4.3L XJ

For the past several weeks I have had an annoying problem with death wobble. I didn't post it because I knew what was wrong. My top link rubber bushings were completely shot and I lost my castor. The little irregularities in the pavement around here was what would trigger it at about 45 mph. Then because the top link bushings were so bad, the axle would rock back and forth which would change the drag link position at the knuckle due to the angle and it would set up harmonics and the shaking would begin. And believe me there was a whole lot of shaking going on. It was bad enough to break the shaft on the steering stabilizer. May it rest in peace.



About the time all this started Ironman Andy needed some stock springs. So I offered to trade him the springs for some bushings, which I would have been happy with instead of paying out $80 - 100. Well, Andy did one better, he sent me a new top link instead of bushings. :love0007:



So now I still needed a new bushing in the axle housing. But being cheap, I still didn't want to put out for a full set just to get one bushing. So I dug through my junk and got out an old Samurai motor mount I made and went to work.



This bushing is really for the shackle end of a Chevy K10 front spring. So it is a little wide for this application. I cut it off the mount, cut down the bushing housing, slipped into a piece of 1.5" pipe.



Cut the bushings themselves to fit.



Burned out the old bushing



Slipped it into the old outer shell and tacked it to keep it from slipping



Mounted the new top link



And quickly discovered my lower link has a case of ARMIS PUNIS.
I am going to have to do something about that this winter.

I took it for a test drive and I now have no death wobble without a stabilizer

zanderman111

Sorry if this is a noob question, but isnt the usual procedure to correct death wobble just to add another (dual) steering stabilizers? I am looking into lifting my WJ and figured that my above mentioned process was how to correct death wobble. Why did you decide to do what you did? Is that a "better" way of correcting DW?

Thanks

OHHNOES

Steering stabilizers only mask the problems ive heard.

4.3L XJ

Steering stabilizers are only a band aid. The wound remains so to speak. There are a few things that cause death wobble. In a nutshell it is anything that allows the tie rod to wiggle back and forth and build up a harmonic resonance. There are many threads on this and other forums on how to cure death wobble. But basically, there are some basic things to consider. First is the track bar and its mountings. Most of the time, death wobble is caused by a worn track bar bushing allowing the front axle to go back and forth in a sideways motion which pushes the drag link in the opposite direction thus steering the wheels that way. Then it rebounds and goes back the other direction pushing the wheels back past where they were. This keeps going until you are almost stopped. The other big thing that causes death wobble is lack of castor angle. This was my problem and I knew it because the metal inner sleeves in the rubber bushings were touching the outside sleeves on both of them. This allowed the axle to rotate and set up the same circumstances when it did. In my case, everything else was tight, including the track bar bushing which is almost new. One thing you need to watch when lifting on the cheap is this castor angle. I currently have mine set at 8° which many will say is too much. But a local 4WD shop sets them up at that angle and I can tell you it works, even without the steering stabilizer which I have not replaced yet, and may not.