My restoration project - 2005 Jeep TJ & my steering wheel vibration

RoboG

RoboG

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2018
Messages
57
Location
Athens, Greece
Hi all,
I 'm a new member of the forum and really happy to be here, cause I can brainstorm with all you guys about my or your Tj's. I live in greece so excuse me in advance for any english mystake I make on the way :)

I bought a wrangler TJ a year ago (used to have a YJ in my 20's), in a good condition in general, so I can disassembly and start building it back the way I like it, step by step.
So every weekend I make a cup of coffee, go to my garage and spend quality time with my car :), until my girlfriend breaks up with me for spending so much time with my car and not with her.

Right now the car is completed empty from the inside waiting for the sound deadening & thermal proofing materials I ordered. As I wait for the materials I decided to get involved with a issue I have while driving. When I reach 80 km/h (neither before nor after) my steering wheel is shaking. Not only that but when the road is bumpy, I feel that my car is not stiff, I feel that the bottom part of the car is loose.

The first thing I did is a bought a new suspension changing my old Rubicon Express with a new (Rough Country springs 2.5'' & Teraflex 9550 shocks). I had a better reaction on the road over all but still the same problems.

The second thing I did is to replace my steering stabilizer with a pro comp. Much better reaction with the shaking issue but still at 80 km/h there is a tremble and still the bottom part of the car is loose.
Any ideas what to do next?! I was thinking change all the control arm bushings as the next step? Do you guys agree?! Should I check anything else?

I will keep you updated with the resoration with pics

Thank you
 
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This is a sample from my disassembly process

Screenshot_20180402-192744_01.jpg


Screenshot_20180402-192751_01.jpg


Screenshot_20180402-192810_01.jpg


Screenshot_20180402-192815_01.jpg
 
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RoboG said:
Hi all,
I 'm a new member of the forum and really happy to be here, cause I can brainstorm with all you guys about my or your Tj's. I live in greece so excuse me in advance for any english mystake I make on the way :)

I bought a wrangler TJ a year ago (used to have a YJ in my 20's), in a good condition in general, so I can disassembly and start building it back the way I like it, step by step.
So every weekend I make a cup of coffee, go to my garage and spend quality time with my car :), until my girlfriend breaks up with me for spending so much time with my car and not with her.

Right now the car is completed empty from the inside waiting for the sound deadening & thermal proofing materials I ordered. As I wait for the materials I decided to get involved with a issue I have while driving. When I reach 80 km/h (neither before nor after) my steering wheel is shaking. Not only that but when the road is bumpy, I feel that my car is not stiff, I feel that the bottom part of the car is loose.

The first thing I did is a bought a new suspension changing my old Rubicon Express with a new (Rough Country springs 2.5'' & Teraflex 9550 shocks). I had a better reaction on the road over all but still the same problems.

The second thing I did is to replace my steering stabilizer with a pro comp. Much better reaction with the shaking issue but still at 80 km/h there is a tremble and still the bottom part of the car is loose.
Any ideas what to do next?! I was thinking change all the control arm bushings as the next step? Do you guys agree?! Should I check anything else?

I will keep you updated with the resoration with pics

Thank you
Click to expand...
Whoa, hold on before you go any further. Steering stabilizer is never the cause of shimmies, shakes, or death wobble, so even if it is slightly better, it won't fix it and it will be just as bad in a few months. The problem is not the suspension components. The problem is in the front end and/or tires. First thing is to make sure your tires are perfectly balanced (and I really mean perfect, good enough is not good enough on our TJ's). Second, check your trackbar bushing and hole at the axle side. 90% of the time that bushing is bad and the hole is wallowing out. Third, check your tie rod ends. Replace these things as necessary. Then get back and report.
 
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Welcome to the Forum @RoboG
Few things to check (mostly the sames as @JMT
Tire conditions specially on the radial side.
Tire Balance.
Track Bar bushing conditions.
Tie rods conditions.
Did the Jeep have a dropped pit arm?

I do guess that the Greece girlfriends are like the Puertorican ones...

Good luck and report back!
 
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JMT said:
Whoa, hold on before you go any further. Steering stabilizer is never the cause of shimmies, shakes, or death wobble, so even if it is slightly better, it won't fix it and it will be just as bad in a few months. The problem is not the suspension components. The problem is in the front end and/or tires. First thing is to make sure your tires are perfectly balanced (and I really mean perfect, good enough is not good enough on our TJ's). Second, check your trackbar bushing and hole at the axle side. 90% of the time that bushing is bad and the hole is wallowing out. Third, check your tie rod ends. Replace these things as necessary. Then get back and report.
Click to expand...

@JMT thanks for the reply.
Perfectly balanced tires check. That was the first thing I did.

I'm uploading the pictures I took today under my car, just in case you guys see anything with a more experienced eye!

PS. don't be fooled they are clean, I painted them recently and I had to clean a lot of grease

IMG_20180403_134452.jpg


IMG_20180403_134508.jpg


IMG_20180403_134519.jpg


IMG_20180403_134531.jpg
 
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Well, one thing is for sure, that’s the cleanest underneath of a TJ I’ve ever seen! Might add some grease to the passenger tie rod zerk fitting. Other than that it looks fine. But you need a helper behind the wheel while you’re underneath watching movement while they dry steer
 
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Tie rod ends should rotate around the ball but not move side to side. You should also check your hubs for play and check your ball joints. The front end of a TJ needs to be tight. The one weak component will cause problems
 
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Thank you @Jorge Bolivar.

Yes there is a drop pit arm as you can see in the uploaded photos.
I was thinking maybe I should change the tie rod that connects the track bar with the dropped pit arm just to be sure.

hahaha...girls always looking for attention my friend, no matter where they were born! Its in there DNA :cheer:
 
Get rid of the drop pitman arm and go back to stock. There’s your problem
 
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@JMT your idea with the helper behind the wheel while I'm underneath is good I will try it.

I have no idea how was it before. I thought pitman arm was part of the stock.
You mean about that thing right?

IMG_20180403_134531 - Copy.jpg
 
@RoboG
Dropped pit arms on low height suspension does not play well.
The part that connect to the pit arm is called "drag link". The track bar is the bar that goes from the frame to the axle. The OEM track bar also have a ball joint on the frame end that you may want to check too.
 
RoboG said:
@JMT your idea with the helper behind the wheel while I'm underneath is good I will try it.

I have no idea how was it before. I thought pitman arm was part of the stock.
You mean about that thing right?
Click to expand...
There is a stock drop pitman and then an aftermarket drop pitman made for larger lifts loke6”. Sometimes people put a smaller lift like 2-4” and an aftermarket drop pitman, then have problems.

At first look I thought yours was stock, so move on to other possibilities
 
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ok found this pic and now I'm pretty sure it's stock

Pic (From L to R, stock CJ pitman (straight) arm, a stock YJ/TJ arm (2.5" of drop), a stock XJ arm (3.5" of drop), and finially an aftermarket XJ arm measureing at 4.5")

dpa.jpg
 
Ok just order all 16 arm bushings (Upper and Lower) trying to solve my other problem of looseness and see what happens

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3010 using Tapatalk
 
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