I am having trouble navigating this website and would like to know how to start a thread or post in order to get help with my jeep. I currently put a 3.5 inch lift had to drop axel because I didn't have a spring compressor. I assembled everything together and also added an adjustable track bar to center the body over the axel and fix death wobble and for some reason I still have it .I currently cant drive over 30 mph because death wobble is bad. id love to know what to do from her or any advise.
Need help trying to fix death wobble
- Thread starter Alfredo1993
- Start date
DW at 30 mph doesn't sound right, but I guess anything is possible. Are you sure it's not a drive line vibe instead of death wobble?
First, it is preferable to drop the axle enough to insert new taller springs. Spring compressors can be dangerous and it's simply faster, easier, and safer to drop the axles enough to get the new springs in than it is to use a spring compressor.
Just how bad is your Death Wobble? Is it a shimmy, a bad shimmy, or is it so bad your vision blurs, your life passes before your eyes and the Jeep is pretty much out of control so badly you have to pull over?
Are you running the same tires and wheels as you did before the lift? Are the track bar bolts as tight now as they were before you started the installation?
Just how bad is your Death Wobble? Is it a shimmy, a bad shimmy, or is it so bad your vision blurs, your life passes before your eyes and the Jeep is pretty much out of control so badly you have to pull over?
Are you running the same tires and wheels as you did before the lift? Are the track bar bolts as tight now as they were before you started the installation?
Its really bad death wobble to the point that I need to pull over. I cant control it once the wobble begins and prior to the lift I had no death wobble issues. I am running the same tires 33x12.5 if anything I even got them balanced. I haven't gotten an alignment one because I really don't thing the death wobble is an alignment issue that's how bad it is. As for the new track bar everything was tighten properly. the only things I have added before the death wobble issue was the 3.5 inch lift and track bar thinking that was the source of the problem.
No. Sounds like DW. So start back from zero. You raised the jeep 3.5" and replaced the track bar. Your caster has changed, your toe has changed. Make sure your tie rods, unit bearings, and ball joints are solid. Get an alignment.
So you're 100% certain the death wobble wasn't present before you installed the lift?
If so, from what I find, death wobble almost always seems to be related to improper tightening of the track bar bolts, or other important bolts related to your drive train. So many times people will not torque the front track bar bolts to their required specs, and that ends up leaving them loose enough that at higher speeds the track bar will shimmy in place due to those bolts not being torqued properly.
The best thing you can do is a dry steering test. Get underneath the vehicle while it's running (in park). Have someone sit inside the Jeep and turn the steering wheel back-and-forth as fast as they can, repeatedly. While they are doing that, you're on your back under the front end watching all of the steering components. See if you can see or hear anything that is obviously loose or making noise. This is how I found out my track bar bolt on the axle side wasn't tight enough, which was the cause of my death wobble.
Another thing that is the cause of a good majority of the vibrations people experience are improperly balanced tires. I'm pretty sure if we had a dollar for every time improperly balanced tires was the issue, we'd have some serious money. This can happen with old tires, tires that accidentally had a wheel weight knocked off them, or new tires that were recently installed. A lot of shops out there don't have enough experience to balance the large tires we run on our Jeeps. You need to find a shop that specializes in 4x4s and make sure whoever is balancing them knows what they're doing.
If so, from what I find, death wobble almost always seems to be related to improper tightening of the track bar bolts, or other important bolts related to your drive train. So many times people will not torque the front track bar bolts to their required specs, and that ends up leaving them loose enough that at higher speeds the track bar will shimmy in place due to those bolts not being torqued properly.
The best thing you can do is a dry steering test. Get underneath the vehicle while it's running (in park). Have someone sit inside the Jeep and turn the steering wheel back-and-forth as fast as they can, repeatedly. While they are doing that, you're on your back under the front end watching all of the steering components. See if you can see or hear anything that is obviously loose or making noise. This is how I found out my track bar bolt on the axle side wasn't tight enough, which was the cause of my death wobble.
