BlackRockBurner

Almost, pushing axel forward takes both upper and lower arms. Using lower arms rotates the axel: pushing the lower pumpkin away from the transfer case.

planman

At 2.5" or more lift, you want either adjustable front lower control arms or front drop brackets to correct your alignment caster specs.

Hilop

Planman,
I get DW when I hit a big dip/bump at 40 mph only just like everyone else but I'm symptom free for the most part in warmer temps 80 and above. Early this morning 2:15am(52degrees) I noticed everybump I hit was kicking DW off. Can the colder AM temp help diagnose the last items that need to be addressed?


I've replaced just about everything that's needed to correct the DW issues as well as the torque items and bushing resets. I'll be doing Ball joints tonight and rebuilding my LCA's.

Thanks

planman

The difference in temps is coincidental.

The best I can say is to do a thorough inspection of all components like I explain at the beginning of this thread--including the items that you have already replaced because they may have failed prematurely due to ongoing DW.

Hilop

Thanks Planman, turned out to be the rough country adjustable track bar(too much flex) and ball joints. Runs straight and true now with no DW.

evancise

Your video #2 helped me swiftly identify the knuckle side of my drag link as the issue. Similar to your video but not as severe.

Now that I've replaced the drag link and centered the steering wheel, the Jeep slightly drifts to the left. Could this be just due to uneven tire wear? I'm cheating by asking before I go rotate the tires.

It drove straight and true with hands off the steering wheel before the drag link work.

planman

The drift is likely coincidence.

I'd check to make sure the tire psi is equal in all 4 tires when you do the rotation.

aw2657

First I have to say thank you to everyone that has posted there DW stories and what has caused them and the steps to resolve them. I have been following this thread for about a month now reading and learning before tackling my DW repairs. I am not to the point where it's almost undriveable with possibly a few different issues causing my problem. It's a long story but if anyone can get anything from it like I did from everyone else post then it's worth it. I recently got a great deal on a 2008 JK (2 door) Rubicon that had a few problems....the DW being one of them. Dealer said it needed a ball joint and tirerod end and the previous owner just put on a new generic steering stabilizer from a local mechanic. When I picked it up the DW happened around 55-65 mph over rough rough surfaces and was bad enough that I had to pull over and almost completely stop, but it didn't happen too often. I did the basic crawl under test and turned the wheel back and forth and all I could feel or see was the passenger side drag link end moving up and down more than it should and very worn 31" tires that were balanced at Costco but still look bad. So I decided to move forward with adding a 3.5" Rough Country lift and having the off road shop look into what was causing the death wobble and recommend a path forward. Maybe a track bar, tighten something up, who knows. When the were done with the lift they took it on a short test drive (apparently) and said everything looked good and it was probably caused by a combination of worn out shocks and the badly worn tires. So not more than a couple miles from the shop I now have even more severe DW at about 45-55 mph and I have to drive in the emergency lane on the freeway at 45 to just get back home. Now I'm even more frustrated but it's time to start digging into it. After going through all the videos and performing the tests again I came up with a few different things I need to replace. I'm starting with a new Synergy drag link because just like Planman's drag link issue, I know it needs to be replaced from the initial inspection. Everything else still looks tight and no movement from what I can tell and the track bar seems snug in the new relocation bracket that was installed with the RC lift recently. I also jacked up the front of the Jeep and tested the ball joints and hubs. It appears that the passenger side hub is worn and there is movement of the wheel in all directions with just slight movement. I can't seem to see any movement in the ball joints on either side but the passenger hub is definitely moving and the driver side is tight. So I have ordered two new hubs and I'm going to install those along with the new drag link this weekend. I have also ordered new 35" tires and rims to go along with the new lift so those should be balanced and take the tire equation out of the picture. Hopefully the combination of the new hubs, new drag link and new balanced tires will completely get rid of the DW I have been experiencing. If this doesn't help it's on to a new track bar and possibly ball joints but those appear to be tight as far as I can tell. As soon as it's all done I will let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for everyone's contribution to this crazy phenomenon. X-posted on Jeep Wrangler Forum

aw2657

Thanks to everyone for posting their stories about the dreaded DW, Shimmies and overall scary driving JK's. In the last month I have had a little of everything so I wanted to update everyone following on where I'm at now in hopes of solving their issues or at a minimum, saving them money and time. So I have installed the new unit bearings (hubs) in the front, very simple. I put in all new Synergy ball joints in the front, $200 and what a PITA! Installed the synergy drag link since I know I had one bad ball joint on my stock drag link. Torqued every nut and bolt and especially paid attention to the stock track bar and the Rough Country TB relocation bracket. After I realigned the steering wheel I took her for her maiden voyage... Wow what a difference! There was no DW at any speed....BUT, now the jeep just wants to wonder all over the road at speeds above 40 and while braking too. I also picked up a slight vibration at 42-45 miles an hour that disappears when I let off the gas (possible driveshaft alignment issue maybe). So 2 steps forward, DW gone, one step back, vibration and wondering. So what now? I took it back to Leadfoot Offroad in La Verne, CA and had them go through the alignment and lift over again. After spending the day with it and talking to Rough Country, they came to the conclusion that the RC 3.5" lift doesn't like something with my JK and I will need an adjustable track bar to shift my front axle back over to the driver's side more than 1". The RC track bar relocation bracket moved my stock track bar over too far and there is no adjustment to shorten it. So now I have to scrap the relocation bracket that came with the kit, pull off the drop pitman arm and put back on the stock pitman arm, purchase and install a new adjustable track bar and I'm not going with Rough Country for anything any more. I will probably go with the Synergy to match my drag link and ball joints that work great. Once the track bar is installed, I will have the axle moved over and realigned and test it again. I'm not confident that this will fix the vibration or the way it's tracking down the road. The digital alignment place said the caster is within spec, just a little less than it should be but their machine wouldn't print out the specs for some reason with a jeep (sounds fishy). If replacing the track bar and aligning again doesn't fix the issue then really the only thing left that I can think of is some sort of adjustable control arm set up, cam bolts or control arm drop brackets to get more caster adjustment in the front wheels. So lesson learned, and I should have listened to everyone up front. Stay away from the cheap lifts, they will only cost you more in the long run. And by long run I don't mean months or years......I mean right from the start. IMO..... Rough Country 3.5" lift sucks on my JK and their online and over the phone support sucks. They just keep telling me to buy something else to fix the problem their lift caused and act like something is different with my jeep than the other thousands of jeeps out there. Never been in an accident, all stock and never offroaded. And might not be if I can't get this figured out..

BagOfDoorknobs

This is fantastic - my drag link is doing the exact same thing. Looks like I'll be replacing it as well.