Wheel Wobble Question

Breto31

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Messages
397
Location
Kentucky
I’ve got an annoying wobble coming from my drivers side front wheel.... I have 33x10.50 BFG AT on 15x8 steel wheels. I recently upgraded to the ZJ tie rod and did a self alignment. The tie rod upgrade appears to have solved my wandering issue, but now I’ve got a wobbly wheel. Today on the way home, I stuck my head out the window and I can see the wheel moving back and forth. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to feel it in the steering wheel and see it when I look out the window. Previously, I had noticed it, but only in certain instances (long curves at higher speeds), but since the ZJ tie rod upgrade, it seems worse/more constant.

I’ve got new upper/lower ball joints, put a new Spicer Ujoint in the drivers side, and also a new axle shaft in the drivers side, along with the ZJ tie rod upgrade. Not that it matters, but I’ve also got Core 4x4 control arms.

Any ideas? I am planning to recheck the torque on the tie rod and everything today.

EDIT: I was running 30psi and on Friday I dropped that down to 25-27psi after I complete the tie rod. That’s when I noticed it felt worse.
 
Last edited:
Bent wheel?
Always an option, but it feels like more than a bent wheel. Back when I first noticed this (maybe 6 months ago) I had them balanced and was informed I had a bent wheel, so I bought a new one and had it replaced. It didn’t help.

I made and edit to my original post noting that it got worse as I lowered my tire pressure from 30 down to 25(ish) on Friday too. I lowered the pressure and completed the tie rod upgrade on the same day.
 
I don't see how a steering upgrade could cause wobble on only one side. The steering components control both sides equally. It either has to be a bent wheel (swap and see) or something in the knuckle or a ball joint.
 
So this morning I went back to all of the bolts (with a torque wrench) from the ZJ upgrade to see if they were tight, and those were all good. I also went back and checked the bolts on the track bar - at one point I had removed the track bar axle bolt to check the bushing prior to having a torque wrench - and it allowed me to tighten it up a bit. I also swapped the front wheels.

Whatever I did seems to have worked because I drove it and the wobble is gone. My guess would be the track bar/axle bolt needing to be tightened.

Thanks for all of the input!
 
I was going to suggest looking at the track bar. I have been tracking down some front end vibes recently and forgot I disconnected the track bar and apparently didnt tighten it up enough. Got it tightened This weekend and vibes are gone. Glad you figured it out my mind always goes to worst case scenario 😜
 
I was driving home from the gym this morning, and I noticed the wobble again - not nearly as pronounced, but it's still there sometimes. I noticed that it seems to be more pronounced when I let off the gas from higher speeds around 60 or so (without the clutch engaged). When I engage the clutch it seems to be less pronounced or disappears. When I feel the vibration I can look out my window and see the wheel/tire oscillating in what appears to be a left/right motion. I tried to get a video of it, but I couldn't get one that captured it very well.

Could the drag link the the cause of this? I didn't replace the drag link when I did the ZJ conversion, so the joint on the passenger side is probably the original joint.
 
The steering didn't cause this....

Allow me to explain.

Your steering components were shit before. Loose, sloppy...whatever.

Now that you've got that resolved you've got a wheel bearing/balljoint issue/maybe bent wheel.

So you can visualize the example I'm saying.
Let's say you had a bad/worn out tie rod end on left front. It was allowing the entire knuckle and tire and wheel as one unit to move back and forth.

Now that the TRE is tight something else is making an individual component on that region move. The knuckle is not laterally sloppy now as one unit with tire,bearing etc but now if you've got a really bad wheel bearing (as example)it's walking on the solid knuckle..so to speak.
These front components are like a daisy chain. The first weak link never allowed you to see the 3rd link is bad too until you fixed link #1.
 
