Death wobble only when turning right at highway speeds

[cjbare10]

Hey All,

Trying to diagnose a recent issue I've been having. My '99 TJ (2.5L engine, 35" tires, 3" suspension lift, 1" body lift) has begun to death wobble, but only in one specific situation: Driving home from work. There's a section of my route where one highway merges into another perpendicular highway, and I typically take the on ramp turn at 45-55 mph. It's a turn toward the passenger side, and about two weeks ago I noticed some faint wobbling when making this turn. However, this has gotten much worse and yesterday on my way home it felt like the jeep was about to fall apart on the turn.

I just took a peek at the front suspension and everything looks OK. Replaced my rear upper control arms last weekend, and those are good. My guess is the issue lies with my front passenger axle u-joint or ball joints, but I'd rather not take all of that apart until I have more certainty to the issue.

Anyone here experience this before, or have any advice on how I can go about further diagnosing this issue? I haven't noticed this happening at lower speeds, but the issue has gotten progressively worse.

Thanks,
CJ

 

[Jerry Bransford]

First, be VERY careful driving with those 35's if your rear Dana 35 axle is still stock. The Dana 35's axle shafts are not strong enough for 35's and if you apply a little too much gas an axle shaft wil snap.

I'd first check to make sure the track bar is mounted securely and its two mounting bolts are fully tightened per spec. With the tires on the ground, have a helper repeatedly do quick left-right-left turns of the steering wheel while you closely watch all the moving parts of the steering system. There should be no side-to-side movement/slop where any of the steering system is bolted. Rotational play is normal and actually required for the tie rod and drag link though.

I'd also have the tires rebalanced. An imperfectly balanced front tire is usually the root cause of DW but i your case I'd suspect something is loose somewhere which makes it easier for DW to develop. And I'd do that even if they were recently balanced. I had to take my TJ to my local Discount Tire store THREE times in one day before they finally took the time to get them balanced well enough to make me happy.

 

[Shank]

Hey All,

Trying to diagnose a recent issue I've been having. My '99 TJ (2.5L engine, 35" tires, 3" suspension lift, 1" body lift) has begun to death wobble, but only in one specific situation: Driving home from work. There's a section of my route where one highway merges into another perpendicular highway, and I typically take the on ramp turn at 45-55 mph. It's a turn toward the passenger side, and about two weeks ago I noticed some faint wobbling when making this turn. However, this has gotten much worse and yesterday on my way home it felt like the jeep was about to fall apart on the turn.

I just took a peek at the front suspension and everything looks OK. Replaced my rear upper control arms last weekend, and those are good. My guess is the issue lies with my front passenger axle u-joint or ball joints, but I'd rather not take all of that apart until I have more certainty to the issue.

Anyone here experience this before, or have any advice on how I can go about further diagnosing this issue? I haven't noticed this happening at lower speeds, but the issue has gotten progressively worse.

Thanks,
CJ

While it sounds like this likely isn't the case, there is one section of road near me that makes almost every vehicle I own feel like the front end is shaking. Unlikely that's the case, but crazier things have happened.

Do the normal jack up one side and feel things, also have someone turn the wheel with Jeep off, feel joints, then with jeep on.

 

[cpwolf]

Hey All,

Trying to diagnose a recent issue I've been having. My '99 TJ (2.5L engine, 35" tires, 3" suspension lift, 1" body lift) has begun to death wobble, but only in one specific situation: Driving home from work. There's a section of my route where one highway merges into another perpendicular highway, and I typically take the on ramp turn at 45-55 mph. It's a turn toward the passenger side, and about two weeks ago I noticed some faint wobbling when making this turn. However, this has gotten much worse and yesterday on my way home it felt like the jeep was about to fall apart on the turn.

I just took a peek at the front suspension and everything looks OK. Replaced my rear upper control arms last weekend, and those are good. My guess is the issue lies with my front passenger axle u-joint or ball joints, but I'd rather not take all of that apart until I have more certainty to the issue.

Anyone here experience this before, or have any advice on how I can go about further diagnosing this issue? I haven't noticed this happening at lower speeds, but the issue has gotten progressively worse.

