I know this topic had been beat to a pulp, but none of the death wobble threads have answered my question yet. It's my best friend's '07 Unlimited Sahara. I recently broke my arm and can't drive my manual 4Runner, so we swapped.

He has severe DW and I'm trying to track down the cause. So far, the passenger side ball joints on the drag link and tie rod are slightly loose, but I know that is not a root cause of DW. Also, the steering stabilizer is shot. Extreme pressure one way and no pressure the other.

Looking at the bushings for the trackbar, where it mounts to the frame, I don't notice any play vertically or horizontally. However, there is severe play from front to back, as in the bushing is sliding back and forth along the length of the bolt. You can see a video of the moment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2262Cy_9DQ

Is this an acceptable amount of play or should there be no movement at all. I've attached two photos of the bracket's holes, but they don't appear to be wobbled out.

Oh, and it is tightened to specs. No other visible damage or metal wear. Tires are balanced and rotated. No alignment yet, but it tracks straight and there is no unusual pulling.

Thanks for the help.

 

Looks like the trac bar bushing is worn out, but it's a combination of all the other worn parts too. Repair all the worn parts and see what happens.

 

These two links will give you a good direction to head...there long, but chuck fill of valuable info on why he's getting d.w.
I can only link one at a time on my phone so I will edit with the second link in a minute.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...es-and-Wobbles

Edit here ya go. read these both, file them to a tee and d.w. will be gone for good...
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...trol-arm-bolts

 

Yep, that's where I've been headed and working towards. Those two articles are what got me to sign up with this site. I just wasn't sure about that one direction of slop, seeing as the other two directions seem fine. We're planning on getting the Death Wobble Kit from Kevin's Off-Road this Tuesday and I'll install it that day or the next. It includes polyeurethane bushings, an adjustable trackbar, the bolt kit and the steering stabilizer. Hopefully, that'll fix the problems.

For now, I'm not replacing the drag link or the tie rod. In a few months, I'm having him upgrade to an aftermarket set so that we aren't overly restricted to what tie-rod ends we can use. Finding the passenger side ball joints for both of those worn ones has been a nightmare. I've only found two places online, aside from the stealerships. Nobody local has them.

 

Just an update... I swapped out the trackbar with a new one that my Dad picked up from his work. The guy was installing a lift on a 100-mile Jeep identical to the one I am working on. Attached is a photo of the old bushing. Yeah, it's definitely shot. There should not be any spacing in there. You can see just how overly shot it really was! This should solve my problem. I'll post an update after I run some of my standard Death-Wobble-Roads.