Yes indeed, another death wobble thread.


Here's the Jeep.

2001 XJ, 2.5 or so lift. 31's. 142,000 miles.

Never had any signifigant maintenance done to it other than oil, tires, brakes etc.

DD and rarely off road.

Couple weeks ago I hit a bump. the front end went ape s**t and I thought "ahhhhh, so that's Death Wobble."


Symptoms:

vibration in steering wheel.

complete and utter chaos when you hit a bump at 40 mph plus.
slight swishing sound from front end (been suspecting a wheel hub is bad)

Pertinent negatives:

No excess play in ball joints to be detected by shaking the wheel. (yes I know how to check)

Comfortable at any speed other than mild vibration.

Track bar and TRE's seem tight

Research: NAXJA and CF

Death wobble occurs when worn steering components fail to hold the front end steady. Often, no one component is to blame but rather the "multiplier effect" from several components cause this issue.


Solution:

Fix it

Ok, so rather than try and pin point the specific (if one even exists) reason for the DW I decided I need to treat the front end like it needs long overdue maintenance. In other words I started throwing parts at it. And I'm really glad I did.

At 142,000 miles pretty much everything in the front is a maintenance item. In the 100,000 miles I've had this Jeep all I've done is grease the front end. So I'm pretty sure everything is worn out or on it's way.

First off I bought shocks, steering dampener and upper and lower ball joints and wheel hubs.

I installed the shocks and steering dampener first. While I did notice the expected reduction in vibration and increase in ride quality they did nothing to help with DW.


This weekend I dove in head first. The driver side was changed first. The wheel hub had noticeable play as did the lower ball joint. The outer U-joint was seriously sloppy as well.

bear in mind that me nor the guy who did my recent state inspection noticed ANY play in the wheels when we checked it.

I planned on changing both but quite frankly I was drained in the 100* heat and went and hung out with friends instead.

In the 30 miles I put on the Jeep with just the drivers side changed I noticed a drastic reduction in vibration. Hit a bump on the way home, DW still there. Pants and seat sucked up in my *** as I tried to keep it on the road.

Last night I changed the passenger side. The lower ball joint was downright scary. BUT it didn't show when inspected by shaking the wheel.

The hub wasn't to bad and the outer U-joint was sloppy like the drivers side.

Got it all buttoned up and took it for a test ride.

I hit ever bump I could find and so far no death wobble. Vibration in the steering wheel is there but it feels more like tires than anything else. They were probably taking a beating from the bad ball joints.


When I go to work tonight there is ONE bump that always gave me DW. Tonight, instead of avoiding it, I shall hit it and see what happens.



I know a lot of people hate the SHOTGUN approach to fixing DW. But my philosophy is that since this is my DD and my only vehicle I need to change a lot of these things anyway.

So far everything I've done has made an improvement. Not by masking problems but by fixing them.

DW, IMHO, is something that has to be fixed on a systematic basis. If you replace one or two things you might fix something but the fact the other components are warn as well you're just postponing the next instance of DW.


I am really surprised at how worn the ball joints were while still passing the "tire shake" test. It really makes me wonder how far gone they have to be before you get any play in the wheel.

Just a side note, the anti-sway bar brackets often need servicing/replacing while you're under there. Like a motor mount, they have a rubber dampener in the bracket that frequently wears out and needs replacing.

Depending on where you go for parts, it can be a really cheap (like $25) investment and help take a lot of "sympathetic" vibration issues out of your rig.

Did you use a write-up for the ball joint replacement? I have to do the lower and uppers on mine and would like to know what I'm getting myself into before I dive in.

I recently did the same thing to my 98. New Moog ball joints (upper and lower) and all new Moog tie rods and track bar. I never had death wobble, but I could feel a tiny jiggle over bumps. Now it's rock solid.

With OME springs and shocks, it's not all that uncomfortable.

These Jeeps are getting pretty old, so don't feel bad about shotgunning parts at it. It probably needed all those things anyways, if not now, then a few months from now.

If you don't mind me asking, how much were all together were the Moog parts?

Retail? Probably close to $400.


This is my only vehicle so its easy to justify the cost.

Hit the "bump" on the way to work tonight. DW still there but.not as bad.

Still scary though.

Been wanting to upgrade steering anyway so I ordered a new tie rod, ends and double shear track bar from Iron Rock Off-road.

$346 shipped

That's not too bad.

Quality parts are always justified. Moog is some good stuff.