01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 A friend of mine bought a used 93 XJ for 800 bucks and got a 4.5 in lift, and 2in spacer/shackles. Before he had the lift there was no death wobble at all, but after the lift when going on flat pavement the jeep is fine, but as soon as you hit a pothole, the death wobble kicks in, and its BAD! So far he has gotten the front LTB's balanced, and we replaced the front tie rod ends with a heavy duty tie rod also. Its just very strange. We would like to take it down from Dallas to Nacogdoches for school and to wheel at Shiloh Ridge, but that wobble is keepin it in one place. I had read about track bar issues and play in that. I highly doubt that its bushings, because they were fine before the lift. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! Here are some pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Death wobble in the steering or whole thing shaking ? I assume he checked the spacers and shackles ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magregor Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 There are some nasty angles on the steering linkage! You might want to modify the pitman arm with an aftermarket dropped one...That would be my first try... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 Death wobble in the steering or whole thing shaking ? I assume he checked the spacers and shackles ? No like the whole thing shakes. Its scarry as hell the first time we felt it. Cause it really throws you around, and the wheels are visibly shaking side to side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Death wobble is not common to these rigs. Every Jeep Cherokee I've dealt with never had the issue. I wish I could offer some info on this but I really have no idea where to start. It looks like someone forgot to do the drop pitman arm on that... That's a sick Jeep though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 (edited) No like the whole thing shakes. Its scarry as hell the first time we felt it. Cause it really throws you around, and the wheels are visibly shaking side to side Wow. How solid/high quality are those shackles ? They can allow wandering, vibration, bump steer etc. Track bar ? That's in addition to the suggestions above. Also, check this out as a starting point. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/death-w...ed-help-788227/ Edited September 10, 2009 by GoPathyGo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Do us a favor to help us help you. If you can, take some in depth pictures of the suspension. Maybe someone will notice something out of whack or be able to give a few pointers. I can't tell from the pictures how things are set up and the quality of the components like GPG said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookie Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Do us a favor to help us help you. If you can, take some in depth pictures of the suspension. Maybe someone will notice something out of whack or be able to give a few pointers. I can't tell from the pictures how things are set up and the quality of the components like GPG said. While you are at it, take good pics of the front end geometry. Death wobble usually comes from the front end. What is the castor set at? Some closer pics of the drag link and tierod in relation to each other would help also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 this is quite comon on 'rokees that with lift. if there is ANY wear in the TRE's you'll get death wobble. I have changed them in 'rokees that were "good" but after changing them the death wobble was gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 Thanks guys for all the help on this issue, yall are even more helpful than some of the member on NAXJA! Yet another showing of how helpful the NPORA family can be The lift if im not mistaken is a 4.5 in Rough Country, and there is a seperate 2in spacer kit (composed of spring spacers in the front and shackles in the rear) The death wobble is in the FRONT, which makes it even worse! Driving at 45 and then having this thing shake like crazy, almost me me poop myself! I am really begining to think that its a pitman arm, because the lift is a 4.5 in, and that may not require a drop arm, but since the spacers and shackles were added, that may well be the root cause. And 87 pathy, what do you mean TRE's Im new to this whole jeep and sfa stuff. Pictures, I will try to do my best to get some, this is a split project of sorts between a few friends, and one of the brothers and me are here at school 3 hours away from the jeep, but the brother at home may well be able to take some quick shots and send them to me, and ill post them up. I told jeremy the one at home, to try and bolt up the stock tires and see if that helps out with the shaking, although the ltb's have been balanced already. After that we could try and take out the spacers and shackles, but hell whats the point of that? If that fails then we will either custom make a pitman arm drop, or order one or something. I cant explain how helpfull yall have been so far, my friend is impressed with the quick replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 We love you andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 We love you andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 TRE = Tie Rod Ends. I bet you a dime to a dollar thats your problem and they will continue to wear out quickly until the steering geometry is addressed. check the one on the fram end of the pan hard bar. Then check all of them on each tie rod end. Just put your hand around them so you can feel them good, have somebody bounce the steering wheel back and forth really hard and check for ANY movment. (1mm = no good) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 TRE = Tie Rod Ends. I bet you a dime to a dollar thats your problem and they will continue to wear out quickly until the steering geometry is addressed. check the one on the fram end of the pan hard bar. Then check all of them on each tie rod end. Just put your hand around them so you can feel them good, have somebody bounce the steering wheel back and forth really hard and check for ANY movment. (1mm = no good) We already replaced them like 2 weeks ago, and the jeep is just sitting there, cant blame us, cause we dont want to die LOL. Im workin on getting those pics STAT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 which ones did you replace? there are are 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 which ones did you replace? there are are 5 How could there possibly be 5 tie rod ends? We replaced the tie rod with a heavy duty one, the ends that go on that tie rod, those 2 are the ones we replaced. Pics will be up later tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 How could there possibly be 5 tie rod ends? We replaced the tie rod with a heavy duty one, the ends that go on that tie rod, those 2 are the ones we replaced. Pics will be up later tonight. 1 at the pitman arm - 1 at the drivers side knuckle. 1 at the "Y" - 1 at the knuckle thats 4. add in the one at teh frame (pan hard bar).. = 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 WOW, I really dont have a clue what im talking about but u sound like you do lol. ya just the 1 at the y and the knuckle are what we did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I'd start with the one at the frame. typically "death wobble" is due to bad trak bar or pan hard bar (same thing, different term) busings or connections. Like i said, I'd done this a few times on 'rokees. (lots of friends have them) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOA Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 (edited) http://www.greatlakes4x4.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6 Edited September 10, 2009 by DOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 11, 2009 Author Share Posted September 11, 2009 Okay so here are some quick pics, it was raining at the time they were taken. The dark black is the tie rod end we replaced Same in this pic the dark black tie rod end is what we replaced One more- the new tie rod and ends I know the pics are small its something with the camera but if you can specify what places to take pics of I can get them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 there does seem to be a bit of angle on everything there, gotta be some kind of drop arms for SOEMTHING. I'd be amazed if it's alligned correctly personally as well. I'd start with the one at the frame. typically "death wobble" is due to bad trak bar or pan hard bar (same thing, different term) busings or connections. Like i said, I'd done this a few times on 'rokees. (lots of friends have them) Have to give that idea the big thumbs up, see it alot on Rams myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magregor Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Here is what I would start with: Dropped Pitman Arm Dropped Pitman Arm#2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted September 11, 2009 Author Share Posted September 11, 2009 Okay so a few things have surfaced. We asked these same questions on a XJ forum, and we basically have a solution. There are a few things we have to buy. First off, A drop pitman arm, secondly an adjustable trac bar, and thirdly adjustable front upper and lower control arms. All that comes to like $550 dollars. But hey when you think about it, this jeep was bought for 800 bucks, with a broken tcase and missing front driveshaft, and they we got 5 33x13.5x15 ltb's mounted on rockcrawler wheels for 350 bucks, and a lift for 800 bucks, fixed the tcase for 100, and found a driveshaft for 50 bucks and you have a badass wheeling rig for $2650 Thats a helluva deal, and the cost has been split up! All the while we have done all this work ourselves and gained a great deal of knowlege and we are going to have an unstopable wheeling rig! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 thirdly adjustable front upper and lower control arms. Call me screwy but we are working with a SOLID AXLE truck here right? Or are we using different terms for things that may have multipule names? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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