOT good for your front end parts. It puts a substantial amount of stress on everything. So if you've been replacing parts, yet still get it often, well, those new parts are going to wear out pretty quickly.