Hello everyone, I am currently deployed to Afghanistan and my wife as a Christmas present wanted to get me a lift for my Jeep, so she calls John's 4X4 and More in Billings MO. They are a Rough Country dealer, so she calls and tells them she would like to order the new 3.5" Series II lift. John begins to tell her there is not 3.5" lift only a 2.5" and 4" lift. I told her I knew better than that cause I am on Rough Countries Website. So while on here looking I notice Rough Country posted if you call Jeff at Rough Country and tell them you are a member of the jeep forum site they will give you a 10% discount. So that is what I had my wife do. She got the lift in and she called John and schedule an appointment, well this is just the beginning. While she was on the phone the guy she was talking to reprimanded her for not going through them cause they could have saved us money. So she still takes the jeep to them since they are the only one close by to do it. When she drops off the jeep they told her they would call when it was done. After she picked it up and got about 20 miles down the road she hit a bump and the whole front end began to shake violently to where she had to almost come to a complete stop and pull over to the side of the road. This upset her and she called Johns. They said they needed to do an alignment, (which was supposed to be included in the deal) and the installer starts in on her again with if we would have bought the lift through them there would have never been this problem. So now she has to drive another 50 miles the next day to take it back to them to align it. She drops it off about 09:30 in the morning and she hangs around Springfield MO until it is almost Johns closing time. They tell her they are having to put Cam bolts in it. So now she has to come back the next day. Well they finally call around 1300 hrs on day 3 and tell her it is done. When she gets there I have her ask if they drove it to see if the problems was fixed and the young person there said no, but John did. So she gets in the Jeep and in the pass. floorboard are Cam bolts that we needed so bad are laying there. Well she gets about half the way home hits a bump in the road and it starts all over again with the violent shaking. No we are having to take it to the mechanic in the city where we live to see if they can figure out what is wrong. Could it possible be the tires causing this, they have about 60,000 miles on the factory tire and they are getting worn. We are in the process of buy new rims and 35" tires. This is our only vehicle and I am trying to help her out from over here and it is kind of hard, so any help would be much appreciated. I would like to say that Ryan at Rough Country has been a lot of help. I would have to give Rough Countries Tech Support Two Thumbs Up. They are trying to help me take care of the problem as much as they can.

 

You are experiencing the dreaded Death Wobble. There are a lot of threads on this topic on the jk-forum. First off, I'd find a new service shop. From your story, I wouldn't let them touch my minivan let alone jeep.

Yes the alignment should have been done after a lift install.

rather than repeat or start yet another thread on the topic, do a little googling on the jeep jk death wobble. Here's a great diagnostic procedure from planman here on the forum: https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...=1#post1953943

As you are deployed, will your wife get under the jeep and diagnose? If so, please be sure to take pics or do you have a friend that can help (with the jeep ).

Otherwise, I honestly think I'd punt on the original shop and find a new one that has experience with the jeep death wobble. Something is loose, and most commonly, it's the track bar. But it can be the control arms, alignment problem, tie rod, etc. Anything loose between the steering wheel and the tires and the suspension frame mounts can and will cause this problem.

I would also make it clear to someone at Rough Country that this shop is not representing them well and insist that they stop selling their stuff to them.

And, thank you for your service

 

Tell the lackey at Johns 4x4 to use a damn torque wrench. Ive seen shops all the time just tighten bolts. Certain bolts need 125 ft lb, that is a decent tug. Some guys Id be willing to bet are not be able to torque that with one hand while keeping the nut from spinning.

 

As mentioned most likely something is loose or not tightened to proper torque. It's also possible they tightened everything while the Jeep was on a lift. Proper way is to tighten things up once the jeep is on the ground, otherwise things can bind. If you have any buddies/neighbors with a torque wrench they might be able to help her out and save another trip to a shop.

Is it possible the bolts on the floor are the old control arm bolts/washers not cam bolts? I think you'd actually be better off in the long run if they didn't install cam bolts, adjustable control arms are a much better solution.

+1 on calling Rough Country to let them know about this shop.

 

Cam bolts are never a good idea on a off-road vehicle. BTW welcome to the forum

 

Well I am going to have Ryan from Rough Country call on Monday to ask if they tightened the bolts on the lift or on the ground. Ryan told me the only reason they would need cam bolts is if they could not get the caster right while aligning it. Anyways I am attaching a pic of the bolts not used, they look like new bolts to me. Thanks for the welcome. I come to the site a lot, but just never really post.

 

Those are cambolts.

 

Well after what I have read about cam bolts, I am glad they were laying in the floor and not installed.

 

im betting that they did not torque the front track bar properly.

 

x3 on proper torque.

Also, that lift comes with new 'fixed' lower ca's to adjust the caster, there should have been no reason at all for cams!!

It comes with a pitman and a trackbar drop, make sure 'both' are installed. If only one was actually installed, the geometries are off, and...

With fixed arms and brackets, there was nothing to 'align', you wasted money to have them re-center the steering wheel.