extreme death wobble

[Will3161]

I just finished putting on my lift on my xj and finally got the cooling problems fixed. I got it safe/emission checked, and was on my way to farmington to get registered and when I got on the freeway and accelerated to about 50mph I got a HUGE death wobble that kept up with the same intensity until I hit about 20-25mph. It happened several times; only things that I think are possibilities are

1. my lift is slightly higher (about 1-1.5 in) in the front (junkyard lift, didn't get leaves, only shackles)

2. I didn't get the front end aligned (although it doesn't seem to off).

Any ideas?

 

[74highboy]

bad wheel balance can cause it also any play in the trac bar witch is most of the time the problem

 

[spaggyroe]

I would first check:
- Track bar
- Tie Rod / Drag Link
- Alignment (caster) (edit- AND toe in)

If that checks out, move on to:
- Wheel Bearings
- Ball Joints
- Control Arm Bushings

When all of the hardware and alignment checks out, make sure your shocks are good and tires are balanced.

 

[Tacoma]

If you have adjustable arms, you may need to adjust them to fix the caster, if it's wrong.

Get an alignment, too. When I did my XJ, it was off quite a bit.

 

[utah340six]

do you have y type steering. same as tj?
if so when you lift it your toe in changes.
as outhers have said
Track bar
- Tie Rod / Drag Link
- Alignment (caster) (edit- AND toe in)
stabilizer shock\
good luck
bigger tires?

 

[bennyboyraptor]

how high did you lift it? how much of your slip yoke is showing? it may be time for a transfer case drop kit or sye

 

[Cougar1]

ALIGNMENT to start with I would say and then get rid of it. I had a XJ and I had nothing but problems and I also but a good lift on it not a junk yard lift. Just my opinion.

 

[iamsparticus]

Tie rod ends and drag links. the Y steering linkage on the XJ is known to cause problems maybe upgrade to the 2007 or newer dodge truck steering linkage, it is susposed to be much better

 

[DOSS]

ALIGNMENT to start with I would say and then get rid of it. I had a XJ and I had nothing but problems and I also but a good lift on it not a junk yard lift. Just my opinion.

Ya just ignore the gibberish of the quitter above

Alignment, Check for loose connections (TRE's Control arms, track bar etc) anything loose can cause issues, balance your tires, check your ball joints and unit bearings.. then come back

 

[N-Smooth]

if you can't afford a gun and a bullet i would suggest putting longer control arms on there, that helped immensely on mine. i would also suggest getting lifetime alignment, it is like $140 at firestone or you can pay $70 each time (easy decision)

i also put a new steering stabilizer on there, autozone has big ones just like the aftermarket for $30. people will say it is a band-aid and whatnot but who cares it helps and it was cheap

whatever you do, try to get it fixed fast or don't drive fast enough to make it happen because you will toast motor mounts and even where the mounts bolt onto the block have been known to shear and it is a mess. on my old jeep it got it so bad that the motor moved so much that the inside of the uniframe rail poked a huge hole in the oil filter... it was a mess oh and my tracbar bolt broke once too

deathwobble ftw

 

[krany]

on my xj i had the same problem take it to a tire shop and get it balanced. one tire of mine needed nearly a pound of weight(now the back tire) if they are out of balance as bad as mine were have them take the ones that are least off and put them on the front axle. and the worse of the two on the back. if that's not the issue, check
track bar
tie rod
control arms.
etc

 

[N-Smooth]

oh yeah good call on the tire balancing and lightest in the front... i bought lifetime balance and rotation from discount i want to say it was like $14 a tire. once again its worth it to get lifetime, if i hit a pot hole i can take the jeep in to get aligned and balance the tires too

 

[Will3161]

Well, I went and got it aligned. It was WAY off. He said it was 3 inches...I didn't even realize it could be possible. But, I took it out and tested it and couldn't get it to death wobble..he did say I needed a new tie rod, but I'll check that tomorrow. Besides the obvious looseness, what could be signs of a bad tie rod? I mean by inspecting the rod.

 

[spaggyroe]

Well, I went and got it aligned. It was WAY off. He said it was 3 inches...I didn't even realize it could be possible. But, I took it out and tested it and couldn't get it to death wobble..he did say I needed a new tie rod, but I'll check that tomorrow. Besides the obvious looseness, what could be signs of a bad tie rod? I mean by inspecting the rod.

A good alignment guy should check for worn components BEFORE proceeding with an alignment.

I hope you don't end up paying for two alignments as that would obviously bring the suck.

 

[Tacoma]

Three things can go wrong with tierods: The ends can be screwed up, worn out, etc. The rod can be bent. If you have an adjusting sleeve, it can be messed up. That's all I can think of.

If your tie rod ends are messed up, it may or may not have an effect on the alignment they did... luckily, it should only affect toe-in/out, which you can set yourself with a reasonable amount of accuracy.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Are you still running the stock trac bar? I have a spare adjustable in the garage along with a spare ZJ v8 front steering setup if you decide to upgrade and get things better aligned.

 

[Will3161]

It sounded kind of like they were fishing. It took me 2 minutes of talking to him to get him to say they guarantee their alignments for 30 days. I hate car shops. I've only found one that hasn't tried to rip me off. Of course it's not a tire store, so they don't do alignments.

 

[Will3161]

Are you still running the stock trac bar? I have a spare adjustable in the garage along with a spare ZJ v8 front steering setup if you decide to upgrade and get things better aligned.

How much do you want for them? I'm not sure if I need it, as the xj I pulled the lift off of didn't have it, but I am interested. If I lift it more I'll certainly need it.

BTW, the guy that did the alignment said that if I lift the rear up higher to match the front it would throw the alignment off. Is that true? I admit I don't know a lot about vehicle alignment. Never really messed with it before.

 

[billylight]

it will affect your caster which is what helps the vehicle drive straight and wheels return to center. as the vehicle comes up in the back it rotates the front forward which gives you less caster. if your lower links are adjustable then you can correct it

 

[00xj36s]

this is a good thread. i have been having the same troubles. though its my toy and will probably never see over 50 mph. i have a high steer kit ill try that and a new track bar mount