Need help with death wobble

[Saber Jumah]

I'm new to the forum and to jeep. Ive bought my 2000 tj about a month ago and it had death wobble since i tested it.
All ball joints and tie rods were bad so i replaced and that was a mission since they were rusted like no other.
I replaced the hubs in the process since i had to cut them out also cause of rust.
Most control arm bushings were stock n bad so instead of replacing all bushings i thought i would get a lift kit that would include them, so i got the Rubicon Express 4.5 short arm kit and got that installed.
Now all tie rods, ball joints, hubs, track bar and control arms are new. I still have a wobble just not as bad as it was when i bought it. But i can't find exactly whats causing it.
I took a couple of videos and maybe there is something I'm not seeing that would cause it.
Sorry for the long post i would appreciate any guidance.

 

[Alex01]

First thing to check would be a proper alignment. Here is a thread on how to make sure it right https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/how-to-align-your-jeep-wrangler-tj.85

 

[Squatch]

In your first video, it looks like your track bar is moving around. I can't tell if the head of the bolt is also moving, or if it's just a shadow, but you might want to look into that. Not sure if that would have any affect on DW, but just thought I'd point it out...

 

[MaloStapalo]

In your first video, it looks like your track bar is moving around. I can't tell if the head of the bolt is also moving, or if it's just a shadow, but you might want to look into that. Not sure if that would have any affect on DW, but just thought I'd point it out...

Track bar bolt lose slightly coupled with unbalanced tires was my provlem.
Do the dry steering test wheels on the ground with a person inside so you can see up close kn person Instead of on your video. The track bar axle bolt moving slightly is hard to see in video

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Just a quick couple thoughts to start this... I didn't see anything in the video that looked bad. The passenger side trackbar is moving just slightly in its mount but it looks to just be normal compression of its rubber bushing.

In my experience DW is most commonly caused by sn imperfectly balanced tire or a bad tire. Even if they were recently balanced since few tire shops spend enough time to balance the typically big tires on a TJ well enough to prevent them from triggering DW.

So I'd start by getting the tires perfectly balanced. Talk with who does the actual balancing to let him know how important perfect balance is in this case. An imperfectly balanced tire can definitely cause DW, it caused major DW on my then near new 97 TJ after a balancing weight came off.

 

[Saber Jumah]

I appreciate your all your feed back. I'll mess with it tomorrow again. Maybe retorque everything to spec one more time. And have someone move the steering while I'm under and see if i could spot anything. I'm pretty sure my tires are off balance and I'll be replacing them anyway in a few weeks hope that'll do it. And I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

 

[Chris]

I highly agree with everything Jerry said. That's the same advice I would have given. The first place to start is to have a competent shop balance the wheels.

I don't see anything in the video that immediately jumps out at me.

 

[luk4mud]

I just bought an LJ and had shakes as well (DW is an all together different issue). It has the RE short arm kit, same front track bar. I assume you have larger tires? Here is how I attacked it:
-Track bar- tighten to specs (125 IIRC)
-New HD tie rod and drag link
-New tires, balanced with alignment

Mine was a combination of #2 and #3 above, but mostly #2. I bought the Currie HD system but there are other options.
HTH

 

[MaloStapalo]

I just bought an LJ and had shakes as well (DW is an all together different issue). It has the RE short arm kit, same front track bar. I assume you have larger tires? Here is how I attacked it:
-Track bar- tighten to specs (125 IIRC)
-New HD tie rod and drag link
-New tires, balanced with alignment

Mine was a combination of #2 and #3 above, but mostly #2. I bought the Currie HD system but there are other options.
HTH

Just to clarify the 125lb torque is frame side for the track bar, the axle side is much lower around 55lb. I replaced my axle side bolt with a heavy duty one from.blaine, torqued, then red loctite.

 

[luk4mud]

Just to clarify the 125lb torque is frame side for the track bar, the axle side is much lower around 55lb. I replaced my axle side bolt with a heavy duty one from.blaine, torqued, then red loctite.

Good clarification, thanks. Mine was slightly under- torqued on the frame side.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Just to clarify the 125lb torque is frame side for the track bar, the axle side is much lower around 55lb. I replaced my axle side bolt with a heavy duty one from.blaine, torqued, then red loctite.

For the OE factory track bar, the torque for the driver's/frame side track bar mounting bolt is only 65 ft-lbs.

 

[MaloStapalo]

For the OE factory track bar, the torque for the driver's/frame side track bar mounting bolt is only 65 ft-lbs.

Thanks I knew it was close to that. My currie said 55lb iirc.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Thanks I knew it was close to that. My currie said 55lb iirc.

Maybe on the axle end, Currie's frame end is more like 125 lbs. but don't hold me to that as that info is down in my garage.

 

[MaloStapalo]

Maybe on the axle end, Currie's frame end is more like 125 lbs. but don't hold me to that as that info is down in my garage.

That's correct. I wanted to make sure OP didnt try to torque their axle to 125lbs. I dont think the bolt would like that very much

 

[luk4mud]

I couldnt find any torque specs specifically for the RE track bar (which mine has & which the OP likely has), so I found an internet guide. It said 125 lbs at the frame. Am I missing something?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I couldnt find any torque specs specifically for the RE track bar (which mine has & which the OP likely has), so I found an internet guide. It said 125 lbs at the frame. Am I missing something?

What did Rubicon Express say when you called them for advice on its ft-lbs. torque requirement? They're open from 8-5pm PST.

 

[MaloStapalo]

I couldnt find any torque specs specifically for the RE track bar (which mine has & which the OP likely has), so I found an internet guide. It said 125 lbs at the frame. Am I missing something?

No I dont think you're missing anything. The frame end is a different torque value than the axle bolt for the track bars.

 

[Mr. Bills]

When or if you call Rubicon Express to inquire about track bar bolt torque the answer will be "the same as OEM."

 

[AndyG]

Tires.

I wonder how many death wobble threads are built around mud tires versus all terrain? I bet mud tires cause more death wobble generally, just by nature of their construction , if we took a survey.

 

[Saber Jumah]

I left all my tools in my semi truck and its at the shop. Hopefully I'll be able to get them tomorrow and retorque the bolts for everything in the front end. I know my tires are bad. And I've been looking for tires for sometime now hopefully in the next couple of days I'll end up with something. Now that said the dw was horrible when i first got the tj. After replacing the ball joints, tie rods, hubs, control arms, track bar, alignment it got better but its still there. I'm a freak when it comes to my cars. I don't settle to anything less than perfect. One way or the other it'll get fixed. Most parts on this tj where original never replaced with 170k on them in Chicago's weather. It wasn't fun.