I have a intermittent wicked vibration at around 40mph that a local 4x4 shop suggests is my drag link. They say they have seen the JK draglink bow out and result in the vibration or "death wobble" in the in the steering wheel.....??? Any thoughts on this?

 

you'll forgive me but it doesn't sound like your shop knows what the hell they are talking about. while i have personally had more than one "tie rod" bow out (they are hollow and weak), i have never seen it happen on a drag link (solid and pretty damn strong). and, EVEN IF it were to be bowed out a bit, did they happen to explain the logic of how exactly this would cause "vibration"? also, what the heck is "death wobble in the steering wheel"? sounds to me like they're grasping at straws

 

Well intermittently at 40-45 mph the steering wheel will shake left to right very quickly about an inch to an inch and a half. Under and over that speed there is no problem. The vehicle drives straight, if you let go of the wheel (probably a bad idea) the Jeep still drives straight while the steering wheel shakes like a son of a bitch and there is no vibration felt in the seat or though out the chasis of the vehicle.
I haven't installed a new drag link because I don't think that will really fix it either. But these guys say the drag link is bent or bowed too much and causing the vibration to happen at times and move up into the steering colunm. I think it could be the ball joints.
Of course the wheel balance and alignment are with in spec.

 

a speed related steering wheel shimmy as you have described is almost always a tire balancing problem.

 

Of course but that was the first thing I checked. Had them balanced by Discount Tire and I have played with rotating them to see if one had too much run out. Thanks for the input.

 

balancing large off road tires is not easy to do. it is totally common for tires of this nature to require balancing more than once. i have had to have tires rebalanced as many as 3 times before they were satisfactory to drive on.

 

I hope you are right, I'll take it back in and see if they can make it better. Thanks WOL.

 

if nothing else, try rotating your tires and see if it helps. i'm not say that i'm absolutely right here but i can share with you what i have experienced in the past and what has helped.

 

i will second the tire balance as the problem. i have the same basic symptoms (although i would not call it a death wobble stearing wheel ) and it is from my tires not being balanced properly. i have it at 65 to 70 tho. it is a pain in my ass. i have had three balances and i just tried out the air soft pellets without any lead wieghts. don't wast your money or time with beads they didn't work as well as a lousy balance does (it is worse now).

i am going to give the guys a try at the place i bought them from (about a hour and half away and i have bead locks so thats why i didn't have them do it in the first place) and if they can't balance them then they will have a nice used set and i will have bran new shoes i hope.

good luck and go get a good balance from a shop that does large tires all the time (truck shop or offroad shop).