Death Wobble from Hell. Need Your Input. 98' XJ on 35's.

buddyantunez1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Location
Raleigh, NC
Hey all, I am about to the point of driving my XJ Cherokee off a cliff. I'm pulling all my hair out trying to figure out what could be causing my death wobble and other issues with the front end. Some days it will death wobble at 35-40 like it's going to fall apart, and others it has no wobble at all.

Here's a run down of what I have in the front end.
-98' XJ, 4.0, Auto, 132k.
-HP Dana 30 with 4.88's and a lockrite locker.
-Riddler diff cover
-6.5" lift on teraflex adjustable control arms, and trac bar. (Long arms in the garage waiting to go on.)
-35x12.50x15 KM2's on 15x8 steel wheels.
-1.25" hubcentric wheel spacers.

Parts that have been replaced in the last 800 miles/2 months or less.
-Spicer ball joints
-Spicer U-Joints on the front axles
-Rebuilt front driveshaft
-Advance auto brake pads
-Pinion seal and bearings
-Axle seals and bearings.
-Steering replaced with another used setup. Tie rod ends all feel good.

Now onto other issues that go along with the death wobble. The front locker seems to be locked up at all times in the past week. It leaves tire marks when turning in and out of the driveway and I can hear them barking when turning tight.

The front wheels look to have camber in them. Which I know isn't adjustable. And it's enough camber that even a non-mechanically inclined person can notice it. Pulled the whole front end apart and nothing looks bent, wore out or has play in it. Put it all back together and the wheels line up perfectly. Drove it around the block and they can still be strait or one of both of the wheels can be cambered again. It's like the camber comes and goes. Hubs and ball joints are all tight.

My only thouts on what else could be wrong is the locker springs and pin can be wore and causing the axle tubes to bind and death wobble and/or camber the wheels. Or one of the axles are bent causing everything to bind up.



Can anyone think of anything else I can check before breaking down and buying new axles and a locker rebuild? I'm about tired of buying rtv and gear fluid from pulling everything apart multiple times. Only other thing I can think of is measuring the axle housing to make sure it's level, which it appears to be. I greatly appreciate any help or advice in advance.

-Kyle






Pics for reference:

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How are the arm bushings? You sure the track bar is tight? Long arms will probably help as your short arms are at some steep angles.
 
I have thought of more parts that have been replaced recently.

-All control arm bushing have been replaced in the last 3 months/1500 miles.
-Steering box upgraded to the durango box.
-trac bar bushing is brand new as of Saturday.
-trac bar drop bracket has been welded to the frame to eliminate any play there.
-frame where the steering box mounts has no craks and is reinforced with the extended bumper mounting plates.
-nothing shows any signs of play when moving the wheel back and forth while a very experienced friend inspects the front end.
 
Is your track bar adjustable? Is your axle centered?
 
I stopped installing Tera track bars on my clients' Jeeps after literally every one caused eventual death wobble due to crappy bushings.

Here's how to test for front end wear: Engine off, have someone turn the steering wheel quickly from about 10 to 2 o'clock. Look, listen feel for something that LOCATES the axle to be loose. Track bar, control arm, etc. Remember, if there is ANY play in the trackbar, it's bad. Period.

What's the toe in? Should be right at 1/8" toe in. Check that.

Start there and then we can get into caster, wheel balance, etc.
 
Trac bar is adjustable amd the bushings were just replaced a few days ago. The drop bracket is also welded to the frame so it's not loose either.

I am planning on going with 1 ton steering but I don't think it's the steering, because it's having weird camber issues now.

I've looked for anything loose or worn by turning the wheel in the garage and having an experienced friend look for anything out of the ordinary.

And those videos are good. I've watched just about all of them.

I'm now leaning towards the hubs, even though they feel tight when the truck is off the ground. Just with weird camber issues that come and go, it seems logical that they could be the culprit and haven't been swapped out yet.
 
do you have a drop pitman arm? both my jeeps (one at 4.5 and 33s and my other at 6.5 with 35s) had death wobble from hell. both were fixed by new trac bar that didnt have bushings on frame side (johnny joints instead) and putting a drop pitman arm on. my stock pitman arm was causing bump steer and even the slightest bump in the road would causing death wobble. having a johnny joint end eliminated the rubber bushing from ripping apart and causing death wobble. i would have to replace a bushing after each wheelin trip because the wear from excessive movement tore the rubber apart.
 