I was driving home from the gym this morning, and I noticed the wobble again - not nearly as pronounced, but it's still there sometimes. I noticed that it seems to be more pronounced when I let off the gas from higher speeds around 60 or so (without the clutch engaged). When I engage the clutch it seems to be less pronounced or disappears. When I feel the vibration I can look out my window and see the wheel/tire oscillating in what appears to be a left/right motion. I tried to get a video of it, but I couldn't get one that captured it very well.

Could the drag link the the cause of this? I didn't replace the drag link when I did the ZJ conversion, so the joint on the passenger side is probably the original joint.
NO. Drag link didn't cause it.

Question...
Does your steering wheel shimmy back and forth?
 
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You say it's only one wheel that has some wobble so it's not a steering Problem. Again, Have you swapped the wheels left to right to see if the wobble moves to the other side? That will tell you if it's wheel or hub related.
 
You say it's only one wheel that has some wobble so it's not a steering Problem. Again, Have you swapped the wheels left to right to see if the wobble moves to the other side? That will tell you if it's wheel or hub related.
Yes, my previous post mentioned that I went back and tightened/checked my torques and swapped the wheels - I thought that had taken care of it.... I swapped wheels left to right. The steering wheel itself doesn’t move with the oscillation. It only moves because the tire/wheel is wobbling, causing some light shaking for the whole vehicle (in other words, the wobble makes the ride a little rough, making the whole vehicle bounce a little with the wobble). My steering wheel seems fine to me.... This is not something that happens all the time. It’s really only at higher speeds that I can notice it, and sometimes it doesn’t do it at all.

So is your suggestion to pull the wheel, pull the rotor, and check the hub assembly to see if it could be loose/bad?
 
Yes, my previous post mentioned that I went back and tightened/checked my torques and swapped the wheels - I thought that had taken care of it.... I swapped wheels left to right. The steering wheel itself doesn’t move with the oscillation. It only moves because the tire/wheel is wobbling, causing some light shaking for the whole vehicle (in other words, the wobble makes the ride a little rough, making the whole vehicle bounce a little with the wobble). My steering wheel seems fine to me.... This is not something that happens all the time. It’s really only at higher speeds that I can notice it, and sometimes it doesn’t do it at all.

So is your suggestion to pull the wheel, pull the rotor, and check the hub assembly to see if it could be loose/bad?
If moving the wheel didn't move the wobble then you have something going on on that side. Could be a hub, hub bearing, ball joint or even a slightly bent axle, but the axle should make it wobble all the time so I would lean to the hub or a ball joint. I would check the ball joints and if they're good then I would replace the hub unit if they haven't been. Always good to have good hubs. When I changed mine it seemed to tighten everything up nicely.
 
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So I replaced the hub assembly with the new Timken today. Got it out on some backroads/highway and everything was great for the most part. I drive for about 15 minutes, no wobble at all. Stopped to grab some lunch, pulled back out onto the road, and about 30 seconds later, I noticed it again around 50/55mph. It went away shortly after, and I couldn't get it to do it again before I got home.... When I felt the wobble today I looked out the window and could see the wheel wobbling. It looks like a "mini death wobble" type of shimmy to me - by that I mean the wheel appears to shimmy in the same left-to-right fashion as a death wobble, but obviously far less severe. It almost looks like the back of the front tire (closest to the the driver) is wobbling left-to-right.

So far, here's what we've tried:
  • New ball joints - upper and lower. This was not due to the wobble issue, but I needed to have them replaced.
  • Balanced wheels/tires. This was a while ago, might need to try again. I have steel rims so maybe this has something do with it?
  • Swapped left/right front wheels to eliminate bent rim problem.
  • Upgraded to ZJ tie-rod (not that the tie-rod would be the issue, but it means that I've checked all of the connections).
  • Upgraded driver side U-Joint and axle shaft.
  • Rechecked torque specs on front end connections (tie-rod, drag link, etc.).
  • Upgraded to a new Timken hub assembly.
None of these things have completely eliminated the wobble. It seems less frequent now, but not gone.

Any other ideas?
 
I would swap front to back to eliminate a bad wheel. The steering linkage could possibly transfer the wobble from one side to the other.