I'm posting this for a friend that doesn't off road. In his stock 2003 TJ he said it starts wobbling in the front end at around 55mph. I looked at his front suspension and nothing seems loose or broken. He took it to the dealer and they qouted him almost $200 to put on a new steering stabilizer. His does look like it's leaking. So, should a new steering stabilizer stop his wobbling? Should he check anything else? Would it be better to go with something like a Rancho stabilizer?

Thanks

Go to a parts store and get one. He doesn't need anything special. BTW, that is the reason it's doing that.

A steering stabilizer is only a band aid. Sure, it'll help and maybe even eliminate the problem, but there is something else going on under there that's causing it. My suspicion would be bad or loose ball joints. Jack the front of it up and try to wiggle the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions, if it moves, depending on how much, either tighten or replace the ball joints.

Go ahead and toss a new stbilizer on too, a Rancho replacement should only run about $0 - $50 and is very simple to install.

if nothing is loose, try rotating the tires. I had a relatively new wrangler in the shop with half worn goodyear wranglers. Thing wobbled like a motha when going over railroad tracks. Rotated tires front to rear, problem solved. This is after a few hours of chasing stabilizers, tre's, balljoints, etc. for looseness.

If it's death wobble he doesn't need a big bump to cause it. If you take a TJ on 32's with 65K miles on it, remove the stabilizer, the thing will death wobble...even if nothing else is bad.

That stabilizer is way more than a band-aid, and is why it comes with one from the factory.

1. is it just a vibration or is it full on death wobble? in either case jack up the heep, put it on jack stands, chock the rear, and make sure ALL the control arm bolts are torqued to spec. then check the trac-bar as well. tighten anything down that is not to spec. then take it for a drive.

2. if the vibe is still there the next thing i would do is pull the front d/s. if the vibe/wobble goes away then you know it was your d/s. it's either out of balance, bent, or your cv joint or ujoints are going. but the cv usually gives you the angry sparrows when it starts to go. test again.

3. if you still have the problem then jack the heep up again. this time draw a straight line under the outside edge of a tire. then spin the tire and kind of side eye and look to see if the rim is bent.

4. if the rims look okay then go ahead and rotate the tires.

if the vibe is still there i would go ahead and get your tires balanced. if that does not work then i would go for an alignment from a reputable shop.

1-4 are free and easy to do. i personally have never seen a steering stabilizer be the cause of death wobble. from what i understand you can run without if everything is setup correctly. mine was bent, i took it off and it has not caused me any issues. for some it may have. but again 1-4 are free steering stabilizers are not.

Did a spring over on my yj, on 35 inch swampers, not balanced or anything on a 12 inch wheel. Ran no stabilizer for about 2 months, no problems at all... Put 2.5 springs and couldnt keep the damn thing on the road past 35 or so... Took it home through a stabilizer on it and drives like stock again... Stabilizer should do it.

If the stabilizer is pissing oil, change it lol :shaking: :shaking:

Stabilizers are a bandaid, but when blown, they are a bandaid that can throw your front ends behavior out of whack.

Fix whats broke, take it from there.

I went over all of this information with him. Nothing looked loose or worn out so he's going to start with the stabilizer. I had the death wobble with my D60. The only thing that fixed it was the Ram assist but I think my 42" swampers were a contributing factor there.

Thanks

Stabilizers are not a bandaid when it comes from the factory with one. Most vehicles don't need them, but you can bet your ass if a manufacturer puts one on every Wrangler they sell, it is probably necessary. Remember, the manufacturers are the ones interested in saving pennies on production lines.

I guess shocks are bandaids too, until they figure out how to make springs dampen themselves! lol

Dealers put them on to help front ends make it past the warrenty marker.

Wranglers dont need them when everything is new and perfect, but as things wear and loosen up, they help keep shit straight going down the road.

They serve two purposes. Reduce impact on parts, which extends part life, and allow parts to wear farther before they become an issue.

The bandaid term is used loosely in that most problems with front ends are inherrently key component related not stabilizer related.

