Trying to cure a light case of death wobble

Well it was up front till I rotated 3 weeks back or so . Just had a lot on my plate lately. Our land lord sold the house we were renting and gave us a 23 day notice to vacate.kinda turned our lives upside down.

 

I had a small local shop mount and balance my tires. They did well. Sometimes the weights fall off and dick everything up tho. I've had to rebalance mine one time.

 

Alignment issues, pot hole damage, losing wheel weights or suspension wear could cause tire imbalance over a period of time. In a worst case scenario, your egg-shaped tires affecting 60mph might not be able to be balanced or won't stay balanced long.
Too bad about the landlord issues.

 

A little off subject. But Todd @TJ_abuser . This too shall pass. Just a minor bump in the road right now. Stay focused on the positive. Probably a level gravel free paved driveway in your future. A garage would be awesome....Just saying dude. Life is strange.....

 

Thanks bob

 

@TJ_abuser . .

 

I initially replaced the steering dampner with a more stout aftermarket product which reduced my 2007 ck DW but some remains although its not as severe as before. I like the pict of the TB bolt - an issue I long suspected : being sae bolt hole with metric bolt from factory. But mine is spec tight as are all components fasteners. Still some dw at times esp highway elevations and drops.

 

I have had the death wobble in 2 jeeps. I find (the hardest to repair of course) that it is always a broken ball joint or worn out ball joint...IF..the obvious is checked and good. Like tie rods, tire balance, wheel hubs.

 

Ok. Thanks gents for all the comments. Tires are in good balance (spin) as in most all shops today; Ive considered the front shocks but typically when shocks go bad the ride suffers dramatically and thats not DW; everything front end components are tight! Im not sure the PS on a 2007 Wrangler is electronically assisted; Anyone know for certain? Ive been under this jeep many times looking for loose components and found none. Thats why I tried three different shops.
Still looking. Keep suggestions coming. Something is bound to work. Thanks again.

 

Hi again, I have been on several forums for jeeps dancar. My hobby is "Tinkering". To qualify myself would sound like bragging. Think about this? My Honda CR-V had 6,000 miles on it when I bought it. It was in the Sandy Hurricane flood. I drive it today. The problem with a used (even worse,well used) vehicle is everything wears. As a mechanic, multiple problems can mimic each other or exacerbate the symptom. On your jeep I would start at the cheapest/free inspection.
1. Are my tires balanced-do you have "Slime" in them-do you have a separation in the carcass?
2. Wheel hub play, how much?
3. Track bar play, how much?
4. Steering damper, where is the soft spot?
5. Control arm bushings, worn or worn out?
6. Alignment is Toe-in only, but have you bashed the axle so hard that you wacked the camber or castor out of spec?
7. Tie rod ends, how much play?
8. Drag link end, how much play?
9. Steering box pitman arm output shaft play, how much?
10. Ball joints, how did you check them, very weak part on a jeep!

Add up the slop in a well used jeep front end and you have oscillation's of varying degrees of intensity that eventually you experience as the "death wobble". I have seen these front ends just worn severely and some just worn out. I've heard, "I drove it to the grocery store, it drives OK". However that is why death wobble happens at certain speeds. The oscillation from one broken front end component--or-- the COMBINED oscillation's of many badly worn components manifest themselves.

 

A loose nut behind the wheel ? Lol

 

I liked the control arm suggestion. FYI, a steering box has a worm gear in it and a "follower" rides in the worm gear grooves. There is an adjustment screw that you can adjust the "Follower" deeper down in the groove of the worm gear. I was rebuilding a 1966 VW Westfalia and on the way home almost lost control of it because of the "Death wobble". My friend a VW mechanic told me to tighten the adjustment screw down on the steering box then back it off a 1/8 turn and walla fixed. That box can also have worn out pitman arm shaft bushings.

 

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Im waiting for good spring weather here in tx so i can get under and look into the steering box possibility. A good (shop owner) friend suggested that also.
We'll see.
-3/2020

 

Ok, I haven’t checked this thread since I thought I had found the problem being the wheel bearings. I noticed a few posted that it could have been multiple things, so let me tell you all that happened and what I did that fixed it. About 2 months after I got the Jeep I started to experience death wobble. The first thing I checked was the u joints. They were most definitely bad and in need of replacing so I did all of them, and the wobble seemed to go away for a couple of weeks. Then I messed with the wheel bearing, there was play in that as well so I replaced that. Then the wobble was gone. Actually, I would still experience a little bit of wobble but it always happened at the exact same spot while driving. I also had something squeaking in the sus pension and asked somebody to help me point it out. He said it was the lower track bar connection. After tightening the bolt, even though the squeak was gone the wobble remained and I remembered one of the earlier posts on this thread mentioned the track bar. I figured since the previous owner put a 4 in. Lift on it and the track bar still looked like the original, I’d replace it. I got a rubicon express adjustable track bar and installed it. I haven’t had a wobble since.

So just to summarize, I had multiple things contributing to death wobble. The axle shaft u joints, the wheel bearing, and the track bar.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Im following all inputs. Thanks. However, on my '07 wrangler suspension has been checked and rechecked at five different shops, dealers and independents, as well as Ive been underneath also. Nothing shows wear, not loose. 77k miles on the jk and its solid. We just cant find suspension components needing replacement. I did replace the steering dampner almost two years ago w aftermarket heavy duty one. Helped just a little. Still wobbles when I hit a pot hole. Just put new rims and tires on. Haven't tested or experienced wobble with these. Only driven twice since then.
I really don't think tires rims has anything to do with it. Just relaying info. Still searching.
Steering box - maybe? As mentioned in earlier post. But does anyone know?

 

Sounds like you really have a serious issue. You will probably have to fix this one on your own. I thought I would throw this in:https://www.extremeterrain.com/wrangler-jeep-death-wobble.html

 

A "light case of death wobble" is like being sort of pregnant. I've experienced the real thing, started by a one-wheel impact at road speed; it is a real puckering issue. Replacing the steering stablizer solves the problem; I'm on the 3d one in 115k miles.
The OP sounds like he has a balance/broken belt/tire out of round issues. If the new tires/rims don't solve it, then it is a mystery.
Moon

 

Need more info on your Jeep. Does it have a lift? If so, check the front end. If it looks like one tire is sticking out past the fender further than the one on the opposite side, you might need a new track bar. My Jeep had a lift installed on it before I bought it and they left the stock track bar in. There was nothing wrong with it, the problem was the stock track bar was too short for the lift and was throwing my alignment off. That’s another thing you can check is your alignment. Or it could be as simple as your tires need balancing. Hope your eventually find the problem.

 

steering stabilizer does NOT solve the problem, it masks it. Like spraying WD-40 on a squeaky door, eventually it will come back. You said yourself you are on your 3rd one. My Jeep has over 140,000 miles and still has the original one. There is a guy on YouTube who is an expert when it comes to death wobble, he says that the biggest mistake Jeep owners do is buy heavy duty (or any) steering damper thinking it fixes the problem. I have even had other Jeep mechanics tell me the same thing. Lastly, I have already posted an update and said all that was wrong with it. My u-joints were shot, front passenger wheel bearing was bad, and the track bar was too short. Also, forgot to mention that somewhere in there I replaced the pitman arm tie rod end.

here is a link to the death wobble expert video. It helped me with my case and I hope it will help you with yours
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t90dQQ9Q26E
If the link somehow does not work the name of the vid is “how to diagnose death wobble” by D&E in the garage.