Steering Wobble

[JeepTJ38]

I dont know if this is what you consider the death wobble but it scares the hell outa me. The jeep runs fine untill you hit a bump that affects one tire at a time or a good size bump. Then the whole front end and steering wobble left and right like crazy untill I either turn and put pressure on the wheels or slow down below 30 mph. What is this ? I checked my trac bar adn tie rods and my steering box and all are good what else could it be ?

 

[Jeromy]

I had the same thing happen to mine. It was the axle side of the front track bar bolt was not tight. Way scary. Seen it happen to a few other jeeps. Double check that bolt.

Jeromy

 

[sukaB]

Giddy up.........

Aint that fun........

 

[Hickey]

check your ubolts too.

 

[Caleb]

On your TJ right??? if so then I know it is a common problem but I have never personally dealt with it...listen to Jeromy he apparently has had to deal with it...my friends did the same thing but it was WAY bad and no matter what he did he couldn;t get rid of it...he ended up sell his Jeep cause he didn;t dare let his wife drive it...

 

[JeepTJ38]

great sell it. What kindov **** is that ! just kidding. If you get cut off by a black TJ cruising into the right shoulder sorry it's me. I cant help it

 

[RockRoach]

i feel your pain ...i'm gettin some bad wobbles in my xj, it only happens when i'm goin' over 40 mph and one of the tires hits a bump. I checked the trac bar, control arms, got the tires balanced, tomorrow i'm getting it alligned, hope it helps.

 

[sukaB]

*****

You don't need to sell ****....

It can be fixed.....just needs someone who knows...

 

[mbryson]

Originally posted by sukaB
*****

You don't need to sell ****....

It can be fixed.....just needs someone who knows...

SUKA apparently knows..........I know..........keep working on it. {sell your Jeep because of Death Wobble--------wussies }



.........keep going, you're on the right track.

 

[JeepTJ38]

its amazing how many shops you can go to and they know "Exactly" what your talking about but have diffrent answer. I guess there all right so heres what I got:

Bad u-joints will get into a gyro pattern and throw the front end around. Mine are good so I skiped this.

Caster. Factory caster (7) does not allow large tires to find center well and so they fight with eachother (Especially if the tires are worn funny and are no longer flat) change caster to around 2 or 3 degrees and align the tires.

Trackbar. Jeromy had a good point and it turned outo be my problem. The factory trac bar has pressed in busings on the axle side. Mine eventually wore out (probably last week up mineral basin) and allowed the bar to wobble loosening the top where it hooks to the frame. Cycle your steering and if there is any play at all in this bar you are screwed.

I took it to Mountain West Off road and had David look at it and found the problem right away (I like mechanics that lay in the parking lot under your jeep) and he showed how the bar moved. Its getting replaced wed. With an adjustable track bar with replaceable bushings in case this happens again so we'll see how it works.
Hope this help everyone out their with this problem becasue it sounds like their are alot of ya...

 

[mbryson]

Originally posted by JeepTJ38
its amazing how many shops you can go to and they know "Exactly" what your talking about but have diffrent answer. I guess there all right so heres what I got:

Bad u-joints will get into a gyro pattern and throw the front end around. Mine are good so I skiped this.

Caster. Factory caster (7) does not allow large tires to find center well and so they fight with eachother (Especially if the tires are worn funny and are no longer flat) change caster to around 2 or 3 degrees and align the tires.

Trackbar. Jeromy had a good point and it turned outo be my problem. The factory trac bar has pressed in busings on the axle side. Mine eventually wore out (probably last week up mineral basin) and allowed the bar to wobble loosening the top where it hooks to the frame. Cycle your steering and if there is any play at all in this bar you are screwed.

I took it to Mountain West Off road and had David look at it and found the problem right away (I like mechanics that lay in the parking lot under your jeep) and he showed how the bar moved. Its getting replaced wed. With an adjustable track bar with replaceable bushings in case this happens again so we'll see how it works.
Hope this help everyone out their with this problem becasue it sounds like their are alot of ya...

..........the force is strong with this one....

 

[Jeromy]

cool glad it got figured out. And check your pms I sent a reply to yours the other day and looks like you still have not read it. Not that it will help now that you have it sloved.

Jeromy

 

[JeepTJ38]

New trackbar solved the problem. Still has a little wobble, I'm assuming its from the tires wearing funny after this but a new steering shock should make it go away untill they wear flat again. Thanks for your help.

P.s. Anybody want to go out and do some product testing ?

 

[Brad Yates]

make sure that the frame side bolt is double nutted and lock-tited. that thing is notorious for loosening up.

 

[my4thjeep]

what brand of trackbar did you get?

 

[JeepTJ38]

Teraflex adustable trackbar. Works good. SO far no problems. Also cool because you cabn retain it for future lifts and not have to buy a bigger one.

 

[my4thjeep]

thanks for the info I may be in the same boat as I am trying to track down my death wobble that begun recently and is getting worse.

 

[spencurai]

ok here is one for ya...I have a new trac-bar, got it aligned, rotated the tires, checked all the control arms and I still get death wobble between 45 and 50...if you go over 50 it straightens out, if you drop below 45 it disappears....what gives?!?

I don't exactly trust the alignment by big-o because their printer was broken and they couldn't give me the specs they set it to so I think I might have too much caster....

I also have something loose in my steering box. I can grab the pitman arm and move it probably .05". I have tighened up the adjustment on the box to see if it was the runout but now I just have a super tuned free-play in my steering wheel...the thing responds like a nascar....but I still have that looseness, could that be my death wobble? I put a wrench on that 1 1/2" nut and I can't tighten it anymore...

I have tried literally everything...time to go back to big-o I guess...

 

[mbryson]

Originally posted by spencurai
ok here is one for ya...I have a new trac-bar, got it aligned, rotated the tires, checked all the control arms and I still get death wobble between 45 and 50...if you go over 50 it straightens out, if you drop below 45 it disappears....what gives?!?

I don't exactly trust the alignment by big-o because their printer was broken and they couldn't give me the specs they set it to so I think I might have too much caster....

I also have something loose in my steering box. I can grab the pitman arm and move it probably .05". I have tighened up the adjustment on the box to see if it was the runout but now I just have a super tuned free-play in my steering wheel...the thing responds like a nascar....but I still have that looseness, could that be my death wobble? I put a wrench on that 1 1/2" nut and I can't tighten it anymore...

I have tried literally everything...time to go back to big-o I guess...

I'd verify the toe was on and get rid of the 'slop' in the pitman arm(is it from the box or from the tie rod end on the draglink?). I've had death wobble (and you need to change your shorts afterward) a couple of times and you need to check everything. Once it was a loose combination of upper and lower control arm on the same side and the other time it was the toe. Sounds like you've checked the 'looseness' factor.

 

[JeepTJ38]

I said it earlier somewhere in this post but a 4x4 shop told me to change me caster to like 1 or 3. The factory is set at 7 or something. That steep and it has a hard time letting the tires come back to center. But if you are at the same hight you always have been and then this happens I think it's worn out parts. I would definently change the steering box. Have you looked at your steering stab. or tire weights. I know mine come off every once and a while and then the jeep goes crazy during certain speeds.