death wable

[jeep stuff]

just got this 1990 comanche with the 4.0 its my 1st 4.0 but its faster than my grand cherokee with the 5.2 i think its got a chip in it to but if i am doing 80 my front ends started shakeing and now it does it almost everytime i go 50 or fast and everything is tight but there is play in the wheel i can't figure it out can anyone help its all stock suspension has a bad u joint but that shouldnt make a death wable

[Comanche County]

Ah, Death WOBBLE, Word of advice, start with the simple stuff before you start replacing parts. First thing....if its connected to the front axle and has a bolt, put a wrench on it and make sure its properly tightened. I mean both ends of the track bar, the control arms, steering stabilizer, ball joints, shocks, drag link and tie rod, check everything. :smart:

 

Drive it, see if it still has the shakes.

 

Put a jack under the axle and jack the tire off the ground while watching for movement in the ball joints. You might be able to check this with a little bit of leverage from a crow bar, but if you see any movement at all at the ball joint when the weight of the vehicle comes off the tire then they are probably bad.

 

Then do the tape measure alignment, you can do everything an alignment shop can do. Of course, they'll give you a snazzy print out with the camber, caster and toe measurements, but then again after I paid $69 bucks once I never went back to a shop again. Its fairly easy, follow the link: http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoAlignment.htm

 

There's a ton of posts here on DW, just use the search dude, a lot of guys including me have been down the DW road. :fs1: It could be something simple like a loose track bar, or something that may take a while to figure out.

[jeep stuff]

thanks for the help

[MJ is dead]

I have a bable head bulldog on my dash.... :rotf: :rotf:

 

JK man, you're in the right place. Listen up and the guys here will help ya. I can't, I'm just the paint/body guru round these parts

[Eagle]

just got this 1990 comanche with the 4.0 its my 1st 4.0 but its faster than my grand cherokee with the 5.2 i think its got a chip in it to but if i am doing 80 my front ends started shakeing and now it does it almost everytime i go 50 or fast and everything is tight but there is play in the wheel i can't figure it out can anyone help its all stock suspension has a bad u joint but that shouldnt make a death wable

Let's get terminology straight. Wheel shake or shimmy is not always (and in fact usually is NOT) "death wobble." Death wobble is a particularly violent shaking, not just of one front wheel but BOTH front wheels. It is SO violent that you literally cannot drive or steer the vehicle. The ONLY thing you can do is hit the brakes, hold on ... and pray you can stop before you crash. It usually requires coming to almost a complete stop before the shaking goes away.

 

If you have a shake at 50 but you can still get it up to 80, you do NOT have death wobble. You have wheel shimmy. Have your tires balanced.

 

Seriously -- "death wobble" is called that for a reason. When it hits -- you KNOW you're going to die.

[jeep stuff]

yeah its the death wable its i can't do anything but hold the wheel and hit the breaks

[freakjeep93]

check your track bar mount on the exel to make sure the hole isnt ovaled out

[88pioneer]

I agree with eagle. I had the same issue and he schooled me on the differences between the 2. Word of advice, get your tires balanced. Death wobble usually doesn't just start happening out of the blue, it usually takes hitting a bump or something to send it wobbling

[maddzz1]

Mine starts wobbling very bad when I hit a bump on the highway, mostly the pass side tire. I have to hity the brakes to get it stop (people behind me don't like this). I think Ive tracked it down to the TRE at the pitman arm since the TRE now has a clunk and there is ALOT of play/slop in my wheel. I would check the TREs if the trac bar and wheel balance is fine.

[Eagle]

yeah its the death wable its i can't do anything but hold the wheel and hit the breaks

WOBBLE! Not "wable"

 

BRAKES Not "breaks"

[JACKED88]

Balance, Balance, Balance!!! don't just assume its fine. Unless you've already had um checked/rebalanced then git it done.

[jeep stuff]

i will check the balance when i get it to stop over heating putting in a new radiator tomorrow see if that fix's it

[JACKED88]

i will check the balance when i get it to stop over heating putting in a new radiator tomorrow see if that fix's it

I can tell you from experience that some of these kids working in tire shops don't know how to use the equipment to properly balance a tire. First time mine were balanced they came out of tha shop with damn near a pound of weights wrapped a quarter of tha way around my wheels. Not exceptable!!! Made um do um again but this time they come out with less than 3 ounces. Tha kid was using the wrong boss to align tha wheels on tha machine making um run out of round.

[DJM/78]

yeah its the death wable its i can't do anything but hold the wheel and hit the breaks

WOBBLE! Not "wable"

 

BRAKES Not "breaks"

 

Eagle , I think the wable made it break .... :shake:

 

I know , I had to do it ..... :wavey:

[Eagle]

Eagle , I think the wable made it break .... :shake:

 

I know , I had to do it ..... :wavey:

No, you didn't have to do it. You wanted to do it just to torment me. Well, have I got news for YOU ...

 

My little brother is the unchallenged horrible pun king of the known universe, so have at it, Mate. You can't touch me. ( :fool: Neener neener!)

[DJM/78]

Eagle , I think the wable made it break .... :shake:

 

I know , I had to do it ..... :wavey:

No, you didn't have to do it. You wanted to do it just to torment me. Well, have I got news for YOU ...

 

My little brother is the unchallenged horrible pun king of the known universe, so have at it, Mate. You can't touch me. ( :fool: Neener neener!)

:rotfl2:

[echdaviem]

i had to replace the TRE on the pitman arm cuz it was bad, the steering dampener was bad. and then i looked at the bushings on the control arms they were shot. a couple bushings were actually loose in the control arm. then i replaced all the ball joints, they were shot too. that pretty much took care of DW on my truck. still have a little shimmey at high speed though. i think it just balancing now.