Stock height. Death wobble has been getting worse for months. Swapped out track bar with one that looked good from used axle. Death wobble subsided for 10 miles then returned. Changed upper and lower ball joints with new Spicers. Death wobble gone for a few miles and then back with a vengence. Changed track bar for new Moog. Death wobble gone for 60 miles, but back although less severe. I guess new tie rods and steering damper is next. Tires suck and it needs an alignment, but I wanted to get this resolved before going that route.

Could it be tires and alignment? Any thoughts?

 

Have you checked your wheels bearings ?
It could also be unbalanced tires.

 

Alignment problems can cause the DW. Do a quick driveway alignment. There are links on here with details. Do this before replacing a bunch of parts and then again after any front end parts are changed.

 

Worn tie-rod ends can definitely make the steering wobble. Not too expensive to replace if your have a lot of miles on them.

 

What does the track bar mounting bracket look like?

 

Hubs seemed fine when I had the knuckled off to do the ball joints.

 

I'll take a look at this, but I've almost replaced all of the steering components. It has over 200k miles on it, so I think I'll finish up the tie rods anyway. They are probably worn.

 

Didn't notice anything that stood out when I changed the track bar two times, but I'll have a look. I have a spare one, so I can swap it out just for piece of mind.

 

Replaced track bar bracket with a spare. It looked about the same, but I welded up the sides to make it a bit stiffer and the bronze tapered bushing looked a bit better. The two lower bolts were rusted and thin near the heads so replaced those, and the holes were a bit wallowed out, but they weren't all that much better on the spare. Changed drag link for new Moog, and changed tie rod for new Moog ZJ. Replaced steering dampner, but the old felt fine. Swapped wheels and tires from a another XJ. So it has all that plus a new track bar, and new Spicer ball joints. Did the driveway alignment, and I am too pooped for the test drive. Not to mention I would rather do it in daylight. The only thing left is control arm bushings. I hope this does it, although I will have no idea what the fix actually was since I did so much today. Wish me luck.

 

Good luck.

Death Wobble is like my Rheumatism.

I can't figure it out.

I never know when it's going to act up, but I definitely can feel it when it happens, and surely don't miss it when it's gone.

 

If the entire axle is loose (after 16 years it's a good bet) there is no way the vehicle will be stable.

 

Short story: I was misaligned then I found the tires were unevenly worn.

In my experience, I had a 3.5 inch lift, no steering stablilizer, a rc adjustable track bar, worn 31's and stock everything else. the track bar went out and I had to swap to a stock bar because I was poor, it was ok but dw would show up. I found it was out of alignment and when I got it "aligned" professionally, it turned out my front tires had worn unevenly, once I swapped the front tires for the back I no longer had death wobble. I now have 4 newer tires.

I am in the process of getting it fixed correctly, slow because other things keep happening, such as the bolt that snapped off the frame of my seat.

 

I went through this last year. NEVER had an issue, no aftermarket parts, lift, etc., and driving on the highway in Boston heading home (7 hours north to Maine) we hit a bridge/pavement joint and BAM, massive, out of control death wobble. I actually thought we broke something. Pulled over, looked everything over, nope. Knew what it was then. Made it home but EVERY single time we hit a bump it came on. Had to be speeding though, like 75mph. Anything slower it wasn't bad and subsided immediately. By the time summer rolled around I was having it doing 40mph on regular bumps. Had it looked over by 3 garages, none saw a problem anywhere. I changed out all the bushings in the front and it took care of it.


Bushings are there to absorb shock. With worn bushings, things will rattle, hence, death wobble. Its something a LOT of guys overlook while they're changing their ball joints, tie rod ends, steering stabilizer, etc.


If you have an older Jeep that's never had new shocks, springs, steering stabilizer or bushings, change it all out. A couple hundred bucks and all your vibration absorbing parts are completely new.

 

When you mentioned bushings, did you mean those in the control arms.....upper & lower ?

 

I mean literally everything in the front. Control arms (upper & lower), sway bar link grommet, stabilizer bar cushion, coil spring isolator, etc. I bought the kit from Quadratec and whatever else didn't come with it. Think about it, my 1999 is 15 years old. That's 15 years of rubber drying out, wearing out, etc., and every little bit of play in 20 different pieces can add up to a TON of vibration that isn't being dampened. Cost me a couple hundred to do the whole front suspension and it took care of my death wobble 100%. A LOT of guys chase death wobble without doing all those bushings, and those DO wear out.