Bad balljoint?
 

I can't figure out my death wobble. Not the track bar, alignment, tire balance and/or any loose components. When I rock the jeep I can hear a ticking noise from the driverside wheel. Doesn't happen on the other side. Bad ball joint?? Please god let this be it, I'm sick of seeing a bump in the road and just anticipating DW.

To measure the ball joint play, you need to lift the axle to get the tire off the ground.

Have someone put a long bar under the tire and pry up on it and release.
While the tire is going up and down, measure the amount of play in the lower ball joint.

Then have the person grab the top and bottom of the tire and rock it back and forth while you measure the side play in the upper ball joint.

From the factory service manual:

Radial (side-to-side) movement in the upper ball joint should not exceed 0.060" (1.5mm).

Axial (up and down) movement in the lower ball joint should not exceed 0.050" (1.25mm).

I had front ball joints replaced on 23k miles. What kind of crap quality materials are they using?:mad:

You and I are on the same page bro...

Tried everything and I'm SICK OF THIS FRECKN' DW!!!!! Almost to the point of wanting to sell my Jeep.

Ball joints were next on my list. After that I'll be looking into changing the entire tie rod system....then the drag link and pitman and so on and so on and so on.......This DW has got to go!!!!

Now my experience was with an XJ, but I replaced the track bar, all the tie rod ends, the control arms and bushings, new rims and tires, new wheel bearings and ball joints and I still had DW. I ended up trading it in to a dealership and I will never put another lift kit on a Jeep. Ever.

Here's what I ended up doing......

Bought a kit from harbor freight for removing/installing ball joints.....was like $50 bucks....
Stock ball joints from mopar...$100

Took about 2 hours to do passenger side....never done it before and was learning, so not too bad....I think I can change out the driver side in less than 30 mins now.

The lower ball joint on my passenger side was completely dead. It was literally flopping around like it wasn't connected to anything.

Now, I still have a clicking noise when I turn the wheel....I jacked it up and turned it, no clicking noise....back on the ground, clicking noise comes back....thinking tie rod ends?

I have now ordered the Rock Krawler Tie Rod and the ES194R tie rod ends that I am thinking is where the noise is coming from now....plus should tighten up the steering feel a little.....

FYI: If your looking to fix DW, look at the angle of your drag link and the angle of your trackbar......mine was off about 10 degrees and caused horrible death wobble...got a dropped pitman arm, now it's about 2-3 degrees off, and that pretty much cured my DW problem........

I think dynatrac may have the answer:

http://www.dynatrac.com/products_pro...alljoints.html

Did not have death wobble (knock on wood) but i did have a clicking noise coming from the front end after I installed a lift, I finally have found the source. It is the swarbar disconnects. They were completly tightened but the bolt seemed to be too small and was sliding up and down causing the clicking. Added a washer and tightened it down as much as possible and the clicking is gone. Just my suggestion, let me know if this helps anyone.

Did you check your steering stabilizer? A bent one will cauase DW.

Ditto that - a bent and / or shot stabilizer. I disconnected the stabilizer, and the DW went away. Steering felt 'freer', but no DW! Took off the stabilizer, and yup, it's bent. Put on a new Rancho, and all's nice and tight. BTW, I checked the ball joints and bearings, and all was good.

See JPops comments on this too, he had the same thing. I noticed that the SS has no resistance at first, then is springy, which adds the feedback to cause DW. Something easy to try, and the SS is a known weak link. Just my 2c.