Not Dw, But Needs Fixin

[ftpiercecracker1]

1989, 4.0, 4x4, 5spd, bone stock

 

Truck is butter smooth until you reach 55mph, like i said its not death wobble but it deffinately has a severe shake that only gets worse as speed increases. It is coming thru the steering wheel almost entirely. I have and my mech has also, inspected the front end and all typical trouble spots. Nothing was found to be out of place and all tie rods ends were tight. Most TRE are newer, track bar is newer, steering stabilzer is new. The only thing that has me thinking now are my control arm bushings. My mech said they were in perfectly acceptable condition, but i don't know where else to look.

 

The bushings for the control arms are a little dryrotted on the outside but show no signs of falling out or slipping.

 

 

 

 

If the Track Bar is supposed the keep the axle from moving side to side it would seem that the joint on the frame side of the track bar would do nothing to prevent movement. Seeing as how all it is, is a TRE, that which can move in all directions.

[onlyinajeep726]

Ball joints?

[Lee21490]

Inspect your tires, If they're starting to separate / have a buldge in them it will vibrate really badly at higher speeds.

[Geonovast]

If the Track Bar is supposed the keep the axle from moving side to side it would seem that the joint on the frame side of the track bar would do nothing to prevent movement. Seeing as how all it is, is a TRE, that which can move in all directions.

 

It is a TRE, but it still prevents side to side movement.  If the truck stays put, and the axle were to move either left or right, the actual mounting point of the TRE on the trackbar would have to shift the same amount.

 

The axle does shift left and right, a small amount, whenever it moves up and down because of how that's mounted.  So even an up and down shake on the axle from the tires would cause the truck to shake left and right.

[zackcj7]

 Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth slowly while parked while you are watching under the truck (E Brake on). Look for any movement in the trac bar and control arm bushings. Also look for movement in the steering box where it bolts to the body. Also check all the steering ends for excessive movement. That being said in my experience it's usually the trac bar.

[Eagle]

Tire balance ... tire balance ... tire balance.

 

The shake starting at 55 MPH is the clue. That's when tire balance always kicks in.

[Knucklehead97]

I don't want to thread jack, but I'm havin pretty much the same issue. Just at 43 mph and it seems to clear up some at about 50-60. I just got all new steering installed (TRE, trac bar, steering stabilizer) and it helped some but still its bad. Would this be tires (my front tires are wore out to almost comeplete baldness), or ball joints? Please say tires >.<

 

 

 

 

Thanks

[Myron]

I'm with Eagle on this one. Also look at your wheels and if they have excessive weights on them, the tires may be to blame for being out of round.

[Zebvance]

I had this problem

And it was my u joints on my front drive shaft. They had play but not a whole llot. However had the same shaking problems through steering wheel and dash.

[ftpiercecracker1]

Inspect your tires, If they're starting to separate / have a buldge in them it will vibrate really badly at higher speeds.

Tires are brand new Wrangler radials, not even a 1000k on them

 

 

Ball joints?

Mech tested and said D side was tight as a button, P side had a insignificant amount of play, tiny.

 

 

 Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth slowly while parked while you are watching under the truck (E Brake on). Look for any movement in the trac bar and control arm bushings. Also look for movement in the steering box where it bolts to the body. Also check all the steering ends for excessive movement. That being said in my experience it's usually the trac bar.

 

Already done, several times. There is a tiny bit of movment where the track bar mounts to the axle, probably less than a 1/32nth of an in. But I can also watch all my control arms move back and forth about 1/16th of an inch as i turn the wheel from clock to clock. :hmm:

 

Tire balance ... tire balance ... tire balance.

 

The shake starting at 55 MPH is the clue. That's when tire balance always kicks in.

 

 

Granted i havent done it in a while because the truck has been parked, I had the tires balanced and the steering aligned on three separate occasions all within a month, trying to solve this problem back before i tore the truck down.

 

 

Probably will have it done again here shortly.

[Myron]

Are your control arms moving like your bushings are wore out?

[ftpiercecracker1]

Update: 

 

Everything in the picture has been replaced with new components, save the control arm bushing. (mine are in good shape) The steering stabilizer was replaced with a much heavier duty version along with the stock swaybar for a V8 ZJ version. All in all since the start, the steering has improved by as much as 90%. But the wobble still persists, speed and bumps in the road do not seem provoke it, but cornering does. Dropping below 55mph immediately stops it.

 

One thing that i have noticed, is that even after a new track bar drilled out for a 5/8 bolt, and tightening the ever livin sh*t out of it, there is still a fraction of an inch of play. Probably less than a 1/16 of an inch, could this be part of it?

 

 

 

 

Plans:

 

Tire balance and rotation

Tighten steering box, slightly

 

 

Something that may interest you, when i was having my Wranglers (tires) mounted the tech that was balancing them told me that one of my rims was slightly warped/bent. So we put that one on the rear passenger side.

[dlee]

Tire balance ... tire balance ... tire balance.

 

The shake starting at 55 MPH is the clue. That's when tire balance always kicks in.

 

x2 on tire balance, I had the same problem on my LJ, drove fine until about 45-50 mph, then would shake you off the road.

[ftpiercecracker1]

FIXED:

 

 

Went and got my tires balanced/rotated. Turned out my front rims were egg shaped, :ack:  turns out aluminum is pretty freakin soft and my drive way is pretty freaking hard. Just by putting the warped rims from front to back completely stopped all front end wobble, but this made the back end vibrate like a mother. I had only one other good rim to put on, so we replaced the very worst of the warped rims with it and a brand new tire. HUGE difference, but the back end is still vibrating, i will be chucking the other of the two warped rims and replace it with a good one, hopefully this will take care of what little vibes are left.

 

Crossing my fingers :crossfingers:  , but i think i can safely say i have conquered my Death Wobble.

[onlyinajeep726]

Glad you got it fixed man.  DW can be a b*tch.