Remove the wheel spacers and drive it?
 
Check toe in, if it is at specs add some more.
 
It does not have a drop pitman arm. I have high steer knuckles waiting to go on once I can get the 1 ton steering ordered. I do have a teraflex adjustable trac bar with johnny joints at the frame. checked it when I installed the new rubber bushing at the axle last weekend. I have removed the spacers, rotated the tires, changed tire pressure, and now installed new MOOG hubs..... and it still wobbles.

I'm going to try to switch wheels and tires with a friend to see if that corrects the problem. 4WP told me that the new steel pro comp wheel I ordered from them wern't the problem, and after replacing almost everything under the front end, I'm starting to think they are. Not a happy camper at the moment with the truck.
 
Do the DW's get 'set off' by hitting a bump, or will they start when you hit a certain speed driving on a very smooth road?

With no drop pitman arm, stock 'inverted Y' steering, and 6.5" lift springs, your front tires are going to go through large changes in 'toe' as the suspension moves up and down.
 
I doubt this helps, but my XJ had it bad. Any bump in the road and it would shake so bad I had to basically stop moving.

Turns out my lower track bar mount, supplied with the lift kit, was totally shattered on the backside. I suspected my LCA bushings, I'm still gonna replace the arms though.
 
I'm not too far from taking it to ECGS, as they're less than a mile from the house. Been in and out ofnthere recently getting maintenance parts.

I have high steer knuckles and just need to get a 1 ton heim joint kit from ballistic fab and install it all at once. But until then, I am using stock steering.

The DW will suddenly start around 35mph, smooth surface, up or down hill. But if I can get it past 35 and hit a bump in the road, it will also DW bad enough to where I nearly have to stop completely for it to go away.

Steering stabalizer is only 3 months old or so. Doesn't leak or show any signs of damage.

ALL 8 CA bushings are new as of 3 months ago. As well as track bar bushing at the axle.
 
Check the nuts and bolts on the tracbar bracket itself (the one that connects to the frame). my drop bracket bolts kept getting loose from things leaking on them. I took them all off cleaned them with parts cleaner and put some red loctite on there and they havent came loose since. I feel your pain with DW it sucks and its kind of embarrassing, I had it for over a year in my old cherokee and my new one for roughly 6 months. its always something. You've pretty much done all I can think of besides the wheels and tires being bad. You could have dry rotted tires or a broken belt inside them. or if your rims are caked in mud, it will also cause your wheels to become unbalanced. Hope you get it fixed soon! best of luck
 
sounds like you're on the right track... 35's and spacers on a d30 is pushing the wheel bearings awful hard, that's alot of weight and leverage on that little bearing.(lose the spacers if possible) You're about at the limit with steering linkage-time to lose the inverted y.
 
Make sure the hole that your track bar mounts to isnt wallowed out, mine was i had to drill out the hole and bushing in the track bar to a tight 7/16. there was much slop, also make sure you have a heavy duty stabilizer not a $25 OEM replacement, and I would have a 4wd shop do the alignment i wasted time trying to measure thr 1/8 toe in crap, a GOOD alignment saves many curse words, make sure you ball joints are in good shape. I could write a book on my battle with the death wobble! Good Luck
 
Do the steering wiggle test described earlier and look at where the steering box and track bar mount to the unibody. I had some lose steering /axle shifting /death wobble problems and it turned out that my unibody had torn so I welded it up and put a steering box brace in it and it cured it. Another time it was loose track bar mount. Does your steering box bolts go through the bumper bracket if not it might have caused the unirail to tear
 
Thanks for all the input guys! Finally getting around to tearing down the front end and figuring out my issues while putting all the goodies on. The lower trac bar hole was wallered way out, but the new beefy trac bar mount and dom tube/heim joint trac bar from ruffstuff should fix that :). Lower spicer ball joints are toast... After only being on 4 months. And the tie rod end at the pitman arm is shot. But that's being replaced by dom/heim joint high steer from ruffstuff as well. Iron rock long arms are also being mounted up, so I won't have any aggressive control arm angles too. All this should hopefully get the XJ back on the road and making Uwharrie trips all summer/fall.
 
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