I know there are plenty of threads on death wobble and associated things like death wobble but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or had this happen to them early on.

I have a new 13 JK 2dr, had an 08 JKU. It has 350miles on it right now. This problem started with only 60miles on the new JK. I had roughly 50 miles on it when I installed a new 3.25 lift from RCX. I have 35" KM2s. At 60miles on OD I got am extremely violant shake in the steering wheel, assumed it was the start of death wobble. I was only going 30mph. I stopped immediately and went straight back to my shop. I had torqued everything to spec on the ground. I torqued down on the trackbar more just like I did on my 08 to make real sure the trackbar was tight. Now the shake is intermittant but happens atleast once a day. Same speed, doesn't happen unless I hit a slight bump, always starts at about 40-50mph unless I am on this one street in town that causes it every single time. The only addition I added to the lift was a procomp steering stabilizer which seems very small compared to my other Rancho one on my 08. Now I know the stabilizer is only a bandaid, but I am trying to think of everything. I checked for play is bushings etc and everything is just as it should be at 350miles on OD.

My question is... is this the start to death wobble? Is it the shame type of shake? What could possibly be wrong to cause this?

I ask this because I never had an issue with the 08 and the lift was pieced together and each part was added over time but never had an issue before or after each part was added. I did use the RCX front trackbar bracket on the 08 and the dropped control arm brackets. Both of which I have contemplated about adding again to this one since I had great success on the 08. I do know that I need the front trackbar to align back up and a possible change to the alignment. I guess I am stumped because my setup on the 08 never had an issue and never did anything really special. The 08 was only 0.25" taller overall.

Sorry for the long story but hell I bought a new JK and having this problem. I should be enjoying the hell out of it, instead wondering if I shouldn't have traded in my 08 JKU.

Input? Please!

 

You may want to change out the steering stailizer, or a stronger one. Not sure how good the procomp one is.

 

Did you have the Jeep professionally aligned after the lift install? Check the caster, toe, make sure everything is properly centered? I believe if you have the toe set out with 35's you can get some shimmy/shake/wobble so it is recommended to go slight toe in on alignment.

Since you said you torqued and re-torqued everything (and I assume you loosened stock control arms and then retightened them after shaking Jeep back and forth to re-seat them properly), it sounds like it is either an alingment issue or a tire out of balance.

DW is easily distinguishable from steering wobble. Once you've experienced it, you will never ever call steering wobble DW again! LOL!!.

The stabilizer is not going to do much but help mask other issues. If your Jeep is aligned properly, then you don;t "need" one.

Check you Tie rod businging and drag link bushings. Since the Jeep in brand new, I doubt they are worn but still worth checking.

 

I have heard that the stabilizer is nothing but a bandaid, but I have had some concerns about this stabilizer from the moment I opened the box. It is tiny compared to my other one. Do you think it is a bandaid or a crap stabilizer adding to or creating a problem? Thanks for your help!

 

DW=no bueno :-) I had the same problem with my buds Jeep. Everything was torqued to specs, did the alignment professionally, tires rotated And balanced, the death wobble went away after we removed the front trac bar bracket and installed an adjustable one. I even put loctite on the bolts that held the bracket in place.

 

Check your toe it should be 1/8" in. If you bent your tie rod on anything even just slightly it can cause DW

 

Track bar..... Fully inspect it and the bushings/mount holes.

#1 cause for DW

 

Just something some people overlook that might cause it. It's probably the bracket though. I'm not trying to rag on your lift but you get what you pay for. Your more likely to have problems when you buy a budget lift. A mid-arm kit with adjustable arms or a long arm is the way to go. So many people cut corners with their lift because they are trying to buy tires at the same time.

 

Thanks for the replies so far! The concerns I have is the fact that I only have 350 miles total on a new JK!!!! I don't want to throw money and parts at it with a maybe fix. I am thinking about an adjustable trackbar and rough country is willing to sell me, for cheap cheap, the fixed lower control arms.

Curious? I am off on the axle/trackbar about 1/2" to the driver side. I also have to caster adjustment so far. How much of this could effect this problem given the 3.25 lift? I had more pieces on the 08 like the heavy duty trackbar brace and dropped control arm brackets.

 

Factory caster is about 4.2 degrees. With a 3.25" lift you are probably sitting less than 2 degrees now which might cause flighty steering but not wobble. getting that back to stock settings is nive to do but not a requirement.

The axle being off-center......hmm...maybe that is causing some of your wobble issues but I'm not sure. I would get an adjustable track bar before I got adj. arms.

I know some people get DW from the stock track bar bowing in and out under pressure. A buddy of mine experienced it with an aftermarket track bar, video taped it and I believe that is what was used as the basis for teraflex doing a video on the bowing issue. Teraflex actually sent him one of their track bars to do a second video to see if he had the same issues. He did nt have any bowing with that one.

Maybe your stock track bar on the bracket with the axle being off center is enough to cause this phenomenon.

I still think you should check your toe. Any toe out with 35's will cause some wheel wobble. I am just not sure what level your wobble is on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being full on "Im going to die" DW)