CherokeeCharlie

My xj used to shake a little after hitting a minor bump, but today it went crazy when I hit the slightest crack in the road... here's a vid I managed to get of it earlier, hopefully it will help diagnose.. alignment? or something else? I know the tires are balanced, they're only a couple months old.

xjoffroad

search. there are so many threads about DW

zwhiz

i spent a ridiculous amount of money replacing everything on my front end when i had bad death wobbles. but it mostly came out to the tierod ends being worn out. it could be something else like draglink end worn out, steering stabilizer... the best way to check it out is to have someone look at the front end while you get inside and just turn the wheel side to side. you will be able to see if any of the joints have give in them.
hope this helps a little. good luck. death wobbles are a pain in the a$$

zwhiz

aaaaand if you run with no sway bars that could be the problem, that's what my buddy with a wrangler said....just a thought. but don't do what i did and just drive it for a long time with the DW's cause it can cause a lot of damage...cracks in the body, broken engine mounts, broken control arm mounts....all happened to me because i put off fixing it. hope you learn from my mistakes! good luck again hope this helps

xjoffroad

this is not true. a sway bar disconnected has nothing to do with DW. people remove theirs all the time and have no DW.

heres what I would check. all the bushings on the front it. trackbar bushings. TRE. tires balanced. alignment

zwhiz

ya i was just say thats what my buddy with a wrangler was saying...when his sway bar is off he gets the dw....just thought id throw that in. death wobbles can be tricky...

xjoffroad

if he gets DW from taking disconnecting the swaybar the swaybar i not the issue. he has other issues and the swaybar is just helping to correct the issue to an extent

rocket83

ball joints or tie rods. you can see in the vid that there is alot of play in the tierods when you hit that bump. Id say replace them. I have the same problem right now and am replacing all 4 ball joints and all tierods. You can get the whole setup on ebay for $110. Its all oem stuff though and i know how people like to upgrade.

Jeepman659

Yeah i'd say Tie Rod ends. and take that rubber piece out! hha

xj4fun

Quote:

Originally Posted by xjoffroad

this is not true. a sway bar disconnected has nothing to do with DW. people remove theirs all the time and have no DW.

Agreed to a point. Worn disconnects can allow minor movement that would otherwise be dampened/minimized.

Any worn, damaged or misaligned component can add to instability. Instability leads to shimmy. Shimmies lead to wobbles. If the driver ignores all these preliminary signals and/or is unaware of them, they (collectively) will probably lead to DW.

My TJ had a very minor shimmy. I knew the only worn front end components were the disconnects. I pulled the stabilizer to allow the shimmy to harmonic. The shimmy was worse. I replaced the disconnects, restesting under exact same conditions. The shimmy was resolved. Replaced the stabiler and all was fine. Granted the wear in the disconnects did not provide enough harmonics to go beyond a very (very) minor shimmy. But couple that with other worn components and you have a sum of the parts creating the problem.

Kent

CherokeeCharlie

thanks everyone, I'm gunna look around for that kit you mentioned on ebay, I really have no need to upgrade components, just replace. I plan on installing that rusty's 3" kit that comes with the wheels and tires, so unless you think I should upgrade for 3 inches of lift I plan on sticking with the OEM.

Thanks!

Marblehead

'95 XJ, 2" Pro-Comp lift, brand new steering stabilizer and the Death Wobble 'round 40-50mph. It seems localized to the right front wheel. Checked the tie rods, etc. via having someone turn the wheels back and forth and no evidence of wear. Also, manually worked the wheels both vertically and laterally with the car off the ground and still no signs of wear. Still, +200,000 on the car. . .Gonna take a look at that YouTube link to see what's in store but it's flat dangerous!