Think I shat my pants (death wobble story)

[Jay5.9L]

I've been having some vibrations lately when I hit a bad peice of road doing about 70 MPH. My tires needed to be rebalanced and that helped alot. Skip forward to about 30 min ago when I was just about to exit the freeway going home. Something I do every day of the work week. The exit lane is very rough but never gave me any trouble other than a rough ride. Tonight I hit it about 70 mph as always and the front end of the jeep started shaking and shaking and kept getting worse. I had to slam on the breaks and at about 45 mph it calmed down. Needles to say I think I need to change my undies. I'm going to take it into the shop this weekend. What should I have them check first? I love the jeep but that scared the **** out of me! Any advice would be helpfull


(The funny thing is that I just got my safety emmisions done at the jeep dealeer last week. I told them to take a look at the front and they said everything was fine and it passed with flying colors)

 

[Greg]

Haha!! Sorry to laugh, but I've been there... it's always funny to hear somebody elses experience.

You drive a GC, right? On my Toyota I was getting 'The Wobble of Death' due to a poor alignment. I got DW a few times after a spring swap (Story here.) & thought aligining it was the first logical thing, so I did it in my garage & solved my DW. I never had it again.

Jeeps are probably way diffrent, especially with Links & Coils. Is your rig stock? There's a number of things to check... Control Arms, Track Bar, etc. Have someone turn the wheel back & forth while you crawl under & look at all the axle mount locations. Look for any movement.

Some people will tell you to throw a steering stabilizer on there, but that's just a band-aid & doesn't fix the real problem.

 

[mbryson]

Haha!! Sorry to laugh, but I've been there... it's always funny to hear somebody elses experience.

You drive a GC, right? On my Toyota I was getting 'The Wobble of Death' due to a poor alignment. I got DW a few times after a spring swap (Story here.) & thought aligining it was the first logical thing, so I did it in my garage & solved my DW. I never had it again.

Jeeps are probably way diffrent, especially with Links & Coils. Is your rig stock? There's a number of things to check... Control Arms, Track Bar, etc. Have someone turn the wheel back & forth while you crawl under & look at all the axle mount locations. Look for any movement.

Some people will tell you to throw a steering stabilizer on there, but that's just a band-aid & doesn't fix the real problem.

Check your toe..........

 

[Greg]

Check your toe..........

Yep.

I set my Toe in, at between 1/4" & 1/8" and problem solved. Guess I shoulda said that...

 

[cyberduke]

Check your toe..........

I have 10.

 

[zukinrail]

Go here ~~> http://www.kevinsjeepparts.com/techarticles/deathwobble.html It should be most helpful.


James

 

[Jay5.9L]

I have a '98 grand cherokee with a tera 2" BB, up country springs and shocks from another '98 GC, a OME SD 40 steering stablizer, and some 245/75/16 tires.
I am in need of some new tires soon but after the blalabe they rode very nice.

Thanks for the link James. I hope I can fix this because I don't have the time to change my soiled undies everytime I drive LOL

 

[RockMonkey]

I have a '98 grand cherokee with a tera 2" BB, up country springs and shocks from another '98 GC, a OME SD 40 steering stablizer, and some 245/75/16 tires.
I am in need of some new tires soon but after the blalabe they rode very nice.

Thanks for the link James. I hope I can fix this because I don't have the time to change my soiled undies everytime I drive LOL

blalabe?

 

[zukinrail]

Thanks for the link James. I hope I can fix this because I don't have the time to change my soiled undies everytime I drive LOL

I dealt with DW on my ZJ for 2 years. You get used to it and get to the point where you don't soil them anymore. It just becomes part of driving. I was to the point that on my commute to work, I knew where each bump was that would set it off and avoided them or prepared for them. This last weekend it seems that I cured my DW by replacing my front shocks. Go figure.

 

[my4thjeep]

Death wobble what a fun experience...

I enjoy the looks of other drivers when you slam on the brakes to make it stop. Its also exhilerating slamming on the brakes in the center lane of a busy I-15.

 

[fatkid44]

death wobble

I was having death wobble problems with my XJ after I put the lift on. I took it in to get the alignment rechecked, and my problem was the track bar relocation bracket was way loose. After I put some washers on and tightened that baby up, my problems have gone away.

 

[SammiGrrl]

blalabe?

balance.

 

[trpl xj]

I dealt with DW on my ZJ for 2 years. You get used to it and get to the point where you don't soil them anymore. It just becomes part of driving. I was to the point that on my commute to work, I knew where each bump was that would set it off and avoided them or prepared for them. This last weekend it seems that I cured my DW by replacing my front shocks. Go figure.

Been there. My xj was the same way. DW can be cased by a crap load of different thing. Most have been mentioned. Another one to look at is your caster angle. Not enough angle you get DW too much and you get DW. The only good way to fix this on a xj, zj, tj is with adjustable arms. My caster was at 3* and I had some bad DW. When I did my new lift I had adjustable upper arms made and I set the caster at about 9* if I remember right and I have no DW at all.

DW is something that can be a pan in the a$$ to fix.

 

[Jay5.9L]

Yea, there was big F-250 on the side of me when the jeep started to dance like a big black whale having a seizure. After I got it under control the passenger kept looking at me as if I was going to rob her LOL. I check my air pressure when I got gas yesterday and my tires were at 30 PSI. The guys at discount did not inflate them after the balance. Running at 35 psi now and have not had a seizure yet. I'm still going to get the alignment check ASAP.

 

[thumperdee]

Check your track arm bushings!! Cheap fix and it will do the death wobble when they are toast. Had the wobble on both my 1973 Bronco and my daughter's 1994 Jeep and that is what it was both times!! $24 a set I think.

 

[Jay5.9L]

Check your track arm bushings!! Cheap fix and it will do the death wobble when they are toast. Had the wobble on both my 1973 Bronco and my daughter's 1994 Jeep and that is what it was both times!! $24 a set I think.

I had the jeep looked at and they replaced the track bar. So far so good but I'll have to drive it for a few more days until I'm sure. I really need new tires to completely put my mind at rest. Any one have a set of MTRs from a Rubicon they want to sell?

 

[crimsonride]

Almost always when a jeep would come in with DW it was a worn out trac bar. They just wear out faster on a lifted jeep.

 

[Jay5.9L]

So almost a week later and no major DW to report. I did hit 2 cases of mild wobble on I-15 a fe days ago but nothing as violent as before. I think it need a re-alignment because it puls a bit to the passenger side now.

So I don't know if the problem is solved but its better.

 

[Badcop]

Just a suggestion, Ive had DW on both my 96' XJ and my 02' TJ, both with 6"+. The #1 factor on both was the allignment. Measure your front tires in the front and the rear and if its off, adjust the tie rod. The other factor was the passenger side knuckle wore out and went oblong causing the drag link ball joint to loosen up.

 

[Jay5.9L]

DAMN IT!! After a week of no serious DW just minor stuff it happened driving east on I-215. Major case of ass cleenching DW that threw all the DVD I had on the pasenger seat to the floor. Time for a serious alignment and new tires.
Maybe I should do my shocks as well. I have about 70K on the factory UC shocks but they still seem to dampen well.