SDC

Ive got a 99 with4.5 RC short arm lift. IRO double shear track bar and bracket. Everything has been great. I installed the 1 ton steering this weekend and got my first taste of death wobble on my first test drive. I came back to the shop and found the jam nuts loose on the drag link. I tightened them back up only to strip the one on tie rod end. I also now seem to have an issue with castor on both tires. Top of the tires are in.

Was wondering if anybody has had simillar issues. Why would the castor angles change? Could the death wobble cause it?

99 Purple XJ

Post a pic of the steering

Gorillaxj

Top of the tire being in is camber, Castor is front to back angle of the ball joints or "rake".

The JCR kit should have no effect to camber/caster, Just toe. Did you have an alignment done? that alone could cause DW. how are the trackbar/drag link angles? like above post a pic. Fix the stripped out part, thats not good either

assuming you used this kit?

did you drill and retapper the the knuckles and pitman arm ect like it says you have to do?

SDC

Thanks for clearing thar up. The camber is off but wasn't before.

I did not get a proper alignment. I measured the toe and set that to 0 same measurement. I did recently install a SYE and removed the transfer case drop brackets but that shouldn't change things either. The front pinion is angled up slightly but only a few degrees. Ball joints all seem good no movement.

Angles of the track bar and drag link are almost exactly the same.

I did ream the knuckles and pitman arm per instructions. I took my time and was carefully not to go to far.

JCR is sending new jam nuts. So I should have this fixed by weekend. That is the kit you linked

Thanks

Donnie_K

it is impossible to change the camber angle on these without adjustable ball joints. Your steering setup did not change it. If your camber angle is off, you either have a bad ball joint or something bent on the axle. Sorry if that sounds argumentative, just telling you, it's not possible. Now your CASTER angle on the other hand... is not adjusted by your steering setup, it is adjusted by your control arms... and if your have a negative caster angle (top ball joint in line with or slightly forward of the lower ball joint), then you are going to be highly prone to death wobble. Check for worn parts (ball joints, control arm bushings, wheel bearings), check for tire balance, and then get it on the alignment rack and get us numbers. are you on short arms? You probably need to get some adjustables....

The_ocho

You said you set your toe to 0 then that's why you have wobble. You need to be toe in or out to keep pressure on your steering system to eliminate the slop that causes wobble. 90% of shops will only do toe in alignments because thats what the manufacture calls for and they don't have the knowledge to do anything other than what the computer says or they are just covering their ***. 1/8 toe in is normal but I have had to run up to 1/4 toe out at one point because my caster was that far off at 4" of lift with stock arms. You need to either research what alignment angles mean and what they will do to your jeep and how it handles or just leave it to professionals. Steering along with brakes are two things you don't half ***.

Don't let a shop charge you for a 4 wheel alignment because there is nothing they can adjust in the rear so you are paying for nothing. The only thing they fan adjust is toe, steering wheel angle, and castor(to an extent)

SDC

Thanks man. Not argumentative at ll. I have a pretty good understanding of the angles and alignment stuff. I'm more just checking to see if I'm missing something. Doesn't seem like I am. At this point I'm blaming the death wobble on the loose stripped drag link jam nut. I've put about 8k miles on the lift with no issues until I upgraded the steering. The toe aligent was reccomended by JCR. I have the 242 transfer case. My only other thought at this point is that the death wobble bent the knuckles or revealed some other problem. I'll have the stuff fixed this weekend and I'll report back.

SDC

Well I got the tie rod end replaced and new nut installed. Checked toe alignment again. Set at 1/8" toe in. Camber is no longer an issue. My previous alignment was off by an inch and must have been messing with me. Tires are mow nice and straight vertical.Everything is tight. Jacked up jeep and put on jack stands. Stuck a pole under each tire and lifted. No ball joint issues. Angles are all good. Still have death wobble.

Right now the only issue I can see is the passenger side upper control arm looks kinda jacked. Might be a little bent at the axle side bushing.Still have the stock uppers.

SDC

Well I got the tie rod end replaced and new nut installed. Checked toe alignment again. Set at 1/8" toe in. Camber is no longer an issue. My previous alignment was off by an inch and must have been messing with me. Tires are mow nice and straight vertical.Everything is tight. Jacked up jeep and put on jack stands. Stuck a pole under each tire and lifted. No ball joint issues. Angles are all good. Still have death wobble.

Right now the only issue I can see is the passenger side upper control arm looks kinda jacked. Might be a little bent at the axle side bushing.Still have the stock uppers.

Pinion angle is 0
Caster is positive 9

SDC

Well I got the tie rod end replaced and new nut installed. Checked toe alignment again. Set at 1/8" toe in. Camber is no longer an issue. My previous alignment was off by an inch and must have been messing with me. Tires are mow nice and straight vertical.Everything is tight. Jacked up jeep and put on jack stands. Stuck a pole under each tire and lifted. No ball joint issues. Angles are all good. Still have death wobble.

Right now the only issue I can see is the passenger side upper control arm looks kinda jacked. Might be a little bent at the axle side bushing.Still have the stock uppers.

Pinion angle is 0 deg
Caster is positive 9 deg
Track bar is 14 deg
Drag link is 13 deg

SDC

Is anyone out there running this setup successfully?

monkeyevil

Try and swap tires front to rear. In the process check for play in your wheelbearings. Also check to see if your frameside track bar mount is tight.

k4ylr

Check tire balance too. I had a 2005 wrangler that wobbled real hard and found the right front had something like 6 grams of weight compared so 1-2 grams on the other shoes. Swapped in the spare and it went down drastically. Replaced all the bushings and torqued everything down and it was good. Stock set up, but just another thing worth checking.

SDC

Thanks for the suggestions fellas. I ended up ordering some adjustable upper control arms from Rock Krawler as well as new axle end bushings. My bushings looked a little beat and the control arm on the p-side was bent up. Once these are installed I'll adjust the pinion angle a little and then take it for an alignment. I've checked just about everything else. Fingers crossed!

SDC

just thought I would give an update on this. I ended up cancelling the rock krawler arms as they were taking too long. I ended up with upper and lower Rubicon Express adjustable control arms. I also got the RE control arm drop brackets and braces as well as new axle side bushings for the uppers.. Everything has been installed and no more death wobble. The factory uppers were worn out and bent. I think this was the main source of issues. I was able to adjust the pinion angle properly. I was also able to push the axle fwd a little to make it centered in the wheel well. I gained a good bit of clearance because of this. I was also able to get the bump stops centered better in the coil springs.