skidoo_j Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 This is more of a rant then a request for help, However any guidance that's not the typical would be appreciated. Here goes. My truck ran well, drove the road well and had no issues. I was running stock upper control arms, rusty's adj lowers, rusty's 3" springs, a dayco spacer 1", 31x10.5 good year duratracs. I got a wild hair and decided i wanted to level it out more, so I replaced the dayco spacer with a set of acos by jks. (at lowest setting so gained about 3/16") and added a set of jks adj upper, at the same time i replaced the upper axle mounts. I extended the lower arms 1/2" then adjusted the upper to get my caster at 6.5* my toe is set to 1/16". and i've fing have the on shimmies of death wobble showing. so first thing i did the shake down of all tie rods, there's a little loose at the pitman arm, but not enough to allow any. the track bar is solid and i see no shift when on the rack, ball joints look and seem solid. Keeping in mind they're barely over a year old. I checked my toe and caster again they're fine. now i notice i have a vibration at 20-25 mph then at 45-55 so for the lower i through oh must be ujoints, so i removed the front drive shaft thinking that' s the only ones that the angle has changed on. shimmy is still there. Came home after that test drive threw the back in the air on stands. at 5mph i have a pretty bad driveline vibe, but it's gone once it's past that. ran it up to 85+ while on the jack stands and let it coast back down no vibes. Had the wife hold it at 20-25 and 45-55 and didi not see any rear tire hoping or any noticeable drive line issues. :ack: I'm at the point now where I want to roll it down my drive way with a forsale sign on it and just watch it drive away. I'm so pissed at the suspension/ death wobble!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I picked up a new tierod at pitman arm. I'll swap it out tomorrow, I have an apt at 3pm for the alignment shop to measure my alignment and check balance on tires. But if i still have it after 3pm tomorrow I'm at a loss. Oh i also went through all the bolts in the front and checked all torque. 55ftlbs on upper arms 130 on lower arms, Friggin JEEP!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Suggest looking into rear driveshaft balance (especially if you still have the sleeved OEM driveshaft) and/or driveshaft u-joints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Suggest looking into rear driveshaft balance (especially if you still have the sleeved OEM driveshaft) and/or driveshaft u-joints. OEM drive shaft. The u joints are Newer they were replaced shortly after doing my SOA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 OEM drive shaft. The u joints are Newer they were replaced shortly after doing my SOA. I had inconsistent vibes and after trying everything you did plus a lot more. I pulled the drive shaft and brought it to a local shop for balancing. The foam wrapping was deteriorated and the guy could not balance it and get consistent readings. No charge from him, and he recommended getting a replacement. I did (a custom fm. Tom Woods) and it the vibes went away. If all else fails, at least have a shop check the shaft balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 OEM drive shaft. The u joints are Newer they were replaced shortly after doing my SOA. I had inconsistent vibes and after trying everything you did plus a lot more. I pulled the drive shaft and brought it to a local shop for balancing. The foam wrapping was deteriorated and the guy could not balance it and get consistent readings. No charge from him, and he recommended getting a replacement. I did (a custom fm. Tom Woods) and it the vibes went away. If all else fails, at least have a shop check the shaft balance. Did you get a longer shaft made through tom woods? Did you stay with the slip yoke? What did it run you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKB3 Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 I had a similar problem with a TJ, rotated the tires & got an alignment and problem was solved for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadinator Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Silly question, but have you had the tires/wheels balanced? Maybe you threw a weight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMCJeepMJ Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 After lifting the rear of my rig 2.5" I got OEM driveshaft vibration whilst everything else is as it should be, including u-joints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Did you get a longer shaft made through tom woods? Did you stay with the slip yoke? What did it run you? Yes, yes, and AFAIR it ran me about $240 shipped. But try to get your original balanced first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Did you get a longer shaft made through tom woods? Did you stay with the slip yoke? What did it run you? Yes, yes, and AFAIR it ran me about $240 shipped. But try to get your original balanced first. Been racking my brain to think of things that I have not replaced that could cause some issues.... uni-hubs, the outer axle u-joints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainman Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 I'm going with alignment. My truck was stock and after had been wrecked i moved stuff around to get it where i wanted it. I adjusted the toe and drove it. Death wobble! I then moved the toe to where it seemed best and the wobble was gone. Too much in or out and i