XJBear

Hey CF,

So I have searched everywhere but it's hard to find anything dealing with non-DW. I get a speed related (about 50) shimmy in the heep. It's NOT DW, but it feels like it's going to start DW. It just never does. I took my doors off and I can see the tire wiggling when I hit 50. Is it a tire balance issue? It isn't the track bar, thats new and tight. New ball joints, new hub assembly, new tie rod ends. The only thing that isn't new is UCA bushings. I figured it could be a balancing issue but rotating the tires only helped a little and I wasn't sure if you could see the tire wiggling if it was just a balance issue. Could it be that the tire shop didn't balance any of the tires right? IIRC, a static balance is the weights on the back of the tire, but wider tires and rims require dynamic balancing. I set the toe in myself to 1/8" toe in. I am running 33 12.50 15 on 15x8 rims with 3.75 backspacing. 6" lift. Any help is appreciated!

Turbo X_J

Belt separation

turver

Is this a serious answer? Curious because I'm having the same issue.

andrewmp6

It could be a warped rotor or your new unit bearing hub is bad or not installed right.If your not sure on the wheels being balanced you could have another shop re check them for you.

SteveMongr

Yes, serious. The belts embedded in the tire can separate or even break. This causes a bulge or bubble in the tire. Run your hands around each tire feeling for any abnormalities.

EZEARL

^^^ more common than you could ever imagine.

XJBear

I was actually thinking about belt separation but I've rotated the tires a couple times and it only helps for a few days. Unless every tire has it but that's improbable. The hub assembly was done right and it's not bad, I checked it afterwards. It may be a warped rotor though. I could take the two rotors and swap them side to side and see if the wiggle follows. From what I can tell it's only the driver side that I can visually see wiggling (I've had my fiancé drive while I look at the passenger). Any other suggestions? I'll take it to a shop Friday and see if the tires are balanced. It's been going on ever since I got the tires back in November of last year. I got full on DW but I fixed it with a new track bar mount. I had nothing for about a month then the wiggle came back and I've had it ever since.

Ianf406

Bent axle shaft? Only one tire or all of them? (location on jeep)

axekick

I'm trying to track down this exact thing. I think its a slight "death wobble". I can also see my wheel wiggling around the same speed. It smooths out sometimes and comes back. Rotating my tires made no difference and my tires are brand new. I can't see anything obvious under the Jeep that would cause it when I'm looking/feeling for loose components but if I have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth, I can see the frame flexing. I put a ZJ tie rod in and the Jeep feels better but it didn't fix the wobble. I have a new steering stabilizer from boostwerks as soon as it comes. I'll let you know if it helps.

XJBear

If everything is done right a steering stabilizer shouldn't be needed. It's just a band aid to cover it up. Every tire does it no matter which one, that's why I thought it was the hub assembly since it seemed to be only the front drivers side. It started the second after a got the new tires last November.

Tsaani97xj

This shimmy/vibe is common on XJs. I dont have a solution but I experienced this too on my last set of tires and found bunches of posts where others reported this shake in the 48-52 mph range. I eventually gave up on it and the tires wore themselves smooth. It is quite annoying though.

This may not be the same thing but thought it a reasonable FYI. Best of luck.

XJBear

Yeah it really seems like it's 48-52, and once I get past it it's fine. It's just super annoying and since I've dealt with death wobble twice on this jeep I don't want the shimmy to turn into a full on DW. I'll take my tires to have them balanced on Friday and see if that helps. If not I guess I'll just let it go until it either causes full DW or I get new tires and hope that helps. I'll also try and rotate my rotors to see if it moves to the other side. I'll post back what I find. Any more insight is still welcome!

aka"dude"

Had a similar wobble, ended up being the beginning of some bad tie rods and trac bar.