89 stock death wobble

[th3m4nm4rcu5]

hey, guys. so i have an 89 comanche 2wd, 5 speed, 4.0 renix. and i have a terrible death wobble.

 

the wobble started

 

-i replaced the track bar, and passenger pitman arm. it stopped for a while

 

death wobble came back few months later, absolutly terrible, every bump it hit.

 

- replaced passenger upper and lower control arm bushings (MOST AGGRIVATING JOB I HAVE EVER DONE) it fixed the death wobble for about 2 weeks

 

Death wobble is back now, but not terrible. every once in a while.

 

 

my question is, the stock control arms are so wimpy, could this be the problem? they bent some when i removed the old bushings, and i had to kinda of bend them back. are tubular control arms a solution?

[Eagle]

Tire balance is the solution.

[gogmorgo]

Tire balance is a solution, not necessarily the solution.

Anything that can cause a vibration that could get bounced back and forth between the wheels. Worn tie rods ends, ball joints, weak (i.e. flexible) tie rod, wheel bearings even, and of course tire balance, among other possible problems. Rotating your rear tires forward to check for tire-related issues is pretty simple, but not a guaranteed success... won't do you much good if your rear tires are out of balance too.

[Marine1Texas]

Agree with ^

Other things to check are Front Hub Assembly on both sides, if the hub has just a slight give it can cause some wobble, also check those rotor's out.

[benjy_26]

How'd the track bar bracket look on the body side?

[Incommando]

How'd the track bar bracket look on the body side?

This. Check that the mounting hole is not wobbled out when you do this

[mark 39]

      Check your steering damper shock on tie rod.

[benjy_26]

Theoretically, you don't need a steering damper on a MJ/XJ/ZJ if all else is in good working order.

[Gubachoo]

I've had three XJ's and and an MJ all develop this at different times and all for either slightly or very different reasons. My current MJ the problem was threefold. First the castle nut on top of the track bar had loosened (pin broke and fell out leaving only bits inside) which also killed the steering stabilizer so when I tightened the nut and replaced the pin, it still had a little which went away. I still get it once in a long while and it is my control arm bushings. I bought a set of 4 with bushings in them a year or two ago and am hoping to get to replacing them now that the nice weather is here. If you crawl under the truck and have a strong someone push it back and forth while its in gear with no ebrake (chock the wheels with a little distance for the tires to move back and forth so you don't, um, die) you can see the play in the bushings. It didn't show up on my truck on the lift because of the suspension sag down. On my last XJ a simple steering stabilizer replacement fixed it (saw it was leaking and pulled it off and tried to compress it and it gave me almost zero resistance.) The XJ before that the castle nut had loosened up like someone else suggested and rounded out the hole it was in so even after tightening, it would wobble once in a while. That one was a PITA to find and frustrating as can be. ended up cutting the small section out and welding in a new piece then just drilling a new hole. Not as terrible of a job as I would have thought initially. The first XJ was a twofold problem of track bar end being shot and alignment being toed out. So I guess what I'm trying to say, is it could be a lot of things, but in the shop, we have been putting a new set of control arms on old XJ's at the rate of 3 or 4 a year for a bit now, so in my opinion, that's a great place to start. But spend a few minutes under it with a friend to shake wheel and push and such, and you'll save yourself from the dreaded "throw parts at it and see what sticks" scenario. Also, to the suggestion above of tire balance, if it comes and goes and hits suddenly when hitting a bump or something, I must respectfully disagree as tire balance will be felt pretty much at all times and increase and tire speed increases. Good luck!