had wobble. Then i went on a long road trip and got the wobble several times in long soft sweeping turns. Toe + hard as a rock tires. I rotated tires and havent had it since. They are sensitive to the amount of drag the axle has on it, to one side or the other. So tire friction plays a big part in this equation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted August 25, 2012 Author Share Posted August 25, 2012 I'm going with alignment. My truck was stock and after had been wrecked i moved stuff around to get it where i wanted it. I adjusted the toe and drove it. Death wobble! I then moved the toe to where it seemed best and the wobble was gone. Too much in or out and i had wobble. Then i went on a long road trip and got the wobble several times in long soft sweeping turns. Toe + hard as a rock tires. I rotated tires and havent had it since. They are sensitive to the amount of drag the axle has on it, to one side or the other. So tire friction plays a big part in this equation. I'm not 100% sure how the alignment shop's machine reads caster. But the tech told me I'm off by 5* Which is crazy, I could see if i was at 5*. The screen showed that I should be at 0 degrees? I'm going to add a couple shims to make it a little more positive. Just looking at the ball joints if i go 5* neg it looks like they'll be over the top of each other. And if I went 5* more positive the pinion would be pointing downwards. When I put the angle finder on the diff cover bolts according to http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoAlignment.htm I'm right on, unless i'm 87.5 the wrong way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted August 26, 2012 Author Share Posted August 26, 2012 Ordered timken hub bearings. and new outer axle ujoints. Decided that with 133k on the originals it wouldn't hurt to replace them even though they don't seem to be loose or making any sounds, its just the last things that are on the front axle that are not new. I ordered them through autozone.com, saved some $$ by entering a bigger city zip code, Then i got free shipping at $30 on a gift card coming too. I'm planning to install these before i mess with the alignment any more. Then I'm going to take the rear drive line to get it balanced and/or replaced. at same time I might replace the yoke on the 44 with one of the u-bolt style. Check out this video I found reviewing the "store" brand unihubs. http://www.youtube.com/embed/8zHBxwwOg6s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 Well my driverside hub was toast. And the passenger side U-joint practically blew up when i was pressing it out. I ended up picking it out piece by piece. The pinion u-bolt yoke I installed has a slinger on it, I wish it didnt because I didnt change the seal, and now i think it maybe leaking, but i can't see it. Made some removal videos of the hub. and all the shake downs, but decided they don't really show anything that hasn't been posted before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 just a bit of clarification, "death wobble" generally comes out of the blue when you hit a bump and the tire oscillation gets transmitted back and forth and builds quickly. no warning, you're just suddenly hanging on for dear life. constant vibrations and the like are usually a different thing altogether, tire imbalance, ujoint imbalance, bad bearing etc. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidoo_j Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 just a bit of clarification, "death wobble" generally comes out of the blue when you hit a bump and the tire oscillation gets transmitted back and forth and builds quickly. no warning, you're just suddenly hanging on for dear life. constant vibrations and the like are usually a different thing altogether, tire imbalance, ujoint imbalance, bad bearing etc. :thumbsup: Oh believe me I know it comes out of no where. I'm just chasing down any possible issues in the front before I increase the caster. Tires are balanced perfect, little to no tread wear. Very even wear. Toe is good, all ball joints are tight, same with all rod ends. the track bar is tight. as is the bracket. The bearings were tight too, but had not been replaced. I had a squeal in the driver side everynow and then i just figured it was the brakes because if i tapped them it would go away. I decided to replace them and the squeal has not been heard since, If i can get it to experience DW again then i'll be bring the caster off 5.5* maybe to 6. then reset toe. changed the pinion yoke because i actually had slop as one of the tabs must have gotten damaged. Now it's tight tight. Seems everytime I do a shake down i find something else that's loose and needs replaced. I also took the rear drive shaft in to have it balanced, it was well within spec and cost me 30 to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjrev10 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 just a bit of clarification, "death wobble" generally comes out of the blue when you hit a bump and the tire oscillation gets transmitted back and forth and builds quickly. no warning, you're just suddenly hanging on for dear life. constant vibrations and the like are usually a different thing altogether, tire imbalance, ujoint imbalance, bad bearing etc. :thumbsup: Seems like alot of DW threads lately. I'm not so sure everyone that posts about DW is actually getting the real DW. If you where not scared for your life, you didn't have DW!! Haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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