Shaking between 45 and 55

[Titus1531]

Hey Guys,
This isn't death wobble, I had that when I didn't torque my track bar down enough. This is just a shake that starts at 45 and stays until 55 mph and then levels out. I pulled my track bar and the ball joint moves freely. I can make it move any way I want with one finger. Does that sound like a track bar problem? Anything else I should think about?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Bad/imperfect tire balance, nothing else. You probably have a bad ball joint too but it won't cause that 45-55 mph vibration.

 

[Titus1531]

Thanks Jerry. I'll take it up to the shop today.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Thanks Jerry. I'll take it up to the shop today.

Some shops only give their tire guys barely enough time to balance tires to what they consider "good enough" which is never good enough for the type of front-end the Wrangler and many trucks have. Ane the bigger the tire, the more difficult it is to get balanced to perfect which is the only balance that is good enough. Emphasize to them how important it is they spend the time it requires to get them perfect or you'll be back to have them do it again. I once went to my local Discount Tire store 3X in one day before they figured out I was serious about that and got them perfect.

 

[Titus1531]

I think this may be what I'm dealing with. She said that they could get a guy in there to do an inspection. Drive the Jeep and all that. She wanted to charge me to do that. I have a shop near me that handles off road vehicles that I have wanted to check out. I may take it there. Let me ask you this. Would a blown ball joint in the track bar cause shaking at all? You seemed pretty certain that there was a tire balance issue. I have been thinking of putting a new track bar on it, but would rather buy a winch if it's not the culprit.

 

[RipSteakface]

I had the same thing, not death wobble but front end vibration between 45-50. Had a bad ball joint on passenger side. Can't say for sure thats what caused it, as I replaced damn near everything in the front end all at once, but of all the stuff I replaced, that one balljoint was the only thing that was totally shot.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I think this may be what I'm dealing with. She said that they could get a guy in there to do an inspection. Drive the Jeep and all that. She wanted to charge me to do that. I have a shop near me that handles off road vehicles that I have wanted to check out. I may take it there. Let me ask you this. Would a blown ball joint in the track bar cause shaking at all? You seemed pretty certain that there was a tire balance issue. I have been thinking of putting a new track bar on it, but would rather buy a winch if it's not the culprit.

A passive non-powered device like a track bar or ball joint cannot be the root cause of vibrations because they cannot be the source of power causing the vibrations. A spinning out of balance tire or bent wheel can provide all the power needed to cause vibrations and DW. Something being loose/worn out can just make the vibrations turning into something else like DW happen more easily. That's why I said what I did above.