goneboating06

A little over a year ago I was desperately fighting the death wobble. I got an adjustable track bar, replaced both sides of ball joints, got two different alignments, tried different tires, and finally what fixed it was setting the toe ever so slightly out. So life was good up until recently when I experienced dw once on the highway going around 55ish. I knew my wheel bearing was bad, and it started when I hit a bump from the tire with a bad wheel bearing. So I bought a heavy duty wheel bearing and replaced it and it cured all my front end pops and noises, but now my front end shakes right at 55mph. It never gets the dw under 55 no matter how big of bumps I hit. As soon as I hit 55 it acts like it's going to go into major dw, but If I keep accelerating it goes away around 60ish. it's squirrley and likes to jump around a little on the freeway whereas it has never done that before. So what I'm thinking is an alignment will cure it, but I wanted to check and see what you guys think in case it might be something else. I know it's not tires because i just got different ones and it didn't Change the problem at all. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

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93gc40

What is your Caster and pinion angles????? If you can accelerate out of it, it is NOT Death Wobble, but it is still a severe vibration. What is the condition of the ball joints and TREs?

goneboating06

Tires are good, and ball joints are less then a year old. If I'm not careful sometimes the "vibration" will go full out to death wobble where the only way to stop it is to slow way down. The only way I can describe the "vibration" is the mild shaking right before a full out death wobble. It's almost like it's trying to go full out, but doesn't quite reach it. Sometimes though it will go full out death wobble, but only at speeds above 55 mph.

I have longer control arms. I didn't have death wobble for the past 8 or 9 months, and nothing has changed on the jeep during this time. The only thing was a bad wheel bearing, and I just replaced jt, and that's when it got worse. When I has it on the alignment rack last year all angles checked out good. So I'm wondering If a bad wheel bearing threw the alignment angles out of spec, and then when I changed the bearing it also changed the alignment? Is that even possible? Any thoughts?

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Jeep89JV

This is an issue of balance somewhere, at that speed its not longer considered DW.

Check for a bent rim, out of balance tires or driveshafts. Also what is your pinion angles at?

Alignment is a key, make sure its properly done. Don't assume its correct because you brought it in to a shop.

goneboating06

Forgive me for being unclear. It's with out a doubt not a vibration caused by the drive shaft. My pinion angles are good. It's shaking from the front end like the axle is moving side to side. Sometimes on the freeway when I get to 55 the axle feels like it's shaking, much like a less violent death wobble. But if I hit a bump in the road, the less violent shaking will turn into a violent death wobble where the whole jeep feels like its going to shake apart. All bushings are good, I've tried two different sets of tires with the same results... I'm just out of ideas. I'll take it to the alignment shop tomorrow and see If that helps. I've heard your supposed to get a alignment after changing a wheel bearing anyway?

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ct67_72

Check your control ARM bushings, if you had to toe it out to drive it then it was never fixed in the first place.
My jeep did the same, exactly 55 if you hit a bump it would shimmer, then turn into uncontrollable death wobble. I found my controllers bushings to be the culprit. Also before it got real bad you could brake to control it. It would force the axle back and tighten up the arms. If it was real bad the only thing to stop it though was slowing all the way down and starting again. Then staying under 55 lol.

TheJerm

Are you sure the axle is centered under the jeep? I would do your own alignment if I was you. Its easy with some string, a helper, and a tape measure. I've also heard the power steering box space can cause this when it breaks, something to look at. You said it was good last year, a masked problem could have surfaced as bad bushings, either the CA or trackbar. Good luck

goneboating06

Did you just replace the lower control arm bushings, or did you do the uppers as well? My lower control arm bushings are good, but the uppers don't look as great and I can't find replacements anywhere? Could the uppers be causing problems?

I know the axle is not centered under the jeep. The alignment shop was supposed to center it but they failed to do so. the track bar is adjustable though. How would I do my own alignment?

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razor02097

If you disconnect the trackbar and set the Jeep on it's own weight it should center itself. If it doesn't you can turn the wheel it should move the axle where you want. After that adjust trackbar and bolt it back on.

goneboating06

Thanks! That's good to know I'll go out and do that right now

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TheJerm

Its easy, 1st get some string and tie it to somewhere on the mid point of each rear wheel and pull it striaght forward. This will tell you which way the axle has to go.

Next is toe adjustment. I can do it myself and all you do is use a tape measure between each front wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock. I just put the tape measure from inside to inside of each wheel, front and back, the difference will be your toe in or out. The adjustment is the tierod

goneboating06

Well I adjusted the track bar, and got the steering wheel centered. Went and drove it and I got a really bad shimmy at 55, which turned in to the death wobble.... Went home, adjusted the toe, and then test drove her again and it's gone! It drives straight and my axle is where it's supposed to so I'm basically a pretty happy guy right about now haha. Thanks for the help everyone!

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