Tie rod ends and steering

Davestation1

Davestation1

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Aug 5, 2022
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Colorado
I have a developed a bit of a death wobble and need to do some of my steering components. I need to do my rod ends on the tie rod and on pitman arm as well as possibly my track bar. The rod ends aren’t available OEM right now and I’m not quite ready to do a full steering overhaul like a ZJ swap or anything. Does anyone have a suggestion for a cost effective solution on these few parts?
 
Have you done a dry steering test to verify those components are actually loose? Do that with the tires sitting on the ground while you watch the front-end steering system for side-to-side slop/movement while a helper repeatedly turns the steering left/right/left. There is supposed to be rotational play about the long axis of the track bar, drag link, and tie rod but there should be no sideways slop or movement where they're bolted together.
 
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Davestation1 said:
The rod ends aren’t available OEM right now and I’m not quite ready to do a full steering overhaul like a ZJ swap or anything. Does anyone have a suggestion for a cost effective solution on these few parts?
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No need for OEM, Moog (or other) is fine.
ZJ upgrade won't really cost any more than stock replacements.

As far as trackbar, are you stock or lifted?
 
LONGJP2 said:
No need for OEM, Moog (or other) is fine.
ZJ upgrade won't really cost any more than stock replacements.

As far as trackbar, are you stock or lifted?
Click to expand...

I am leaning towards Moog. I just want to fix the wobble for now. I just got the Jeep a few weeks ago. It’s stock suspension but the previous owner put 17’s and 32’s on for tires and wheels. I will eventually lift it. It’s my daily driver at the moment. I just want to do it in a cost effective way for the moment so I will probably do Moogs this go around. Once I do my lift and everything I will upgrade the entire steering system.
 
Davestation1 said:
I am leaning towards Moog. I just want to fix the wobble for now. I just got the Jeep a few weeks ago. It’s stock suspension but the previous owner put 17’s and 32’s on for tires and wheels. I will eventually lift it. It’s my daily driver at the moment. I just want to do it in a cost effective way for the moment so I will probably do Moogs this go around. Once I do my lift and everything I will upgrade the entire steering system.
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If you think you need a track bar, and you plan to lift it, then you might want to spend the money on an adjustable one.
Also, wouldn't hurt to have the tires balanced if you don't know their history.
 
LONGJP2 said:
If you think you need a track bar, and you plan to lift it, then you might want to spend the money on an adjustable one.
Also, wouldn't hurt to have the tires balanced if you don't know their history.
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I appreciate it. I may check in with the local 4X4 shop around here and see if they can take care of the balancing.
 
Do you guys have any clue if the Moogs on Amazon are different from the ones at the auto shops? They have the same part numbers but are seaming to come in at under half the price.
 
Davestation1 said:
Do you guys have any clue if the Moogs on Amazon are different from the ones at the auto shops? They have the same part numbers but are seaming to come in at under half the price.
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They should be the same. I've ordered some Moog stuff to do the ZJ steering swap and it was all correct Moog parts in Moog boxes.

I guess there is a possibility of someone scamming.
 
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Out of the blue. Death wobble on Nora with 10000 miles. Did dry steering test and couldn’t see anything loose. With my hand resting on driver side front milk jug I could feel a muted click. I grabbed a hold of steering components in front and nothing appeared to be loose. Three of the wheels appeared to have no weights. I have an appointment this afternoon to have the tires rebalanced.
What is the cause of the “muted click”?
 
KcTj said:
Out of the blue. Death wobble on Nora with 10000 miles. Did dry steering test and couldn’t see anything loose. With my hand resting on driver side front milk jug I could feel a muted click. I grabbed a hold of steering components in front and nothing appeared to be loose. Three of the wheels appeared to have no weights. I have an appointment this afternoon to have the tires rebalanced.
What is the cause of the “muted click”?
Click to expand...

A family of rodents has set up a fort in your milk jug and the click is them cocking their tiny little guns to stop the giant from tearing up their humble abode.
 
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Ok. So I took the end caps off of the bumpers. Drove 15 miles to the tire store traveling at 50 miles an hour most of the way there with little to no wobble. Witnessed the guys do a road force balancing on my tires. I got the jeep back and upon my first acceleration to 30 miles an hour death wobble took over. Now death wobble occurs anytime I approach 30 miles an hour. I drove the 15 miles home and it took a long time because I was constantly pulling over to let the cars pass. I’m pretty sure it’s not the tires and the wheels causing the death wobble. I believe something is broke. What is it? I’m thinking of having my mechanic install a Currie correct link steering upgrade. Hopefully he will be able to dial in the steering from there.
 
I'd try Rockauto if you want to save some money on the parts. If you don't have obvious play in those rod ends your money might be better spent on control arms, they do tighten things up even if they seem okay, especially if they are original.
 
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pagrey said:
I'd try Rockauto if you want to save some money on the parts. If you don't have obvious play in those rod ends your money might be better spent on control arms, they do tighten things up even if they seem okay, especially if they are original.
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Lower arms are Rancho ladder type. Upper arms appear stock. Jeep drove fine until recently. And then all of a sudden, death wobble.
 
KcTj said:
Lower arms are Rancho ladder type. Upper arms appear stock. Jeep drove fine until recently. And then all of a sudden, death wobble.
Click to expand...

If the steering joints don't have obvious play skip right to the front uppers. Trust me, it'll make a big difference. Not suggesting you ignore play but if you can't find any I'd move on to the arms.

(sudden wobble is normally tire damage or throwing weights, the loose suspension just allows that minor damage to let things get out of control)
 
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I had some incidents of death wobble at about 100k. Re-balancing the tires didn’t help. Then I replaced the tires and that didn’t help either. The dry steering test did not indicate any problems. Nevertheless, I then did the ZJ conversion including the track bar and drag link, replaced the axle U-joints, replaced the unit bearings and replaced the ball joints. I also found the steering damper was loose and I tightened that. No more death wobble.
 
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TurboTJ said:
I had some incidents of death wobble at about 100k. Re-balancing the tires didn’t help. Then I replaced the tires and that didn’t help either. The dry steering test did not indicate any problems. Nevertheless, I then did the ZJ conversion including the track bar and drag link, replaced the axle U-joints, and replaced the unit bearings. I also found the steering damper was loose and I tightened that. No more death wobble.
Click to expand...

Yeah I’m thinking rather than pay the guy to do a bunch of diagnostic stuff just go ahead and replace the whole steering set-up.
 
One of my coworkers had the same issue, as soon as he hit 30 mph he would get death wobble. After a lot of trial and error we finally solved it by replacing the upper control arms.
 
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I can turn(twist) the drag link and tie rod a good 1/2”. Is that a good or bad thing?
 
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