So basically here is the rundown, i seriously need some help. Well my death wobble started out as at any low speed i would hit a bump while the steering was centered, and i would get the DW. So i went to a place called Dixie 4 wheel drive and they checked my ball joints and u joints and said they were good, but they found my track bar was pretty loose. So we tightened that up and it fixed the death wobble at low speeds, so life was good until i took it on the freeway. My jeep got the death wobble spot on at 55 mph.... it didn't have any wobble at all before i hit 55MPH, and it was so bad it wouldn't stop unless i completely stopped. So as soon as i got back home i tightened the steering box screw on the top (my steering was was loose anyway) and that solved it for a while. But then the next day the death wobble at 55mph came back. So i went and checked to see if it came loose or something and it did'nt, so i made sure it was tight and it still does it.... so now i can sorta get through the death wobble if i'm lucky by punching it up through and past 55. Ive talked to people, ive I balanced and rotated my tires, i checked my steering stabilizer, made sure all my linkages were tight, and it still does it. It won't do it before or after 55 mph, just right on at 55, thats why i'm so confused.... What could it be? its really a major problem and its making me mad because the i need to drive on the freeway to commute to work. But now with the steering box tightened it helped, but now my steering is stiff, and won't center if i let go of the steering wheel... Ive kinda experimented with different tightness settings on the steering box screw and it really seems to have a big influence on the death wobble. I am out of ideas, and i really need some input and some help because this problem is much more then a inconvenience. Thanks -Josh

 

I'm sure you searched the internet and found the many lists of causes of death wobble. You've checked a lot of things. Keep it up.

Personally, I had to replace my tires to fix mine. The tires looked good. They balanced. But only new tires cured it. Same for another Cherokee at work.

 

x2 I had new tires cure my problem before.

 

Never Mind....

 

Had a friend who had this same issue. He replaced his wheel bearings and got new tires, ran smoothe as ever.

 

you could have some tires that are just out of round. Depending on the tire, if they haven't been rotated properly, they can get high and low spots and they're toast. The goodyear MT/Rs are known to do that. Also, do you have a good after market adjust front track bar? How about the hole the track bar mounts to on the axle? is it hollowed out? You can tighten it, but if the hole is hollowed out, it still will act up. Is there a crack on the weld where the track bar mounts to your frame? all the steering linkage is tight? You already checked ball joints. Can't think of much more! If all that is good, new tires it is!

 

I'm with Jeeperrari...I got lots of advice from lots of folks about my DW problem ranging from ujoints, control arms on and on...several qualified mechanics dismissed the possibility of it being track bar related since there was only a little play at the union with the frame...my buddy thats been jeeping for 20-years drove it around the block and said replace the track bar...50 bucks later and no more DW...just my .02.

 

The term "death wobble" is way overused on XJ forums. If you had what I consider to be DW at 55 MPH, you'd wreck your Jeep. Can you explain what you think DW is at 55?

 

x2, DW is the jeep shaking so bad it feels like its going to fall apart and you dont have much control at all. 1st time i experienced it didnt get back in that jeep till it was fixed (it was my buddies). I about peed myself in the passenger seat

or people call some milder shaking at speed DW too but its nowhere as bad. This was always caused by my tires not being true. Try rotating them around front to back and side to side, if it changes the way it shakes then its the tires

 

Death wobble feels like you are driving down a set of RR tracks, straddling the rails, wheels on the ties, at speed.
Yes, Death Wobble is overused, seem any Vibration gets blamed on DW. 90% or more of DW cases do happen at Highway speeds above 55 mph, slowing to below 35 mph is most often the only way to stop an event. In fact I consider any DW report, at speed below 50, just a vibration, One of those overuse cases.

 

I got DW so bad it broke my steering colmn... I think that qualifies.

Are you running the stock stabilizer or an aftermarket 1? If its the stock 1 they arent designed to hold up to the stress of lift and tires.

 

I was asking for the OPs opinion of DW, but I mostly agree with you.

 

Dont know if you got this fixed yet but I had the same problem your describing. What it took to solve my problem was a new track bar, steering stabilizer and new tires.

 

Sounds like you've looked into cures for DW, but what do you mean by "checked your steering stabilizer"? i replaced mine twice with a brand new stabilizer from autozone and both times it came right back, only did it go away when i bought a beefy stabilizer that was meant to handle a lift with tires.

 

got a friend you can swap tires with for a day ? Im sure you gota know someone that has a jeep....:}
Hope you get fixed