Mom's ZJ likes to dribble front tires!!

[JoeT]

Ok so my mom is not too happy with her ZJ right now. Every so often when she's driving it, the front tires start bouncing really bad. New shocks and tires where rebalanced. This of course happens whenever and sporadically. Any ideas? Please don't make me go to JU for this one.

 

[Caleb]

sounds similar to the problem a lot of Dodges have. The only way we were ever able to get rid of it is replace EVERYTHING on the front end that had any kind of wear/play. We ended up replacing upper and lower control arms, ball joints, tie rods, draglink, basically anything that attached to the front axle. We had to do it more than once too, we had two Dodges that both had the same issue and we would have to replace the stuff (which was almost $2k in parts alone) about every two years or so...

 

[Spork]

Don't you have a spare Grand out there for parts? I know I was thinking about that motor...

 

[Andy]

Check the track bar and the camber/caster/alignment.

 

[JoeT]

$400 and get the whole ZJ motor,trans,t-case and carcass with some parts left on it. Hmm I'll keep the tie rod stuff for my XJ.

Don't you have a spare Grand out there for parts? I know I was thinking about that motor...

 

[JoeT]

Will do.Thanks for saving me from JU guys!

Check the track bar and the camber/caster/alignment.

 

[Brad]

Ah the dreaded death wobble. Good luck with that one, no sure fire fix to that one.

 

[Cody]

is it back and forth wobbling?

Most common causes:

tracbar worn/loose
control arm bushings worn
steering ends worn/loose

The only time I've ever had problems with DW it was my tracbar being loose. An alignment can help too.

Cody

 

[troutbum]

This of course happens whenever and sporadically.

after a pot hole or a bump, right? It is scary stuff, happens every once in a while in the dodge...gotta slow way down to get it to stop....

Before I experienced it I had no idea how bad DW could be.

 

[Caleb]

after a pot hole or a bump, right? It is scary stuff, happens every once in a while in the dodge...gotta slow way down to get it to stop....

Before I experienced it I had no idea how bad DW could be.

now, imagine this...cruising down I-15 (65 mph or so) towing a 46 ft. boat you hit a bump and it starts I couldn;t get it to stop or anything, I seriously thought about putting it into the wall so no one else would get hurt. I had to almost come to a complete stop before it stopped bouncing all over...not fun at all :-\

 

[mbryson]

alignment or trackbar {same thing on our ZJ}

 

[iwakunijeeper]

Try this link this guy knows what he is talking about it is basically what everyone on here has said but a little more in detail.
kevin fells writeup on death wobble

 

[sukaB]

Ok so my mom is not too happy with her ZJ right now. Every so often when she's driving it, the front tires start bouncing really bad. New shocks and tires where rebalanced. This of course happens whenever and sporadically. Any ideas? Please don't make me go to JU for this one.

Adjustable arms (castor) and replace the rod joints and trac bar bush and it'll be good..

 

[Bone Down]

With out getting flamed.
I had this same problem on my F350 last summer.
Was pretty spooky towing a heavy load then the DW's rear their head up.
My fix was easy and this may be all you have to do as well, or maybe not.

My problem was severe tire wear and cupping, that could not be balanced out.
New tires and problem has since long been gone.

 

[iwakunijeeper]

With out getting flamed.
I had this same problem on my F350 last summer.
Was pretty spooky towing a heavy load then the DW's rear their head up.
My fix was easy and this may be all you have to do as well, or maybe not.

My problem was severe tire wear and cupping, that could not be balanced out.
New tires and problem has since long been gone.

I wouldnt really worry about getting flamed on this board a whole lot. For the most part it is a good group of people on this board as long as you are contributing something useful like your post above. One thing though watch out for the guy with the GRANADE(spelling error on purpose)