Crimmy

Ok guys. If youve seen my oil pressure thread you know how much work ive put into this. I want to friggin cry at the moment. The engine is awesome now. Strong oil pressure, good cooling, good idle. All issues ive been working on since i bought it in november.

I rebuild the track bar with new bushings and i put new shocks in. Today i was driving 35mph and the jeep started to violently shake side to side. I pulled over and looked underneathe and saw nothing wrong.

I want to note as well the 11 o clock to 2 o clock position on the wheel does nothing. I had my lady sit inside and jerk the wheel side to side. I noticed 2 major things. track bar at the frame side is shifting. The whole mounting point seemed like it was shifting. I had a very hard time trying to get that thing tightened. The ball joint started spinning in its socket and i couldnt get the hole up far enough past the castle nut to get a cotter pin in. A few beers later i got it as tight as i could and stuck a pin in. Secondly!

At the pitman arm where it mounts to a tie rod end the tie rod end has alot of play.

Im broke...im supposed to be moving tomorrow. What the hell do i do guys?! Omg im so so frustrated right now.

one_speed_heuer

Could the bracket be cracked? Also is it lifted? if so what track bar?

If its spinning in the socket to where you cant tighten it anymore Id say that tie rod is bad. It should be tight enough to hold the ball so you can tighten the castle nut enough.

Id guess that your track bar is on its way out as what youre describing sounds very similar to my situtation. I also had my Pitman arm tie rod go bad. Cost about $80 for autozone parts and it seems you are able to do the work yourself.

xjallseasons

x2 from One speed. All you can do if you are broke is drive it like a grandpa 35 and under. Once you have the dough to get it fixed then do so.

If its lifted, get a drop pitman arm, new tie rod's, track bar assembly kit as well. If its not lifted then replace the tie rods and get another OEM track bar assbly kit.

How many miles on it? My ball joints wore out at 150k and those caused my DW. They were a pain in the *** to change out, but if you look it up on youtube you probably wont have any problems.

The whole front end has to be tight for it to function properly. Loose or worn out equipment only makes it worse as you have seen. Good Luck!

Crimmy

It is not lifted. It is at 130k and it is an 89. Everything on it is factory...even probably had the factory oil. Spent the better part of 3 months cleaning and rebuilding the entire oil system. I found an oem track bar for 20 bucks from partsgeek. Ill post back with a few pictures later. i didnt have a pickle fork so i smacked the **** out of it with a hammer and hit the mounting bracket a few times but im not sure if its supposed to look the way they do. Thanks for the advice guys. It wont hurt the jeep when it starts having a parkinsons episode?

one_speed_heuer

I'd guess it's hurting the tie rod ends. I doubt any vehicle is made to handle that kind of abuse. I would only drive when necessary. Avoid going above 40-45. The fact that it happened at 35 seems really weird.

My jeep is lifted and the death wobble was magnified so yours is probably less extreme. But I'd avoid driving it. And get it fixed ASAP. You don't want any of the parts to fail when you're driving. Your 100$ fix may turn into wrecking your jeep or worse. Your life is more important than your job.

93gc40

Get a wrench with a longer handle and tighten all the bolts on the track bar mount and track bar PROPERLY. If there is movement there you will have wobble. The fix is to do it correctly. You might have to go get a new or used frame mount, if yours was damaged when you beat on it. The TREs also sound like they need to be changed.. But that loose track bar is the worst of it and fixing that might get on the road.

Crimmy

Thanks for the heads up guys. I really have no choice right now. Its my only vehicle and it was strange. Ive been driving at 35 for about two weeks. And it has only happned this one time. Im moving today though so i need to at least get it to the new place.

jmrec100

Help here too. I had that Death Wobble. Happened on the freeway. Holy bleep. I pulled over. Nothing. Went on my way. Seems to happen at 65 - 80mph. Lower speeds , no issue. It feels like something causes both front wheels to go in separate directions like one in one out. Then when pull over, it tightens up. What should be looking for to inspect? And what should it look like if its good? Any good videos or diagrams, etc to look at?
Thanks. That wobble scares the bleep out of you. I do have a bad driver side tire needing replacement. Probably caused by whatever is wrong in the front end.
Not trying to hi-jack ? But seems related issue rather than start another thread.

