Death Wobble happened to me tonight
02-12-2019, 10:47 PM
#11
JK Jedi Master
I thought I had everything covered. Trackbar, tie rod, drag link, steering stabilizer, mounting bolts, tire imbalance, all of it...
I still occasionally got the dreaded wobble. Not often, but I still did at totally random occasions. No damn rhyme or reason.
Then I broke the front D30 axle housing and upgraded to a TeraFlex D44 and all the wobble disappeared. no wobble for 2.5 years now.
I still occasionally got the dreaded wobble. Not often, but I still did at totally random occasions. No damn rhyme or reason.
Then I broke the front D30 axle housing and upgraded to a TeraFlex D44 and all the wobble disappeared. no wobble for 2.5 years now.
Last edited by Mark Doiron; 02-12-2019 at 10:50 PM.
02-12-2019, 11:19 PM
#12
JK Junkie
Interesting. I've never had DW (and neither have any of the couple dozen folk's whom I've helped install lifts except that one that had it before we ever worked on it). But, my mechanic is recommending that I replace the rear differential with a Dana 60 because I have now blown two sets of rear gears (with about 200,000 miles the first time, and 50,000 miles the second). My Jeep approaches 7,000 pounds when maxed out, which is probably too much for those gears at 4.88. Since I've also blown the front gears one time, just this morning I was thinking about replacing the OEM Dana 30 with a 44. And I thought to myself, "Yeah, then I'll probably have my first ever incident of death wobble!" Anyway, probably in the next year or so I'll do some major upgrades to my axles.
02-13-2019, 05:58 PM
#13
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Thanks to everyone again for the advice. I ended up taking it to have it aligned due to it pouring rain and our shop at work being full of lawn mowers. I had him check everything while he had it on the lift and he was able to torque the track bar some more. It hasn't wobbled since then and I have purposely hit some bad bumps to test it out. Hopefully it's fixed.
02-13-2019, 06:30 PM
#14
JK Jedi
Track bar bolts are one of the largest causes of wobble, followed by TB joints and then ball joints. There are other factors that come in to play, but those are the 3 biggies. Hopefully you have some smooth sailing for a while. Our JKs are great at giving us signals when something is wrong. Weird feelings and/or sounds. The more you drive it, the more in touch you're going to become with it. I'd tell you that anytime you feel or hear something that is out of the ordinary, don't blow it off. Start paying close attention to it and try to figure it out before it becomes a larger issue. 
This is a bit anal, but you might even keep a little log book of issues/maintenance. Jot down that at X miles you had a wobble, and it was a loose TB bolt. 5K miles from now if you have some more front end issues and post up, that will be useful information to add.
This is a bit anal, but you might even keep a little log book of issues/maintenance. Jot down that at X miles you had a wobble, and it was a loose TB bolt. 5K miles from now if you have some more front end issues and post up, that will be useful information to add.
02-17-2019, 07:30 PM
#16
JK Jedi
03-14-2019, 06:09 AM
#18
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
So I installed the Rough Country Control Arm Drop Brackets on my Jeep this past weekend due to the steering being so flighty since installing the lift and it helped with the flighty steering but I now have a bad shimmy in the steering wheel. I double checked everything after installing the drop brackets and everything is torqued to spec. I even went back and checked everything else that was touched when the lift was installed and everything was good there as well. So I checked my ball joints and they look good. I have no up and down movement in them at all. So I did my research on the forums and found Planman's video of how to check everything to identify the cause of any steering or suspension issues and I think I have identified the problem. I had my husband turn the wheels back and forth while I looked at every component. Everything looked good except for the drag link. I found that I have up and down movement in each end of it and you can feel a clunk when you put your hand on it and actually hear it when right there at it. Now to buy a new drag link.....any recommendations on which ones are the best. Not wanting to break the bank.
03-14-2019, 06:58 AM
#19
JK Jedi
Do you know what your caster is now that the brackets are installed?
In regards to DL, you may get some that say upgrade the entire thing. I would say that unless you're out doing some hardcore wheelin', the DL is not taking the same kind of abuse as some of the other components. You could very easily replace just the knuckle end of the DL if you wanted to save some money. You can get a Moog replacement (DS300005) for $55 or so and screw it in to the factory turnbuckle. I'd tell you it's much less common for the pitman arm side of the DL to crap out. I'd highly suspect the movement you see there to be natural movement with the internal spring.
If you want to replace the whole DL, you might look at the Synergy model. What is nice about that particular DL is you can mount it in both factory location, or flipped (part of a high-steer kit) should your build ever change or you re-sell it down the road.
Good job finding the Planman videos. Those are a great resource to help get you familiar with the steering system.
In regards to DL, you may get some that say upgrade the entire thing. I would say that unless you're out doing some hardcore wheelin', the DL is not taking the same kind of abuse as some of the other components. You could very easily replace just the knuckle end of the DL if you wanted to save some money. You can get a Moog replacement (DS300005) for $55 or so and screw it in to the factory turnbuckle. I'd tell you it's much less common for the pitman arm side of the DL to crap out. I'd highly suspect the movement you see there to be natural movement with the internal spring.
If you want to replace the whole DL, you might look at the Synergy model. What is nice about that particular DL is you can mount it in both factory location, or flipped (part of a high-steer kit) should your build ever change or you re-sell it down the road.
Good job finding the Planman videos. Those are a great resource to help get you familiar with the steering system.
03-14-2019, 07:47 AM
#20
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Do you know what your caster is now that the brackets are installed?
In regards to DL, you may get some that say upgrade the entire thing. I would say that unless you're out doing some hardcore wheelin', the DL is not taking the same kind of abuse as some of the other components. You could very easily replace just the knuckle end of the DL if you wanted to save some money. You can get a Moog replacement (DS300005) for $55 or so and screw it in to the factory turnbuckle. I'd tell you it's much less common for the pitman arm side of the DL to crap out. I'd highly suspect the movement you see there to be natural movement with the internal spring.
If you want to replace the whole DL, you might look at the Synergy model. What is nice about that particular DL is you can mount it in both factory location, or flipped (part of a high-steer kit) should your build ever change or you re-sell it down the road.
Good job finding the Planman videos. Those are a great resource to help get you familiar with the steering system.
In regards to DL, you may get some that say upgrade the entire thing. I would say that unless you're out doing some hardcore wheelin', the DL is not taking the same kind of abuse as some of the other components. You could very easily replace just the knuckle end of the DL if you wanted to save some money. You can get a Moog replacement (DS300005) for $55 or so and screw it in to the factory turnbuckle. I'd tell you it's much less common for the pitman arm side of the DL to crap out. I'd highly suspect the movement you see there to be natural movement with the internal spring.
If you want to replace the whole DL, you might look at the Synergy model. What is nice about that particular DL is you can mount it in both factory location, or flipped (part of a high-steer kit) should your build ever change or you re-sell it down the road.
Good job finding the Planman videos. Those are a great resource to help get you familiar with the steering system.
