Death Wobble
- Thread starter jm34tj
- Start date
I had the DW @ 49-50mph. After getting new tires which were needed,,,,the DW vanished
at cruising speeds (35-55mph) it’s fine and runs smooth - it’s just when I hit a pothole or divot in the road it’ll get DW
I posted what made my DW vanish...lucky me. Are your tires balanced? i have nothing else to offer
not home right now, I think I attached a video in my initial post but it’s not the best quality
yeah both the stocks and the Rubicons are balanced which leads me clueless
When you can post one, move back a little and get the whole front suspension in the picture.
I replaced the pitman arm, adjustable track bar and added the crown heavy duty steering set up all at the same time.
I had a dropped pitman arm and the track bar bushings were shot, I added the crown for piece of mind.
A bent bump stop did not solve your problem - you are just lucky so far. Unless you are referring to something other than the thing inside your springs that prevents the shocks from over-compressing.
Here we are on page two and I don't think anyone has asked if it's the true death wobble (the death wobble that only ends by almost stopping the whole Jeep from moving) or is it the so called death wobble (the other wobble that goes away after slowing down or even speeding up just a few mph)?
The 2nd video the OP showed in Post #1 is certainly DW and the fact that hitting a pothole or divot in the road is what starts the oscillation; I would pay close attention to the condition of the tie rod ends, trac bar and control arm bushings.
Not necessarily. I guess I wasn't clear enough in my previous post that few tire shops get big tires balanced well enough to stop/prevent DW. I had to take my TJ to my local Discount Tire store THREE times in one day before they finally figured out they needed to spend enough (more) time to get them balanced properly and good enough to not cause any more DW.
Doesn’t it stand reason if a tire is significantly out of balance that it will produce death wobble consistently....Versus if it is components allowing it then it would take something to generate the movement which becomes auto isolation because the wheels are trying to track but can’t stay centered - In my guesstimation that is the underlying dynamics of the wheels moving violently on their own
Interestingly enough I ran into a young boy that has an xj And his will start vibrating real bad at 45 and when he hits a bump it will stop it-
Blaine has spoken about all kinds of things like that for instance one that had a lot of loose components and when he put all the new stuff on it it had DW.
I think since we are the authority on all things TJ related that we should be able to Create true criteria-
Level 1 - Pronounced isolation
Level 2 - You have to slow down to control the amount of isolation
Level 3- A complete stop and new seat upholstery will be required-
Interestingly enough I ran into a young boy that has an xj And his will start vibrating real bad at 45 and when he hits a bump it will stop it-
Blaine has spoken about all kinds of things like that for instance one that had a lot of loose components and when he put all the new stuff on it it had DW.
I think since we are the authority on all things TJ related that we should be able to Create true criteria-
Level 1 - Pronounced isolation
Level 2 - You have to slow down to control the amount of isolation
Level 3- A complete stop and new seat upholstery will be required-
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What solved it on my 2005 was new shocks. The right front shock was totally and completely shot (could grab both ends and move the piston in and out by hand quickly) and the left front was difficult to compress by hand. These were the factory shocks with ~90k on them.
Where ‘d everybody go?!? Who turned out the lights? I was just getting started....
I heard the angel of death wobble visited some guy and got all excited and when I showed up to for the party everybody left-
I heard the angel of death wobble visited some guy and got all excited and when I showed up to for the party everybody left-
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I’m gonna be like one of those crazy nurses that likes to kills folks- Go out and loosen track bars and then leave a card to get on the forum so we can solve it and look good .
I got all dressed up and everyone checked out.
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Not necessarily. My wobble was 100% wheel/tire balance but it was intermittent and would always show up when I would hit bumps. I couldn’t get my steel wheels balanced well enough to prevent this. I had the shop try probably 5 different times. Got new wheels and the Jeep is smooth as glass no matter how many bumps I throw at it. To me, I would say most instances of wobble are due to poor tire balance. Even if it is mostly present when hitting bumps.Doesn’t it stand reason if a tire is significantly out of balance that it will produce death wobble consistently....Versus if it is components allowing it then it would take something to generate the movement which becomes auto isolation because the wheels are trying to track but can’t stay centered - In my guesstimation that is the underlying dynamics of the wheels moving violently on their own
Interestingly enough I ran into a young boy that has an xj And his will start vibrating real bad at 45 and when he hits a bump it will stop it-
Blaine has spoken about all kinds of things like that for instance one that had a lot of loose components and when he put all the new stuff on it it had DW.
I think since we are the authority on all things TJ related that we should be able to Create true criteria-
Level 1 - Pronounced isolation
Level 2 - You have to slow down to control the amount of isolation
Level 3- A complete stop and new seat upholstery will be required-
You asked that based on what looks to have been a 3-1/2 hour pause. I'm typing this a little early but I'm going to wait another 17 minutes before posting it to end this pause at exactly 12 hours.
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