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As a side note, What is TRE? Is there a section here for the acronyms? I fail in knowing what all the abbreviations are?

Crimmy

Im still diagnosing mine and trying to find out what exactly i need to replace but have someone sit in your jeep with the jeep running, in park, and e brake engaged. Have the person in the car jerk the wheel back and forth and look for play in the suspension components. It is my understanding that the track bar is the problem roughly 70 percent of the time but you want to check tie rod ends, ball joints, sway bar bushings, and control arm bushings. You can also jack up the vehicle and push and pull on the outside edges of the tire to check for play in suspension components as whell as wheel bearings.

Ill try and make a video but im having trouble getting my videos to go from camera to the computer. And initially mine was as you stated with the tires pointing out from eachother. That was due to a bad alignment. Got it aligned and then this started. When i have someone turn the wheel i can see the tie rod end in the pitman arm move a good inch or so before the pitman arm starts moving. The same thing with the frame mounted side of the track bar. The ball joint moves and it shouldnt i believe. At least not the way it is. Basicly once the steering starts to move the track bar shifts over a good few milimeters. It seems like alot of small things adding up to a big thing. A milimeter here and a milimeter there eventually adds up to inches.

TRE= Tie rod end.

Crimmy

Hope this helps. Ill post back when i have more information.

jmrec100

I got a little more info on mine. At around 55mph felt it wanting to go shimmy. Did something and it disappeared. I think I applied brakes and turned a little, heading to the shoulder. Wobble didn't get going, but about to start. I know a bad tire. Local place didn't have a used tire. I don't want new until this is settled and the $. If at 75mph, no issues. So tire is probably a big suspect.
Any quick and dirty way to check alignment?
I'll put my Jeep up on jack stands and look for loose joints etc. AutoZone has a track arm for $56. Is it a good buy? No lifting planned. Napa had only the one for $112 in stock. Probably (?) better but don't need great right now. I'm pricing and won't start replacing until sure about what partS to replace. Every one here gives it high probability it's the track arm assembly for sure. So planning that at least.

jmrec100

If I have to replace the track bar, assume need a puller? And something to press out the bushings.

jmrec100

I replaced the bad front tire. No issue with death wobble, but definitely some vibration. Need to go thru and check the front end. Tire may be a little unbalanced because just not sure the shop did a great job balancing the tire.
Surprised how much the wobble was gone just by that tire. I've had bad unbalanced tires before but never the earthquake felt with this Jeep.
Is this normal due to the design? Or the weight of the vehicle?
So i do have work to do on it.

Crimmy

So i solved my death wobble today! It was a tie rod to the pitman arm, a steering stabilizer, and track bar, and the sway bar link bushings and sleeves.

Replacing the trackbar can kind of suck alot! I wouldnt bother rebuilding a stock track bar. Thats what i did and it does nothing to fix the ball joint end. A pickle fork or ball joint puller would be the easiest way to go. But a small sledge hammer hitting the side of the track bar's ball joint end i was able to get it out after 2 swings. You do not need to push any bushings out the new one comes with all new bushings. The worst part of the track bar is on the ball joint end getting the cotter pin out and then a new one in. You cant fit a ratchet up in there if you have a ratcheting open ended wrench that would be best. I used an 11/16 open ended wrench to tighten and remove the castle nut and that took the most time and effort. Best of luck!

So! I got my jeep up to 45mph which is the fastest ive ever gone with it. I had no death wobble, my steering wheel slop is gone, and i even took some sharp corners flawlessly. The only thing worth mentioning is it feels like one of the tires might be unbalanced and my alignment is screwed up slightly again =P But it now feels safe to drive. I may try it ont he freeway soon for the first time.

And to close out i can finally move on to transmission fluids and differential fluids, cat converter, and finally then cosmetics. This jeep is almost done being repaired! =)

jmrec100

great job. So replaced a bunch of things. Gave me a bunch of info to go take care of. I looked at the picture of the front end. Which is the steering stabilizer? Don't see it?