Was curious to see what the new wheels will look like on the jeep so I propped this one up and took a pic. Can't wait to get these on.

 

Drum roll please.........................Ta Da!

 

Ordered a new track bar and steering stabilizer because the darn thing has the death wobble now. Sucks

Should have the jeep back tomorrow and parts are scheduled for Saturday delivery. With any luck I will have them on this weekend and put an end to death wobble.

 

Looks good bro. I'm new with jeeps how many miles was it when the trany went out. How long do they usually last?

 

nice build so far! and great color on that XJ, I also need to paint the fenders.. lol

btw I had a tranny 2wd rebuilt last july, it had around 128k but I think it went out cause bad maintenance and it was leaking

 

First off, if you go to buy one, check the tranny fluid via the dipstick. If it has been properly maintained the fluid should be pink and not dark and burnt smelling. If it has been properly maintained it should last for a long while.

I believe that to be the case with mine. The previous owner did not maintain the fluid as he should have. I did not catch that at the time of purchase because I was in a hurry to get something.

The tranny shop is putting new seals and filter in the used transmission I bought so I am keeping my fingers crossed I got a good one and it will last a while.

 

Well, got the Jeep back yesterday afternoon. The new/used transmission seems to run and shift out great now. The new track bar and steering stabilizer should be here sometime today according to FedEx. I bought and Iron Rock Off Road adjustable track bar and their steering stabilizer shock. Should be good stuff.

Incidentally I just happened to check the air pressure in my front tires. They seemed a bit over inflated which I believe may be contributing to the death wobble. Deflated them to around 32 psi so we will see if that helps some too.

 

Well, this actually took me longer to get the old track bar off than I figured. Word to the wise, if you are going to put a 3" lift kit on your jeep, yes you can still keep the stock track bar but I would go ahead and change it out while I had the front springs removed. To come back and add this after the fact was a mother to say the least. See pic below. You can't get to the one nut on the mounting bracket after the springs are in! Life would have been much easier if you could take the bracket off to remove the old track bar.

 

I did not have a tie rod removal tool so I had to try and pry out the old fitting without damaging the hole for the new tie rod end to go in. I battled with this beech for a while. Finally wound up cutting off the end of the old track bar to get it completely out of the way so I could get up underneath better to remove the old tie rod end.

 

Ordered these from Iron Rock Off Road. The track bar is definitely heavy duty. It is solid. The steering stabilizer seems to be of good quality as well.

 

New parts installed. Also replaced the sway bar links as you can see in the picture. The death wobble seems to be gone now thank the Lord.

 

Okay, for anyone that has the death wobble, I am no expert on this as it was just kind of trial and error but here is what I did in order and it appears to have gotten rid of the problem. I may install a new tie rod and ends just to put the last nail in the coffin but so far so good.

1. Lowered air pressure in tires from 40psi down to 32psi. Felt 30psi might be too low.
2. Installed new sway bar links and bushings. (I don't think this had anything to do with the problem because it did not cure it but it may have contributed)
3. Install new track bar
4. Install new steering stabilizer shock.

I installed the new track bar on Sunday and when I drove it Monday I still had a minor case of dw but not as violent. Installed the stabilizer last night and drove it today. Death wobble gone. I drove the exact same roads both days and hit every hole I could find on the way to and from work today trying to trigger the dw. I never got the death wobble so I feel it is safe to say it is gone.

 

Well I had some minor drive shaft vibrations that were bugging me along with this irritating whining sound coming from the front drive shaft. The whining noise was driving me crazy so I thought dropping the t-case would solve the problem. Well, it did not.

I measured the best I could the front axle in relation to the body and at most it is off a 1/4". Would that misalignment be enough to cause this irritating whining noise on the front drive shaft where it either attaches at the t-case or the differential? This is driving me crazy!!!

I also had trouble getting one of the studs out of the t-case cross support so I wound up cutting off the stud and punching it out. I welded me up a handy dandy nut on a washer with a piece of metal sticking off of it to keep it from the whole thing from spinning in the frame. Then I fished it on one of the holes on the frame. It worked out great.

 

Yes, you read it right. Did my t-case drop with some spare lug nuts laying around. Turns out they measured exactly one inch! I am such a cheap skate!

 

Got bored today and did a couple things to the Heep. Sprayed the front differential red to add a little spunk to the junk. It only took a short time. Scrape the old chipping paint off, clean, prime, and spray red. Looks pretty cool I guess.