I've never had the death wobble. I bought the Jeep at 4'', no issue. I lifted to 6.5'', didn't get anything. I drive on the highway quite often, going 70 at times. I was driving home this afternoon, doing about 40 in the right lane, when all of a sudden my wheeling, along with the vehicle, started violently shaking. To the point where my stuff in the back was jumping around. I immediately pulled over, checked it out, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. A buddy said it could be my steering stabilizer. Which is definitely a possibility. It came on the Jeep from the PO, and I haven't (needed to) touched it. It white with a red shock boot, so possibly RC, maybe Rancho. Is it as easy as replacing the steering stabilizer?


Cheers

 

If everything is in good shape, tight joints, not worn out then going from4" to 6"+, you need to dial in more caster, do you have adjustable lower control arms.
If you pull one end of the steering stabilizer and push and pull it, if it still has decent resistance, then continue to use it. How are your control arm bushings, loose at all?
Did you lengthen the track bar when you went up the extra 2 inches? Could be your front end is skewed to the driver side by the track bar pulling.
Have a buddy move the steering side to side while you look for loose stuff, don't let him have the motor running, your buddy can't be trusted not to run you over.

 

When I went from 4-6'' I got a new track bar. IRO adjustable double sheer. I also just recently went to long arms, like a few weeks ago. Do I pull the end of the stabilizer while it's connected or do I disconnect it first?

 

For the Stabilizer, if you can pull only one end and stroke it by hand, you should have good resistance in both directions. If resistance is good, bolt it back up and run it.
If it pushes or pulls easy, then it's worn out.
If you can't get a good push or pull you can take it right out and check it. Just don't want to see you replace a good one.
Often as we lift, we may forget to add some caster and you could check your tow in, about 1/16" is good.

 

I'm still learning as I go, but does this pic help at all with the current angle?


I have an issue with my rear driveshaft being out of balance, but would that have caused this?

 

FYI, my wobble was caused by excessive toe in.

 

Check steering and track bar joints. have someone shake the steering wheel side to side rapidly while you feel all the steering joints and bushings.

Steering stabilizer will not cause deathwobble btw... It only covers it up.

 

Is it odd though that this just now happened? Almost 6 months after going to 6.5''.

 

Nope, parts can wear

 

There's other parts/things to look at here... At 6.5" of lift, you should upgrade your steering (might as well throw away your stabilizer when you do that). Look into your ball joints, tire balance and definitely alignment.

Driveshaft being out of balance wouldn't cause this.

And I would suggest not taking any automotive advice from this buddy of yours again

 

Could be anything.

Badly worn/chopped tire, worn wheel hub, tie rod ends, ball joints, track bar, etc... could be anything.

Mine was a slightly worn wheel hub and badly chopped tires.

 

Front tires have some cuts/chunks missing, but nothing horrible. Both wheel hubs are pretty new. One was replaced in the fall, the other a few weeks ago when I did long arms/chromoly. TREs are a possibility, although I have Rusty's HD tie rod that was put on in the Fall as well. Track bar is from IRO, it's there double sheer one.

Like the OTK type setup? Durango gearbox is on my list, just haven't had time with work and life unfortunately. Ball joints are a possibility. Tires could use a balance, and I could use an alignment.. heh.



I also have wheel spacers on. They were put on with the long arms a few weeks ago. Loctite was used. I got back on the highway after it happened for a little while and it didn't happen again. I'll see what happens tomorrow and report back.


Thanks guys!

 

OTK would be ideal. 1 ton would also be good. Have you touched your suspension since you got all that installed? Get down there and retorque everything. After doing that, I'd go in for a tire balancing

 

x2 on torqueing everything, especially the track bar. Torque both ends plus the 4 bolts holding the bracket to the frame.

 

You'd be surprised how much tires can affect it... maybe throw the back ones on the front and see if it's any different?