Death Wobble and front upper control arms?
 

A friend just bought a 2008 JK, pretty much stock except for slightly taller tires and a small spacer lift. After about a month of driving it he has experienced DW three times now, quite randomly and at varying speeds. He brought his jeep over to have me help him out looking things over. The ONLY issue I can find on the entire front end is the front upper control arms are a bit loose. The lowers are tight. There is considerable play in the driver's side and slight play in the passenger side, both on the rearward (frame) mounts.

Planman's video only briefly mentions these as a possible culprit.

Could this be the problem? What is the best solution? Replace UCA's entirely with factory? Replace bushings only? Install uppers only? Go an aftermarket route?


Thanks for any helpful comments and help.

Have your friend start reading all the sticky's under the Mod Thread. Like the saying goes, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Did that and searched all over the place. I am still doing that but perhaps I flat out missed it. I have not found much available on whether or not DW can/has been attributed ONLY to upper/lower control arms being loose or bad bushings. I am guessing if that is all we can find then we'd better start there. Just wanting to make sure we are not missing something obvious.

search "ovaling" "trackbar" "trackbar bolts"......the mystery unfolds my dear Watson :cool:

"out of round tires" "unbalanced tires" "ball joints".....that should be a good start

And are all the mounting bolts torqued to spec? (Trackbar, CAs, etc) Tires balanced properly? Check the rotor for those harmful clips on the lug studs? Lug nuts tight? Alignment? Even the smallest loose bolt or wheel can create a domino effect throughout the steering system.

As I have mentioned, I watched Planman's videos and we checked everything out. No out of spec torque numbers, no ovaling on track bar mounts, upper and lower ball joints all be OK, no wiggle on tires while elevated, tires ARE very new and balanced, no discernible extra movement on drag link to steering knuckle or tie rod ends, solid steering box and arm there... just play in the driver's side UCA. Thus my question pertaining directly to the front UCA being a cause of DW.

I have read where all the above mentioned items either separately or in conjunction with other loose parts contribute to DW; I just cannot seem to find much on control arms.

Since you confirmed the bushings are bad they need to be replaced. No need to replace the whole arms. Start there and see if it solves your problem since you followed his video and eliminated all the usual suspects.

How did he describe the DW? Are the coil spacers and arms the only aftermarket components on the jeep?

Ball joints,pitman arm nut,tire pressure,rotate tires,