Beetlebz

Hey gang, not new to the forum but for some reason I cant find my old account. ANYWHOO... just to recap I had a couple threads a while back trying to figure out my steering speed wobble / death wobble. It starts when I hit a bump in the road unevenly with one tire hitting before the other. If I have a lax grip on the wheel it causes it to shimmy left to right quickly and develops into a full on death wobble (whole vehicle shifting left to right quickly and violently, not the steering wheel) and only stops when I slow below about 20mph. If I stab the brakes hard it gets worse. . I can avoid this 99.9% of the time by keeping a firm grip on the wheel and absorbing the initial shock. Caster was around 3* if memory serves after the lift install.

It's a teraflex 2.5 lift so it's around 3" lift in the front if memory serves. No sway bar relocation brackets. All steering is stock, except my tie rod that I bent on a rock. I replaced it with a crown (all I could get on short order) tie rod and reused the stock end.

My question is this... I installed the AEV suspension geometry brackets a couple weeks ago. The ride is alot better but the steering shimmy / death wobble still happens from time to time with a loose grip on the wheel. I'm using the 3.5" (middle) hole for the upper control arms. Would there be any harm in moving the upper control arms to the 4.5" setting? The angle wouldn't be ideal but it would give me more negative caster, if I'm conceiving this right.

TheDirtman

It should be fine to move to the top hole but I doubt that is going to fix the issue. There are several places for DW to happen. 90% of the time its the track bar but I have seen unit bearings, ball joints, and tires cause it too.

Beetlebz

I mean, I can feel the input when it happens straight into the steering wheel which is why I was thinking that it was a caster issue. The track bar has no play, if I crawl underneath I can do pull ups on it and it doesnt move at all, but that doesn't mean the bushings aren't starting to go or that it's a hair loose. But also, this started at like 1500 miles right after the lift went on so I'm not thinking it's a wear issue.

Would you think its worth my time to just replace the bushings with urethane or a new track bar to eliminate it as a source?

resharp001

Sounds like ball joints crapped out to me. That "shimmy" is telling sign IMO.

karls10jk

Pushing and pulling isn't the correct way to check for it being tight. You've got to get under there with a torque wrench and ensure things are properly tightened. That's what causes these issues, particularly 1500 miles after a lift, seems like things have settled and everything needs a tightening.

But....if you've had multiple experiences like what you're describing then that's a good way to prematurely wear other items.

To your question on the bushings- factory bushings or similar are the way to go. The high dollar super stiff bushings sound great but they translate a lot of the vibes to the driver. I had poly motor mounts and it was horrible as a DD.

Rednroll

What size of tires do you have on?

Beetlebz

285/70r17

Nah man I agree. That's what I was getting at... I know the bushings aren't missing or destroyed. The track bar could certainly be loose which I need to check proper with a proper torque wrench.

But to be clear, this wasnt 1500 miles after a lift. It was immediately after the lift. The lift was installed at 1500 miles. It's a long story but basically I had to go without a steering stabilizer for a day after I installed the lift, that's when it first happened. It didnt happen for a while after I installed the new steering stabilizer, although several times it felt like i was about to go into a shimmy after a a just right bump. That steering stabilizer got bent and I replaced it with an aftermarket one without a boot. Had problems for 50k miles now. Feels the same today as it did at day 1. I'm sure the un-booted steering stabilizer is shot and needs to be replaced, but I feel like that's just masking the issue. I havent pulled off the stabilizer yet to check it (the mount on the tie rod end is rusted to hell and will probably need to be cut off) but I'm willing to bet its shot.

It's been in the shop fairly recently. The ball joints were all tight and the cheap aftermarket tie rod passenger side joint had no play (I was sure that was the problem). And I was back to square one. I had considered that because the tie rod is shorter and the factory end didnt thread in as far that it was causing flex but the shop said the tie rod threaded end was solid too. Plus, I had the issue before I bent the original tie rod.

What's my next move? Tighten the track bar? Replace it?

Rednroll

My 1st suspicion would be Track bar but you're running a 33in tire which reduces the TB somewhat. The Track bar uses a crush sleeve. You need to make sure the bolts are tightened enough that the crush sleeve is being crushed. One of the 1/2in $10 HF torque wrenches would work fine for this purpose in checking the torque of the bolts. It's not a precision torque adjustment, just to make sure you're torqued down enough that you're crushing the sleeve as intended. 5lbs North or South of 120ft/lbs isn't going to make that big of a difference.

Personally, I would purchase an aftermarket HD track bar and a $10 torque wrench from HF to make sure the bolts are torqued down adequately.

Take this coupon with you to get the torque wrench for $10. For a wrench which will get used a few times and for this purpose it should work fine.

Beetlebz

I have to admit I was wrong. I finally broke out the torque wrench thinking it was perfectly tight, I got almost a full turn out of the axle side track bar bolt and the torque wrench still didnt pop (but I suspect it's a bad torque wrench). I used my feet and an old long handle MAC 13/16 box end wrench... so far it seems like the death wobble might be at the very least dramatically better. While I was under there it looks like the steering stabilizer seals are shot so this week its getting a new steering stabilizer, and everything underneath is getting retorqued to spec.

I'll report back if I still have problems but I hit a normal trouble patch of highway and while I had a lot of feedback in the wheel, I never broke into a wobble. Fingers crossed.

nthinuf

That was the second stabilizer that went bad, or the first? You might consider running without one for a few days until you determine whether re-torqing is the fix. If the dw is due to some other component, the stabilizer will keep masking and self-destructing.