So I have ran into yet another problem. My 97 Xj has seam to caught the death wobble. With my P235 75 R15 highway tires on stock steel rims, the Jeep drives fine unless I hit a fat pot hole on the free way doing 55+ MPH I get a good shake on the front end like it wants to go into a death wobble. I was planning on hitting tahuya saturday so I swapped out for my 30x9.5 R15 BFG's on aluminum rims. Now when I get 50+ MPH I get a VERY VIOLENT shake from the front end. Its scares the P**S out of me. When I slow back down to 40 the problem goes away. Now I did noticed there's no little weight mounted on the rim. Do I need my tires rotated and balanced? And Should I get an alignment? I did just recently lift the Jeep to a 3 inch lift and had to drop the LCA's to get the springs to fit in(didn't have a spring compressor) Little side note, I will switch back to my other tires for now because I'm going to tahuya hell or high water.

 

Make sure all the bolts on your steering components are all fully tightened. If that doesn't work then go with an alignment.

 

how do your control arm bushing look, also would jack the rig up and check for play in the tie rod ends and drag link. maybe the track bar if it gets loose mite be a culprit.

 

You said you just lifted the front of your Jeep 3 inches, correct? I believe you also said that you are still running both stock UCA and LCAs, correct? Your Jeep is right at the edge of the amount the Caster angle can be off without making the Jeep unsafe to drive. You start feeling the wobble at 55+ MPH with your stick size tires. You definitely feel the wobble at 50+ with even slightly larger than stock tires. The only way to correct this is to get LCAs made for a 3 inch lift or just get a set of adjustable LCAs. Getting a front end alignment will do you no good because there is no adjustment to get the caster back where it needs to be without adjustable control arms...as long as the lifted coil spring or spacer is in the Jeep.

 

Hahaha!!! This is not a cheap man's sport, so start empty'n those pockets!!

 

You can remove or add shims at the frame end of the lca's to restore castor to a better angle or get it aligned and thats what they will adjust along with the toe in/out. My 3.5" Rubicon express lift came with fixed lowers that were exactly the same length as the stock ones.

 

Also, round tires help...

 

Well so far 2 of the 4 tires are s**t. The steel belt was busting. I still got death wobble, so I'm just going to trash the tires and invest into brand new 31 x 10.5 R15 Toyo Open Country M/t's. Les Schwab quoted 1,014$ Mounted, Balanced, and old tires trashed. (after Tax's) Unless I can find some gently used tires off craigslist for a respectable price.

 

shop around for tires!! Try discount over everything else. I personally do not like/trust LS anymore, their customer service has gone down the tubes and their prices are outrageous.

For a AT tire in 31 flavor you should be able to find a nice set of GY duratracks, BFG KM2s or ANY other tire that will do double duty better then toyos.

Just my .02

as far as death wobble, again just verify everything is tight in the front end, all your bushings are good, (track bar, control arms) and have a alignment done. if you can find a set of lower control arms for a 3 in lift even better (i saw a set on a xj at nw auto recyclers in LK stevens earlier this week)