97XJMopar

Just tryin to get a few opinons. Got a 97 XJ 4X$, I've been running retreads for quite some time, the other day I swapped em out for sum all-season 225-70's to help out with all the highway driving.

Now at 60mph I get a pretty bad vibration, I can feel it throught he steering wheel, you can watch the passenger seat move left to right bad. All the wheels/tires balanced out good so I know it's not that. Just wonderin if anyone else has ran into something similar, maybe wheels bearing/hub, stabilizer, bushings or tie rods? I'm gonna get it jacked up tomorrow and check to see if anythings loose. Any suggestions?

BestDell18

If u lift ur front end up wiggle both from tires. If it has any play left to right that means u need a new tierod and an alignment, if it has play up and down that means u need new bearings or hubs. Check ur tires too. Mines does the same thing but i just deal with it. Its an older car. Nothing will ever be perfect on it. lol.

Willys55

Did you clean the matting surfaces of the wheel and rotor faces when you mounted the tires? At lower speeds, like between 5 and 10 mph does it feel like the vehicle is wagging side to side?

97XJMopar

Nope, just at 60mph. Feels like the front wheels ain't even balanced or a real bad bent rim, getting ready to jack it up know and check it out

XJ Stryker

Search Death Wobble... There is so much it could be your best bet is to crawl under than and inspect everything. Track bar, LCA's, LCA mount, Ball Joints... etc etc etc.

If you are feeling vibes in your steering wheel it may be time for a new steering stabilizer although that will not fix your death wobble.

97XJMopar

Everything seemed tight under her, had a few rod end boots opened but nothing had any slack, sway bar bushings and stabilizer looked to be shot but other than that everything seemed fine. Gonna try and get sum bushings and a stabilizer and see what that does

XJ Stryker

Here is a good death wobble link

http://www.yuccaman.com/jeep/dw.html

97XJMopar

Well back to the wobble. I changed out the factory 15's for some 16's with 235-70's. After having them balanced almost all the shimmy went away.

Few days ago I installed a 3" lift. I drove a 60mile trip home from the garage I used on the freeway, towed a grand am, and was even doin 85 on the freeway just a 1hr ago. On my way back through the mountains I got it up to around 55mph and I got the true Death Wobble.

Before is was just a small shimmy/vibration. I bout crapped my pants this time. I now to check ball joints, hubs, and steering. Since tomorrow is labor day I'll have to wait til tuesday to get her aligned, I was going to after I installed the lift but by the time I finished it was like 12am at night and the next day I was just really too lazy to get out.

I hope alignment will fix, when I searched DEATH WOBBLE, that seemed like the #1 cause along with the trac bar, but the axle looks centered under the body and everythings seems pretty tight on the TB.

97XJMopar

If I do end up needin a trac-bar I think I'll go with this unit:
http://www.rocky-road.com/xjtrackbar.html

For only $109 kinda hard to pass up, cheapest adjustable unit I've found and looks like it's well made.

May even go with a Rusty's I've heard lots of good things about Rustys Offroad

Paco182

That's a good deal.

jon71203

so what was the verdict? did the alignment fix the issue?

atomic-xj

Are you 100% sure the tires are balanced. If something pops up when you get new tires (thats what it sounds like) then its likely the tires. Especially if it happens at a certain speed....Could also be death wobble, but most likely tires

october

i have a similar problem, and cannot figure it out... it does feel like the vehicle is wagging in the 5 to 10 range...

it feels like a wheel out of balance, however wheels have been balanced, new tires, u joints, steering damper....

the vibration/wobble is there at all speeds, but is the worst at 55 mph...

thanks,

oct

UserID6095

Mine does the same. Anyone figure this out?

97XJMopar

After having the tires re-balanced and having the front end aligned the wobble went away. i still have a small vibration around 55-60mph but I think it's were I keep on running used tires. After putting my 265-70 Toyo A/T's on the wobble came back real bad, rotated them around and it went away, go figure