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TJTerror
New User
| Posts: 1
| Joined: 09/08
Posted: 09/04/08 05:44 PM
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So I have read as many threads as I could find on the topic of death wobble.
However, nothing has solved the problem yet. Perhaps I am overlooking the obvious.
I have a 1998 jeep wrangler sport with 170K+ miles on it. 11 months ago I devoped a shimmy in the front axle.
Not death wobble as the truck simply vibrated excessively through 45 mph, but at 50 it was fine. No loss of control, no "oh crap if this happens in trafic I'm dead" death wobble woes.
I fixed the problem by having a rubicon express short arm superflex kit installed. Basically the top of the line 4.5in kit with 3.5 in springs and topped it off with 33" meats. BF Goodrich T/A all terrain tires
Everything was fine, then I noticed my frame was tweaked, the passenger side spring housing was pushed in and up, the front bumper is a little crooked, which set the passenger side about a 1/2 in lower then the driver's side. I must have been there before, perhaps from one of the many late night off road misadventures.. It's a jeep.
Anyways in an attempt to level the jeep I installed a set of jks spacers and raised the front end an inch and a half. However, that was too much for the short arm kit to take. Though while living in Arizona, I had no death wobble issues, I would run down the highways from trail to trail, swaybars disconnected and 10 psi in the tires..no problem.
I would haul down to Vegas at 80 mph and never once had death wobble. I even cracked a few rims and never once had my jeep shake so violently and out of control.
Then the first time I took it out from the back of the U-haul truck to pop it's cherry on NJ's roads. The first pot hole I hit, I about had to change my underwear.
Since then, I've lowered the front end to 4 inches above stock and installed a 4 in droped pitman arm. I also replaced the steering box(internal seals blew out) and adjusted the caster of the axle.
I can get the death wobble to disapear, but then it always comes back, it only comes when I hit a few consecutive bumps and get the wheels to start shaking. It doesn't happen at higher speeds, but more around 30-45 mph range, which during rush hour is all to common. If I hit a good bump at any of those speeds.. Death wobble.
I finally broke down and took it to a shop, but they couldn't figure it out. There is no play, or better to say there is no detectable play in any of the components most comonly associated with death wobble. I do have an adjustable track bar. Aside from the tie rod ends and hub ball joints, everything is less then a year old.
Right Caster 6.0 Camber -.7 Toe -.17 ( I toed the wheels out as it was the only thing that worked so far, though I just found out I should have toed them in.)
left Caster 6.2 Camber -.5 toe -.16
I also found my tires to be over inflated after it came back from the shop. However, once I aired them down to 35 psi (what is stamped on the tire) the death wobble came more frequently as smaller bumps set it off. So I suspected they overinflated them to mask the issue.
What I would like to know is, if anyone else was able to solve their death wobble and how? What was the problem? What caused it?
Because, simply moving to a different state should not cause death wobble.
As soon as I can, I am going to remove the front axle and go over it piece by piece until I find what the hell is wrong. I also ordered up that nifty crossover conversion steering linkage from rusy's.. See if that does the trick.
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mudb8-
Moderator
| Posts: 3112
| Joined: 08/07
Posted: 09/04/08 06:16 PM
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your jeep is realated to herbie and doesn't like NJ?
if ya can't find a joint problem and your sure the tires arent junk, get a new stabilizer.
az has some good roads..
Help save TELLICO...VIRTUAL RALLY for Tellico...
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8149649#post8149649
The rally will be on Wednesday May 7th from 4 to 9 pm Eastern Standard Time. Be there and post up POSITIVE COMMENTS!!
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mudb8-
Moderator
| Posts: 3112
| Joined: 08/07
Posted: 09/04/08 06:21 PM
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the reason I refered to the tires is I had a set of maxxis buckshots that had about 30% tread remaining that shook mine to death also,
Help save TELLICO...VIRTUAL RALLY for Tellico...
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8149649#post8149649
The rally will be on Wednesday May 7th from 4 to 9 pm Eastern Standard Time. Be there and post up POSITIVE COMMENTS!!
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