DEATH WOBBLE jeep wrangler

murphystoys

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Location
Greensboro NC
Ive got a 91 jeep wrangler with 32" tires and just installed a 4" suspension lift but havent put a drop pitman arm on it yet cause I dont have one(hint hint) Would that be the reason im getting a death wobble :handed: at 50 mph only? It doesnt do it under 45 or over 55 just 50.
 
Its a rough country lift. It didnt have a death wobble until I put the lift on. Oh and by the way it was a used lift. So what is bump steer? Is that the same as death wobble?
 
Death wobble is when you have to almost come to a complete stop to get it to stop and to check your pants. Sounds like you have a strong shimmy.
 
make sure you took the track bars off and threw them away. sounds like a balance or alignment issue. rotate the tires and see if it goes away or gets worse. that may help you figure out your problem if it's a balance issue. the alignment should not have changed other than your steering wheel not being straight anymore. i hope this helps.
 
murphystoys said:
Its a rough country lift. It didnt have a death wobble until I put the lift on. Oh and by the way it was a used lift. So what is bump steer? Is that the same as death wobble?
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bump steer is not the same as DWs, it occurs when your draglink is not parrallel with your track bar. When you hit a bump, it cycles the suspension, and causes unwanted steering input thru the draglink. You'll notice you have to correct thru the steering wheel to maintain a strait line over a bump. Using a dropped pitman arm will get your draglink closer to parrallel with the TB, but probably won't cure DWs. There's many threads about DW's, usually its wore out parts.
 
tireburner1975 said:
Death wobble is when you have to almost come to a complete stop to get it to stop and to check your pants. Sounds like you have a strong shimmy.
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x2, you'll know it when its death wobble!

I just realized yo uhave a YJ, not a TJ Wrangler. Did you put longer front shackles on?...that could cause some weird shimmy because it removes caster. Had this on my CJ, and returning to stock lenght shackles fixed it.
It also could be driveline vibes, maybe lowering the t-case would help.
 
how about the rear driveshaft U-joints? Looks for side play and up/down play at both ends. I say that because you feel its speed dependant.
 
track bars are useless on a yj. i don't even know why the factory put them on there. i took mine off before i ever lifted it and could tell no difference. even taking corners like a drunk monkey.
 
yeah CJ's never had track bars, I never understood why YJs got them.

All 8 U-bolts tight? With new U-bolts you're supposed to come back and retorque after 100 or so miles. With used U-bolts...its best to check them more often.
 
I had almost the exact same thing happen to me with my TJ. Only difference is mine happened at 45mph and stopped at 50......sometimes. I believe it was a combination of my bad alignment, out of balanced tires, bad caster angle. possibly also caused by bad ball joints and/or control arms, pretty much the only things left I havent checked or replaced. I checked my bearings by lifting the tire in the air and grabbing it at the top and bottom and shaking the living hell out of it, and got no movement, except from the whole heep moving. ha.

I took my lift off and got an alignment and tires balanced, even got a different set of tires just to make sure. The worst part of the shimmy is gone, it doesn't do it all the time now, just if I hit a bad place in the road around 50. and now that I see you are having similar problems in a YJ, that is leaning me more towards my ball joints.... ah crap. that was not something I wanted to admit. :shaking:

Ill keep you informed as I continue to diagnose this problem. Post up if you have found the solution to your situation. :beer:
 
prolly not the problem but free and easy to check to rule out check your tire pressure. if above 40 let some air out. guy who mounted his tires put pressure at 48 its stupid but happened to my brother for about a month before he figured it out. worth checkin
 
everybody is hitting on the right track.. but nomatter what your actual symptom is.. you have to do one thing that includes all of these facts people are talking about.. car manufacturers spend millions of dollars designing and making your jeep perform perfectly on the road.... so when you lift something if you want it to ride just as smooth as stock, you have to bring all of your geometry to stock specs!

~you don't want any longer shackles that one inch longer(especially in the front)

~you want you knuckles to have the same angle to the ground as they did stock (which means you have to actually move your spring perches to the desired place.

~your drive shafts will vibrate at a certain speed if it doesn't have one of two alignment plans which you need to google!

my YJ is on 40's and i can let loose of the steering wheel going 75 down the interstate.. smooth as can be!
 
i had this same problem with my yj. first of all that steering set up sucks. it flexes alot so yu will feel alot of slop in the steering after lifting it. second i would go back to the stock shackles. as said before it will raise the pinion and make the steering do some funky things. i know this first hand when i did my soa, because i pointed my pinion upto the sky and the jeep was ALL OVER THE PLACE. so take the shackles off. as far as the pitman arm goes it will benefit to at least get one from a zj or an xj, so it straightens out the drag link angle a bit and will reduce bump steer..

were any of the bushings on the leaf springs worn out?, were they all nice and snug. check the hub bolts, ball joint bolts, the ball joints themselfs have a habit of wearing out in jeeps.
 
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