Calling Death Wobble Experts!

On new years day I hit my SS on a rock which dented it and caused it to leak. I drove with it til friday when i was ale to get to Desert Rat to exchange it out. replaced the bad one and took the jeep for a test drive. There is a bump on the road from my house that is just before the transition to the bridge which as never been an issue....til the test drive and hit the bump and the front end shakes and wobbles til I get down to 15 mph.

I replaced the heim joint on the Rubicon express TB. When I was having my wife turn the wheel I could feel a binding/ rubbing sensation in it. Replaced the heim and the DW is still there. I got the lift at around 3500 miles and I am at 11,000 now.

All the control arms are tight etc.

The one thing I did notice was that the draglink has alot of play that I never noticed before. I can twist it much like the tie rod but even more. Is that normal?

Rotation of a tie-rod end on your drag link is normal. Up and down or side to side shifting is not normal and will give you grief. Click on the link below to see more tips as to how you can resolve your death wobble.

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...s-What-it-isn-t-and-What-You-Can-Do-to-Fix-it

wayoflife said:

Rotation of a tie-rod end on your drag link is normal. Up and down or side to side shifting is not normal and will give you grief. Click on the link below to see more tips as to how you can resolve your death wobble.

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...s-What-it-isn-t-and-What-You-Can-Do-to-Fix-it

Click to expand...

Thanks Eddie. I have read that post over and over!

The lift is a RE Super Flex Short Arm with Bilstein 5100s. Its about 3 months old. I replaced the heim on the RE track bar but still have DW, only when hitting a good bump in the road at 40mph+. I can do 50mph as long as the roda is smooth but in Tucson Az thats not alot of streets.

I checked all the bolts for the CA and TB with the torque wrench and all is good. Iam going to have the tires checked today i.e balance etc...

The Jeep only has 11,000 miles - would it be possible for tir rod ends or wheel bearings to be bad so soon?

The tires are 35x12.5x17.

silversmoke said:

Thanks Eddie. I have read that post over and over!

The lift is a RE Super Flex Short Arm with Bilstein 5100s. Its about 3 months old. I replaced the heim on the RE track bar but still have DW, only when hitting a good bump in the road at 40mph+. I can do 50mph as long as the roda is smooth but in Tucson Az thats not alot of streets.

I checked all the bolts for the CA and TB with the torque wrench and all is good. Iam going to have the tires checked today i.e balance etc...

The Jeep only has 11,000 miles - would it be possible for tir rod ends or wheel bearings to be bad so soon?

The tires are 35x12.5x17.

Click to expand...

Your TRE's being bad so soon isn't likely but, I have had my ball joints go bad in about that time. They have plastic internal components that can wear out quickly especially with big tires and wheels with little back spacing. As far as wheel bearings go, it's not likely but totally possible. I have heard of a few cases where this was in fact the problem.

When you hit your SS, did you hit your tie-rod as well? If so, you most likely bent it and now have too much toe-in. That won't help anything. Also, a big hit can damage the threads on the adjuster allowing it to be sloppy. This has happened to me before and caused DW.

wayoflife said:

Your TRE's being bad so soon isn't likely but, I have had my ball joints go bad in about that time. They have plastic internal components that can wear out quickly especially with big tires and wheels with little back spacing. As far as wheel bearings go, it's not likely but totally possible. I have heard of a few cases where this was in fact the problem.

When you hit your SS, did you hit your tie-rod as well? If so, you most likely bent it and now have too much toe-in. That won't help anything. Also, a big hit can damage the threads on the adjuster allowing it to be sloppy. This has happened to me before and caused DW.

Click to expand...

What Eddie said on the adjuster getting sloppy! I about shit when i was checking my stock t rod and it seemed a bit loose even though the clamp bolts were tight. I dropped the driver side rod end and literally had 1/2" total of up and down play at rod end from the sloppy adjuster.