Thanks,
CJ

Do what Jerry stated, Dry steering and balance the tires. I would "think" track bar first. All the joints, look for what's unnatural movement. If you don't know, video it, from drag link to knuckle, across to other knuckle, and the Track bar connections on both end. And...tell the person (with car running) to turn it, not slow, get after it some.

If that doesn't solve it, then jack up the passenger side, and do the ball joint tests, see if there is any play by using a jack or large board, whatever, to push up on the hanging tire to see if the ball joints have any play.

 

[cpwolf]

First, be VERY careful driving with those 35's if your rear Dana 35 axle is still stock. The Dana 35's axle shafts are not strong enough for 35's and if you apply a little too much gas an axle shaft wil snap.

I'd first check to make sure the track bar is mounted securely and its two mounting bolts are fully tightened per spec. With the tires on the ground, have a helper repeatedly do quick left-right-left turns of the steering wheel while you closely watch all the moving parts of the steering system. There should be no side-to-side movement/slop where any of the steering system is bolted. Rotational play is normal and actually required for the tie rod and drag link though.

I'd also have the tires rebalanced. An imperfectly balanced front tire is usually the root cause of DW but i your case I'd suspect something is loose somewhere which makes it easier for DW to develop. And I'd do that even if they were recently balanced. I had to take my TJ to my local Discount Tire store THREE times in one day before they finally took the time to get them balanced well enough to make me happy.

Oh, and my son broke a Dana 35 rear axle on 33's in a parking lot ( he was 16, I think the got on it a little) but still, you can break a shaft, and they just "come out"....literally slide out of the housing, luckily my son was in a parking lot and heard the loud bang.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Oh, and my son broke a Dana 35 rear axle on 33's in a parking lot ( he was 16, I think the got on it a little) but still, you can break a shaft, and they just "come out"....literally slide out of the housing, luckily my son was in a parking lot and heard the loud bang.

Absolutely that can and does happen with a stock Dana 35. Here's an example of the scary thing that happens with a broken Dana 35 axle shaft caused by running too big of a tire (like a 35") and/or a locker.

 

[Murf926]

I have to echo the sentiment that 35s on a stock Dana 35 is a pretty scary proposition. If you really want to run 35s, you should absolutely upgrade your rear axle. Probably the cheapest way is to install some 30 spline 1541 axle shafts in your Dana 35 to make it what is referred to as a Super 35. These shafts aren't all that expensive (about $350), but you will also need change the carrier to something that accepts a 30 spline shaft, because the stock open carrier takes 27 spline shafts, and all of those options are a minimum of twice the cost of the shafts. This is what I did and the carrier I chose was an Eaton e-locker which is a little over $1000. I opted to have mine installed since I didn't want to deal with ring and pinion setup. I also decided to regear at the same time. It's been awhile, but I think it cost me a little more than $3k to get all that done, but if you don't regear, it won't be quite as bad. Either way, the "cheapest" solution isn't really cheap.

Or, you could downsize your tires. I ran 32s for many years on an open Dana 35 with no issues.

 

[AndyG]

Dry test - get familiar with this- handy skill.

Upper right front control arm bushing or mount cracked/worn can allow that- a 5/8” toe out test can confirm.

I had this going on, Mr. Blaine steered me right on it. If he posts he is really good, as well as so many of these guys.

With big tires, the Savvy Tombstone kit is great.

 

[deadbeat son]

Hey All,

Trying to diagnose a recent issue I've been having. My '99 TJ (2.5L engine, 35" tires, 3" suspension lift, 1" body lift) has begun to death wobble, but only in one specific situation: Driving home from work. There's a section of my route where one highway merges into another perpendicular highway, and I typically take the on ramp turn at 45-55 mph. It's a turn toward the passenger side, and about two weeks ago I noticed some faint wobbling when making this turn. However, this has gotten much worse and yesterday on my way home it felt like the jeep was about to fall apart on the turn.

I just took a peek at the front suspension and everything looks OK. Replaced my rear upper control arms last weekend, and those are good. My guess is the issue lies with my front passenger axle u-joint or ball joints, but I'd rather not take all of that apart until I have more certainty to the issue.

Anyone here experience this before, or have any advice on how I can go about further diagnosing this issue? I haven't noticed this happening at lower speeds, but the issue has gotten progressively worse.

Thanks,
CJ

Did the death wobble start before or after you replaced the rear UCAs?