Another thing that is the cause of a good majority of the vibrations people experience are improperly balanced tires. I'm pretty sure if we had a dollar for every time improperly balanced tires was the issue, we'd have some serious money. This can happen with old tires, tires that accidentally had a wheel weight knocked off them, or new tires that were recently installed. A lot of shops out there don't have enough experience to balance the large tires we run on our Jeeps. You need to find a shop that specializes in 4x4s and make sure whoever is balancing them knows what they're doing.
I also agree with the above. Get an alignment, make sure your pinion angles are exactly where they need to be, make sure you're running a SYE and CV driveshaft in the rear (and make sure your rear pinion is properly aligned as well).
would you recommend to start with an alignment and after check all the ball joints and tie rods.
I suggest checking the ball joints, tie rod ends, and everything else. Once you rule all of that out, then do the alignment last and toe-in last.
A good alignment shop will check these things and tell you if something is amiss.
yes I was planning to get a buddy and do dry steering and see all components. As for my tires I got them balanced about two days ago hoping it would lessen the wobble. Tomorrow i am going in for an alignment and hope that will significantly reduce the crazy wobble.
I’m still confused, as two of your posts seem to indicate you lifted your Jeep to 3.5” and got an adjustable front trackbar to FIX your DW, as you thought that was the problem. And sadly you still have it.
Your coil springs are never the cause of DW. So changing lift height won’t fix it.
Somethings not right in the front end. Most common is trackbar, but you already fixed that AND torquing to spec. But do the test Chris mentioned above and get back to us. What trackbar do you have? Tie rod ends are next. They will rotate forward and backward due to the joint, but they should NOT move side to side. Check hubs. Lift wheel off ground and grab the wheel at 9 and 3 and rock back and forth to see if there’s any play. Check ball joints. Check brake pads, uneven wear can cause harmonic distortion causing DW. That means check rotors too. As always, PERFECTLY BALANCE TIRES. Good luck. I chased mine down once before.
Actually, just today I had a scary moment on an interstate. Road is torn to hell by construction and I hit a bad spot at 70mph. Front wheels violently shook for a second and straightened back out. Got me nervous but rest of trip was uneventful. You do not want DW. It is not fun. It can get expensive chasing it down. It can take awhile to figure out. I actually could drive fairly decent with toe out when I had DW. I think it was pulling out on my Tie Rod ends making them tighter. You might try to toe out and see if it changes the speed you get DW, or even eliminates it. If so, replace tie rod ends.
Your coil springs are never the cause of DW. So changing lift height won’t fix it.
Somethings not right in the front end. Most common is trackbar, but you already fixed that AND torquing to spec. But do the test Chris mentioned above and get back to us. What trackbar do you have? Tie rod ends are next. They will rotate forward and backward due to the joint, but they should NOT move side to side. Check hubs. Lift wheel off ground and grab the wheel at 9 and 3 and rock back and forth to see if there’s any play. Check ball joints. Check brake pads, uneven wear can cause harmonic distortion causing DW. That means check rotors too. As always, PERFECTLY BALANCE TIRES. Good luck. I chased mine down once before.
Actually, just today I had a scary moment on an interstate. Road is torn to hell by construction and I hit a bad spot at 70mph. Front wheels violently shook for a second and straightened back out. Got me nervous but rest of trip was uneventful. You do not want DW. It is not fun. It can get expensive chasing it down. It can take awhile to figure out. I actually could drive fairly decent with toe out when I had DW. I think it was pulling out on my Tie Rod ends making them tighter. You might try to toe out and see if it changes the speed you get DW, or even eliminates it. If so, replace tie rod ends.
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Start with setting (correcting) the toe-in which has definitely became excessive from the new suspension lift. Excessive toe-in can make it easier for DW to develop. Caster angle has also decreased some, also from the new suspension lift. 6 degrees of caster angle is ideal for 33" tires. The bigger the tire the less caster angle is required making the factory 7 degree caster no longer ideal.
Do perform the above dry steering test too but your #1 priority needs to be to get the toe-in angle back to its factory specification. .15 degrees per side which equals .30 total degrees required total toe-in.
Do perform the above dry steering test too but your #1 priority needs to be to get the toe-in angle back to its factory specification. .15 degrees per side which equals .30 total degrees required total toe-in.
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