Tired of Death Wobble
07-03-2007, 09:53 AM
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Tired of Death Wobble
Ok I know you guys have the answer for me so I am gonna ask. What is the root cause of "death wobble"?
The wife has had her jeep since Nov 06 and has put 23,000 miles on it and loves it. The only problem is this wobble. When we first bought the jeep no problems. I installed the 3/4" spacers up front and it developed this wobble. So I check everything, alignment, track bar torque, rotate and balance tires etc to no avail. So last weekend I decide to take the spacers off (see if it fixes the problem). Got it done and everything seems fine, drives good, no wobble detected etc. I went ahead and had the tires rotated and balanced again after uninstalling the spacers. Well now its back to stock and it has begun this habit of the death wobble again
i dont know what to do, I called the dealer and all they can say is, haven't heard of that and bring it in and we'll check it out.
Please let me know if you have experienced this and if you have any possible fixes.
Spye
The wife has had her jeep since Nov 06 and has put 23,000 miles on it and loves it. The only problem is this wobble. When we first bought the jeep no problems. I installed the 3/4" spacers up front and it developed this wobble. So I check everything, alignment, track bar torque, rotate and balance tires etc to no avail. So last weekend I decide to take the spacers off (see if it fixes the problem). Got it done and everything seems fine, drives good, no wobble detected etc. I went ahead and had the tires rotated and balanced again after uninstalling the spacers. Well now its back to stock and it has begun this habit of the death wobble again
i dont know what to do, I called the dealer and all they can say is, haven't heard of that and bring it in and we'll check it out. Please let me know if you have experienced this and if you have any possible fixes.
Spye
07-03-2007, 10:11 AM
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forgive me if you will, but i always have a habit of this....
if this is THE REAL DEAL Death Wobble.... (not a simple shimmy)
I had is several times on my ZJ when I bumped the lift up. There are many who resolved it or patched it with a certain mod or fix. In my case, I was ALWAYS able to get rid of the DW by simply adjusting the caster. i would still have the precursor shimmy when the swaybar was disconnected. Once I was running a gabbed steering stabilizer mount that broke... i was geting DW at 30mph!
i hated the steering angle. I installed the Teraflex Highsteer kit. Due to the kit design, I had to remove the pass side swaybar mount... and I had to fab a steering stabilizer. I did not fix either right away. Instead, I drove for 3 months with no swaybar and no stabilizer. No shimmy. No shake. NO DW... I have since installed long arms on the ZJ with the same 5 or 5.5" lift with good results.
ZJs and TJs experienced this widely. Some people pushed changing the steering stabilizer... or adding a second one. I consider that a patch or bandaid for the problem. Not a cure. I would consider having the alignment checked (incl caster angle) Another idea. I recall a ZJ owner that got DW after installing a budget boost. he torqued the control arm bolts with the weight of the vehicle on jackstands.. wheels in the air. the bushings are bonded rubber and return to a central position. he went out, loosened all the bolts up... spun em then retorqued em. No more DW.
i dont think that the JK has provisions for caster adjusment.
as i recall.. WJ owners had the same problem... so they got adj LCAs. there is a "kit" on the market that adds cam bolts and tabs to the LCA mounts on the axle of the D30 (TJ, XJ models). it welds on and requires the mount to be opened up a bit... it allows for caster adjustment.
if this is THE REAL DEAL Death Wobble.... (not a simple shimmy)
I had is several times on my ZJ when I bumped the lift up. There are many who resolved it or patched it with a certain mod or fix. In my case, I was ALWAYS able to get rid of the DW by simply adjusting the caster. i would still have the precursor shimmy when the swaybar was disconnected. Once I was running a gabbed steering stabilizer mount that broke... i was geting DW at 30mph!
i hated the steering angle. I installed the Teraflex Highsteer kit. Due to the kit design, I had to remove the pass side swaybar mount... and I had to fab a steering stabilizer. I did not fix either right away. Instead, I drove for 3 months with no swaybar and no stabilizer. No shimmy. No shake. NO DW... I have since installed long arms on the ZJ with the same 5 or 5.5" lift with good results.
ZJs and TJs experienced this widely. Some people pushed changing the steering stabilizer... or adding a second one. I consider that a patch or bandaid for the problem. Not a cure. I would consider having the alignment checked (incl caster angle) Another idea. I recall a ZJ owner that got DW after installing a budget boost. he torqued the control arm bolts with the weight of the vehicle on jackstands.. wheels in the air. the bushings are bonded rubber and return to a central position. he went out, loosened all the bolts up... spun em then retorqued em. No more DW.
i dont think that the JK has provisions for caster adjusment.
as i recall.. WJ owners had the same problem... so they got adj LCAs. there is a "kit" on the market that adds cam bolts and tabs to the LCA mounts on the axle of the D30 (TJ, XJ models). it welds on and requires the mount to be opened up a bit... it allows for caster adjustment.
Last edited by b1pig; 07-03-2007 at 10:16 AM.
07-03-2007, 10:56 AM
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[QUOTE=b1pig;123138]forgive me if you will, but i always have a habit of this....
if this is THE REAL DEAL Death Wobble.... (not a simple shimmy)
Another idea. I recall a ZJ owner that got DW after installing a budget boost. he torqued the control arm bolts with the weight of the vehicle on jackstands.. wheels in the air. the bushings are bonded rubber and return to a central position. he went out, loosened all the bolts up... spun em then retorqued em. No more DW.
Thanks for the help and to just clarify, this is the real deal DW. The teeth chattering make you lose control wobble. One thing that I did notice is that while it is in full tilt shaking all over the road the stering wheel seems to be relatively still. Not until you slow down to about 20 does the stering wheel start to want to come out of your hand. I torqued all the bolts with the weight of the jeep on them but I will loosen and retorque just to see. You never know; this stuff is like chasing ghosts.
I really dont want to resort to the dealer as they will not be able to replicate the problem and just say everything is in spec and send me on my way.
Spye
if this is THE REAL DEAL Death Wobble.... (not a simple shimmy)
Another idea. I recall a ZJ owner that got DW after installing a budget boost. he torqued the control arm bolts with the weight of the vehicle on jackstands.. wheels in the air. the bushings are bonded rubber and return to a central position. he went out, loosened all the bolts up... spun em then retorqued em. No more DW.
Thanks for the help and to just clarify, this is the real deal DW. The teeth chattering make you lose control wobble. One thing that I did notice is that while it is in full tilt shaking all over the road the stering wheel seems to be relatively still. Not until you slow down to about 20 does the stering wheel start to want to come out of your hand. I torqued all the bolts with the weight of the jeep on them but I will loosen and retorque just to see. You never know; this stuff is like chasing ghosts.
I really dont want to resort to the dealer as they will not be able to replicate the problem and just say everything is in spec and send me on my way.
Spye
07-08-2007, 08:04 PM
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If you have had the death wobble for a while it may have damaged the bushings on your track bar. They are cheap. I had this problem on my LJ and replaced the bushings after I found they had been destroyed. Replace them, make sure your alignment is in spec and set to a 2007 model. I know this sounds stupid, but I had mine aligned after the lift and they used 2006 specs which are different. Tighten the trac bar while the vehicle is on the ground (weight). If that doesn't atleast help, you must have something bent or broke on your Jeep. I know I wanted to get rid of mine until I got it fixed. Good luck.
07-09-2007, 01:27 AM
#7
you changed the tires, and the wobble came back, right? i'd start there.
wobble can be caused by lots of different things. but i don't know this is actual DW. first time i had that, i peed a little.
wobble can be caused by lots of different things. but i don't know this is actual DW. first time i had that, i peed a little.
