nascar2496

yeah yeah i know i know, another death wobble thread. BUT i searched for a bit and couldnt find anything like my situation.

Heres the scoop. 96 xj with 3in rough country lift, new shocks, springs. truck has 177k on it. The front axel and all components as far as i know are original to the truck. I can hit as many bumps as i want going straight or turning right and nothing, its solid. DW mainly happens while slightly turning left doing 50-55mph, anything higher or lower it doesnt happen. I dont need to hit a bump or anything it will just start and get worse until i slow down while going through the left turn. I have another front axle that is getting swapped with all the steering components being swapped. So im not too worried about the Dw issue cause im sure the less used components wont have the problem when i swap the axle. Im more curious than anything. any ideas? Oh and when i had it apart for the lift everything looked good, nothing was loose or worn.

X-J

Did you take it to an alignment shop ? if not do that first because DW can come from several different things , mine came from the camber being outa whack.

nascar2496

yeah i know it needs an alignment. the wheel is turned to the left when going straight. it does not pull or anything, just the wheel isnt straight. i was just wondering if anyone had a similar problem. after my camaro gets painted im swapping axles and getting it aligned and such.

giwill

yeah start with an alignment if not fixed after that check your rotor have some one turn them or replace if needed.

93gc40

BALL JOINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spr0ckEt

another easy check is your front axle u joints. take off the front wheels and grab the axle... should not have play when rotating. In my case, I could SEE the damage to the front passenger ujoint...

sandaddik2

track bar.
ditch the tie rod end and get one with a heim joint on it.
gosh i feel like a broken record now saying that... lol

giwill

yeah when you go to do an aligment they should check all your ball joints and bushings

nascar2496

speaking of u-joints the passenger side u-joint was broken when i did the lift so that side is brand new. i guess tearing it apart messed up some alignment tolerances. its so weird tho, i can be driving perfectly straight on a smooth road at 50-55 and it will just start out of nowhere. its really annoying, it sucks cause i wont have another car to drive until my camaro gets painted in a few weeks :/

jeepingirl

Hey nascar2496, I have a 98 XJ no lift, 4.0 auto trans and I too had the "death wobble", especially driving on highway overpass bridge cleats. The thing almost jumped off the road. Like side to side wheel hopping! A heavy duty steering damper solved it for me. Moog makes it. #SSD107 just under $100.00. Worth every penny.
jeepingirl

CAEMI

I don't get the heim joint advantage. Everything I've read about them I don't like. What am I missing?

X-J

as you can see it can be several things that cause DW.
But if you see something obvious you should fix that first.
If you are still having problems with nothing obvious i sugest taking it to an alignment shop first, before replacing the whole front end trying to chase down the problem like I did.

also , A heavy duty steering damper will only temporarily fix the problem until the damper wears out.

Spr0ckEt

exactly! it just absorbs the wobble, doesn't fix it

1987 new toy

I had a death wobble just like that on mine and i inspected the front end three time's nothin. I was laying under it yesterday and looked up to see the bottom bolts on the track bar mount were lose the two that go up from the bottom up right were the track bar bolts to it. Tightened them up presto no death wobble. Just another thing to look for.

Berserker

After I put a 3" lift on my Cherokee I started getting the death wobble. The first time it happened, it scared the hell out of me.
Apparently the hole in the axle bracket had elongated. Tightening the bolt didn't fix the problem, so I had a shop weld and redrill the hole on the bracket, and had a Heim joint adjustable track bar installed. No more death wobble.
Another post asked about why some aftermarket track bars use Heim joints; As a mechanic friend explained, the factory setup, i.e., track bar with a ball joint end, wears out quickly. Ball joints aren't really designed for such heavy side loads as a track bar is subjected to, so they tend to get loose. Heim joints ARE designed to deal with side loads and keep everything good and tight.