Hello I Need HELP

spikeyeagle

New member
I have an 05 TJ with a Rubicon Express 3.5" Standard Suspension System for 97-06 Jeep® Wrangler TJ & Unlimited, 33x10.50 BFG A/T, front and rear track bars, old man emu steering stabilazer and a wobble that makes my tires start skipping as i am driving down the freeway it so bad i hate to drive somtimes i had alignment, rotaion, and balance, about 30 psi in tires just need help!!

i also had the death wobble for more than a year and i have 40,000 miles on it now the wobble started about 34,000 miles
 

Could be bad ball joint.Jack up the front of the jeep and see if you can move the tire by pushing on the top and bottom of the tire.Also see if you can move it left or right without the other tire moving.There should be very little or no wiggle.

Also could be something with the drive shaft,Possible u joint problem.Get under the jeep and check the drive shaft for movement.
 

i thought that too because my 33 are on steal wheels but i threw my stock alimium wheels back on and still the same wobble thanks though
 
Mine ended up being the tires. It can be really hard to diagnose but here is a list that might help. Good luck with it.

Here's some things to check:

1) Trackbar axle bolt TIGHT, hole still round, correct size bolt, bushings/joints in good shape. Dana axle bracket is a 7/16" hole, bushing is 10mm, and bolt is 9mm. The bushing can be drilled to 7/16" to match, and new hardware installed to tighten this up.

2) Tires balanced? Super Swampers, for example, are notorious for being way out of balance. I use Centramatic dynamic wheel balancers to keep mine balanced.

3) Upper adjustable control arms to set correct castor. A good self check can be performed by placing an angle finder on the flat plate next to the shock just behind the axle tube. (Check each side.) If it's about 3 degrees below 0, you should be OK, less than that and you will likely have some trouble. Here's an example! Here's another! Another way to see what the actual angle is can be performed by placing a large socket on top of the ball joint, make sure it's sitting flat with the joint, and placing the angle finder on top. The drivers side is hard to see accurately because of the diff and the control arms. A mirror and flashlight may make it easier. The digital one works better then the needle one for this test, you can push a button and hold the reading while you extract it from back there.

4) TRE's in good shape, you may even have to disconnect the joints and move them by hand to verify smooth operation. Remember, easiest way to remove TRE's is to hit the surrounding metal piece with a BFH to loosen, don't hit the threaded end or use a pickle fork unless you are 100% sure you don't want to use that TRE again.

5) Solid lower control arms to prevent unwanted movement and flex, if you still have the factory ones they could be the problem.

6) Control arm joints tight, my RE superflex joints can be disassembled, cleaned, lubed, rebuilt, and reassembled as required for only $10 if parts are needed. Alternately I can just tighten them up with an inexpensive tool. RE told me to rebuild after tightening 3 or 4 times. The bushing on the other end can also be replaced for $10 and a few minutes work once the arm is removed.

7) Factory washers on the lower control arm to axle joint. My RE arms came with new washers, so I used 'em. They were slightly smaller in diameter and thickness them the factory, and didn't have the tapered edge to ensure correct axle alignment. Once I replaced them with the factory ones, it tightened things up nicely.

Check the joints in the steering shaft, one under the hood and one under the dash. I had one loosen up, and it took forever to find it. Felt like problems elsewhere in the steering system because it allows play between steering wheel and the rest of the steering system. I ended up replacing my intermediate steering shaft and it was good to go.

9) Wheel bearings (hubs) in good shape? Cheapest I found for my wifes TJ was about $150 at Autozone, made by Timkin, highly respected bearing company. Everybody else wanted around $200. Don't do what the previous owner (idiot!) did to hers, he only tightened the axle nut to hand tight instead of 175 ft/lbs.

10) How about your ball joints? Same goes there, a good way to check is to jack the tire off the ground and see if there's any top/bottom play.

11) Ensure upper and lower shock bushings are in good shape, I had one get cut by a sharp edge on the upper mount, allowed some unwanted axle movement before any dampening occured.

12) Last but not least...check your axle shaft u-joints. I had one that was worn, and it allowed just enough wiggle at speed that death wobble would occur if I hit a bump the right way. This was after putting 35's on, the heavier wheels prevented the system from dampening out the vibes as easily.

Basically do an inspection of every part from the steering wheel to the tire. Verify each fastener fits correctly in the holes provided with no slop. Each time you find a component worn, or loose, and you tighten or correct the problem, your alignment will be off again. Get a factory service manual or Chilton's to ensure correct torque specs. Near the end of ORO's U-turn install instructions, they give a good step by step procedure for doing a self alignment that you can follow. Get it here! I do this about once a quarter anyway just to check. Make it part of your routine maintenance as it only takes about 20-30 minutes if adjustments are needed, only 10 minutes to check.

