Milesnaf18

Hi everyone,
I am experience some serious death wobble and I'm at a loss for the cause. I have an 01 xj with dana 30 front, I have replaced the tie rod and drag link with the rustys heavy duty links, rough country track bar drop kit, new dana Spicer ball joints, drop pitman arm, new steering box and pump. The wobble went away when I put that all on, now 5000 miles later with regular greasing, the wobble is worse than ever. I am at a complete loss as to the cause as the front u joints, and bearings are good, although the bearings not recently changed. Any advice or thoughts on what it could be?
Thanks,
Miles

94XJYKuz

Welcome to the crazy! First thing is doing normal checks. Go over everything! Triple check for play in any and all joints, be certain every nut and bolt is tight. My personal XJ it always comes back to the track bar bolt loosening up just a little bit. Have you had the alignment checked after all the front end work? How long since the tire balance has been checked? I know the list is long but any of it can cause a wobble. Do you notice it comes on at a certain speed? Or maybe after hitting a bump?

Milesnaf18

Hi and thank you,
It has not been aligned in about 7 months, and I have had my track bolt come loose before but it didn't seem too loose. I have not had the tires balanced so I will look into that and alignment and check my track bar again.
Thanks. Miles

Milesnaf18

And the the wobble only happens going over 45 and hit Amy sort of bump. Could it have anything to do with the track bar and drag link not being parallel? I was thinking of switching to cavfab over the knuckle steering hoping for more stability

Guywitha92

Why are you running a pitman arm drop?

Milesnaf18

I'm running a 4.5 and half inch lift so I am running a 1.5 inch drop pitman I believe

RoyalXJ

No reason for a drop pitman arm at 4.5". That is not your main issue but it will cause bump steer. That will contribute to the start of death wobble if anything is loose or worn. My bet is that its the bobo RC track bar drop kit. Get a real adjustable track bar on there.

freegdr

After 5000 miles . Track bar mount hole ok ?

tedparis

I had death wobble really bad and it was because of the track bar bolt hole being wallered out. I welded a washer over the hole and put a lock nut on the back instead of the factory bracket nut. Haven't had any problem since, I would inspect the track bar thoroughly as it has always been the cause of death wobble for me.

Milesnaf18

Thanks everyone. I have not checked the track bar mount hole but that will definitely be the next thing I check. The drag link end connected to the pitman is worn, so I have a new one that I am installing next weekend, as well as new hubs, and re checking everything on the track bar. It only wobbles sometimes. I took two identical trips two days in a row, wobbled worse than ever the first day, then not at all the second.

restoring

I had THIS!

For me it turned out to be a combination of several factors-

The rebuildable joint on the driver side lower long arm was worn - replaced it.

The rebuildable joint on the upper end of the track bar was worn - replaced it.

The rubber bushing on the lower end of the track bar was worn - replacing it.

The shocks were toast - replaced them.

The steering stabilizer was worn - replaced it with an upgrade.

Several tie rod ends were "questionable" - replaced them.

Checked and tightened all the bolts involved with the front suspension (control arms at both ends, shocks, stabilizer, tie rod, drag link, etc.)

Now I can hit bumps at any speed and... no wobble. Almost zero bump steer.