jeep started getting Death Wobble after fitting new tires (Oct 15'). Since then it has been aligned and gotten new ball joints. Alignment shop said caster was 5 and 7 but that one of the cam bolts was maxed. Still don't think my problems are related to caster but I do think my drag link or sector shaft might be the culprit.

I have watched all of @planman videos. made my own here if anyone sees anything I'm missing I'd appreciate a shout, otherwise i'll try the drag link first.

Thanks,
LP

 

Check your track bar at the axle and frame mount. 9 times out of 10 it is the track bar. Check the torque. Also check your steering stabilizer. I had a case of bump steer and it was the steering stabilizer.

At what speed are you feeling the bump steer?

when was the last time you had your wheels balanced? Did they dynamic or static balance them? I know that in order to have my wheels balanced and not have a ton of weight on the they needed to be static balanced. You could have thrown a weight.

Some things to check.

R/
Will

 

Never had full on death wobble. But I did have 2 boughts of bump steer that would cause pretty good steering wheel shimmy. BOTH times it was my front wheel bearings. I had both bearings fail before 70k.

 

I had the same problem with mine when I got my tires on new rims. Hit a small bump and it blew out my steering stabilizer. Got a new stabilizer and changed out the track bar bolts. That got rid of the death wobble but still had some small shimmys. Called the shop and they rebalanced my tires, I had thrown a weight apparently. Problem solved. Good luck!

 

Thanks Will (And all) All my problems are below 45 mph. I just checked the SS. The shop had just replaced 2 months ago (with HD rancho), and it appears they misplaced it as there is a half dollar sized dent in the tube on the top, the boot is also shredded there. Took it off and checked that it was functioning smoothly. Put back on properly placed. Also re-torqued track bar. Going to go get a re-balance this afternoon.

Thanks all for the tips,
LP

 

yes check all the things in planmans video and thread. You can even check torque settings and bushings on your control arms. Try rotating your tires as that can cause it sometimes if you have a bad tire. I believe someone already mentioned checking trackbar bolts torque and ovaling of the trackbar brackets. Check tie rod ends for excessive play. Check ball joints. It sounds like you already had a good starting point with the drag link after watching planmans videos. I'm not even going to recommend the steering stabilizer cause if everything else is the way it's supposed to be then you can run without a steering stabilizer. So it doesn't cause anything. Just puts a bandaid on the real issue.

 

Check and retorque everything. Problems shouldn't arise from new tires alone, but they can be a contributing factor (weight, rolling resistance, etc). Are you sure you are getting full blown DW? I have had a bad highway shimmy before, but nothing near DW. Honestly hope I never have to experience it because I'll have to get my seats professionally cleaned. Tire balance, alignment, are basic things to check for a wobble or shimmy on the highway. For DW it could be bad bushings, TRE's, improperly torqued bolts just to name a few things.

I also agree with DunnyBunny on the steering stabilizer. Just think of it as a shock for your steering. Your shocks on each corner help mask imperfections in the road and smooth out the suspension travel of the springs. Would you want to put a shock on the steering problem, or try and find the problem? Only time I'm putting something back on my TR is going to be one with hoses attached to my box.


Edited because I just watched the video:

Try turning your wheel full lock to lock,at first slowly but then faster as you check the TRE's. With only an inch or so of movement you might not get enough force to see a problem. Also, is your steering box leaking? It looked like there was fluid from the box on the pitman arm....

 

***Update*** I replaced my drag link with synergy. Still dialing in the steering wheel, but I can tell it has made a huge difference. I chose the drag link because it was the most sloppy of all the steering parts, however now there is noticeable slop in the pass side TRE. Weird that the DL masked the slop in the TRE.

I do have a sector shaft leak in my steering box. There is little to no movement during turning of the sector shaft though, and I am hopping some of this was caused by my DW instead of bad bearing/seals in the S-box. however it may end up having to get rebuilt sometime this year.

Also 2 more Qs

How much play is allowed in the track bar bolt hole. Mine has some, nothing like the videos I've seen but i'm guessing there is 1/3rd of an mm of play.

With regards to further trouble shooting, if it's not prudent to recreate DW how can someone know if the problems has been alleviated or their still sitting on a ticking time bomb?

Thanks,
LP

 

Your trackbar will have some play just from the bushing itself. Do you just see movement or do you see the entire end moving in the housing. The rubber will flex to allow movement so that could be what your seeing.

One way to know is to just drive around like normal and if you don't get death wobble then I think your good to do. Lol.

 

Thanks, there is NO movement at the lower or upper bolt for the TB, the dam thing flexes almost a full 1/4 in at the bend. Esp when rotating S-Wheel right. It's a JKS, and looks sturdy, but I suppose there is a lot of force with the footprint of 35's

LP