Stock Jeeps don't have castor/camber adjustments, so many shops will only adjust toe unless you tell them specifically that you have adjustable upper arms, then they'll probably want to charge you more. An honest shop will tell you that the alignment stand may not even read your vehicle correctly, depends on the equipment they have, so talk to the manager.
From MidsouthJeeps.com
 
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The Lower Control Arm of the TJ's May or may not come with an eccentric bolt to adjust caster. There are Aftermarket and factory Eccentric bolts out there to facilitate the adjustments. Camber Can be adjusted by Replacing the upper ball joint with a DEFINED offset. this is accomplished by taking the Jeep to an Alignment Shop that is Equipped with a Total 4 wheel alignment machine. The shop needs to measure the Camber, Caster and Toe. if the Camber requires adjustments, the Correct Offset ball joint can be installed based on the Alignment Readings.
 

I saw them fix this problem on the show TruckU on speed channel the other day and they said it almost always in the sway bar or ball joints
 
I seen that show to. I think they said track bar are ball joint. Dont see how a sway bar could cause death wobble all it does is prevent the body from moving i think. I could be wrong though.
 
I have an 05 TJ with a Rubicon Express 3.5" Standard Suspension System for 97-06 Jeep® Wrangler TJ & Unlimited, 33x10.50 BFG A/T, front and rear track bars, old man emu steering stabilazer and a wobble that makes my tires start skipping as i am driving down the freeway it so bad i hate to drive somtimes i had alignment, rotaion, and balance, about 30 psi in tires just need help!!

i also had the death wobble for more than a year and i have 40,000 miles on it now the wobble started about 34,000 miles
hi m8 I was reading a report about the same thing and what the guy done was to change his front springs, after changing ball joint`s and damper arm twise which helped for a while he up graded his spring`s now all ok ?
regards Tricky
 

Most common cause I've found is a worn or loose front track bar, along with cracked bushings in the front control arms.

Are your control arms stock?

Did you install adjustable upper control arms in the rear to get the proper pinion angle for the SYE and CV driveshaft?
 
Look under the front of the jeep, from the front bumper, while you have a friend turn the steering wheel all the way to full-lock. Watch both ends of the track bar while your friend bounces the steering wheel back and forth against full-lock quickly. Look for any lateral movement in the track bar ends.
 
..........i also had the death wobble for more than a year and i have 40,000 miles on it now the wobble started about 34,000 miles

Do you have 40K miles on the Jeep or on the lift? I find it hard to believe you have worn ball joints or track bar after only 40K. :shock: 'Course, I could be wrong. Seems to me it may have something to do with your lift installation or your tires.......maybe you threw a weight or got a bum tire. My $.02 says something to do with your tires...........with 33's that's a lot of mass spinning around - gotta have 'em right!
 

Thank you all i will be tring all the things you have all told me and i will get back to you as soon as possibile i drive 5 to 10 hours, 300 to 600 miles with my jeep every weekend and will let you know for sure i live in california from fresno to hemet. Thanks ryan
 
Do you have 40K miles on the Jeep or on the lift? I find it hard to believe you have worn ball joints or track bar after only 40K. :shock: 'Course, I could be wrong. Seems to me it may have something to do with your lift installation or your tires.......maybe you threw a weight or got a bum tire. My $.02 says something to do with your tires...........with 33's that's a lot of mass spinning around - gotta have 'em right!



I HAD MY LIFT PUT ON AT 32000 AND IT STARTED WOBBLING AROUND 34000 I HAVE TRIED DIFFERNT TIRES I STARTED WITH STEEL WHEELS ON BFG 33'S THEN ALUMIUM PARNELLI JONES DIRT GRIP 31'S THEN MY STOCKS ALUMIUM GOODYEARS AND IN WHICH I GOT AN ALIGNMENT BALANCED ON ALL THREE AND THE SAME WOBBLE AND I ALSO HAD INSTALLED TeraFlex Front and Rear Adjustable Trackbar THANKS FOR YOUR HELP REALLY :)
 
The front trackbar may be new but it could still be loose. I'd check for movement at the ends using the method I described.

Did the lift include new lower control arms?

Were adjustable upper rear control arms installed to adjust the pinion for proper CV driveshaft alignment?
 

I also have a pretty serious case of DW. Some great info in this thread. :D


I'm going to go through checking everything you guys suggested here and report back.
 
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