That said, a leaking stabilizer will cause more headache then no stabilizer sometimes.

good post about death wobble... steering stablizers are in fact a band aid or a cover to mask another problem the jeep front suspension is inherintly touchy to changes and or wear on parts..

www.tjhardcore.com

posted by: 01TJ
Post subject: Death Wobble and Caster

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I don't know if all of you are aware but I got in a pretty heated debate awhile back with some knuckleheads over on JU regarding death wobble (DW). I tried to explain my theories regarding how caster relates to DW more so than any other one variable. There were plenty of nay-sayers claiming I was on crack. But I still firmly stand behind my beliefs and today was another fine example. I'll get into that later but first let me start with my basic theory.

The reason I'm writing this thread is to help other TJ owners who are pulling their hair out trying to find the root cause of their DW. There are many "factors" that can contribute and possibly even cause DW. But... if you can rule out things like your track bar being loose, Your steering being worn out, ball joints worn out, unit bearings worn out, very out of balance tires, etc. and you still continue to have DW then pay attention because I think I know a fix for your problem.

I don't know how to effectively communicate the thoughts I have regarding the actual reason for the wobble. I'll save that for another day. But, I do know where it comes from. Well.... I "think" I know where it comes from and I think I know what fixes it. Caster adjustment along with properly set toe in adjustment. The type of steering used on stock TJ's comes with some inherent troubles. When you compress both sides of the suspension your toe in changes due to the steering configuration. This combined with an improper caster setting will cause DW. Even if everything else is in perfect condition. How do I know this? Trial and error several times.

More than once I have setup a front end and had DW. I've replaced everything in the front end that I mentioned above and still continued to have DW. Only after properly setting the caster (not to factory specs) and toe in did it go away. The flip side to this is... I've had a properly adjusted caster setting (not to factory specs) and toe in and had a track bar so loose it clunked along with bad unit bearings and never had DW. What does this tell you?

Today was another prime example of my theory at work. I have my TJ with all new front end parts, excluding a steering stabilizer, with the caster set at 6.5* with the toe in at around .25" toe in. I took it out and guess what? Crazy ass, lane changing, shit your pants death wobble! I'm not talking about a little vibe or shake. I'm talking Jeep feels like it's flying apart and wheels are hopping a foot off the ground! So what did I do to fix it?

I set my caster to around 3.5* - 4* and set my toe in to 0". I didn't adjust anything else on it other than this. I then proceeded to take it out for another test drive and guess what? No death wobble. Remember this is without a steering stabilizer too.

So what does all this mean and how does it relate to DW? This is my theory....

Caster is just an appropriate angle between the upper ball joint or king pin and the contact patch of the tire. If you have stock 28" tires 7* or whatever the stock setting is is appropriate. If you go up in tire size the distance between these two points increases. And as this distance increases the need for as much caster decreases. Is there a set change for every tire size? Probably. Do I know what that change is? no. I just know what works with 35" or 36" tires. I've found 3.5* or so works well with 35's or 36's maybe even 37's. I have a buddy who could only cure his 38" tired rigs DW with a setting of around 2*.

I know several of you are going to disagree with my theory. That's fine. That's what a discussion forum is for. There is still going to be that guy who says... "my track bar was loose and that's what caused it!" For that person I say perhaps your loose track bar caused it in your case fine. But, I know what works for me and I just thought it was important enough to share.

I'm done. Thanks for listening.

later, j

the rest of the thread. http://tjhardcore.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=512&highlight=steering+stabalizer

long live the Castor debate.....lol

I personally have never been able to fix death wobble with castor adjustments.

Its a chicken before the egg arguement. Parts will contribute to the wobble before anything else, 99.99% of the time. Whether your castor is set to have a high or low tolerance to worn parts is irrelevent.

Hmmm...well, I think I stand corrected. That makes a lot of sense, especially in tire size increase. The reason I was so adimant (sp?) about the stabilizer is because mine got bent and i had to remove it. Instant DW. Put a new one on and it went away. At the time, nothing was bent in the front end, but i did have 32" tires on it. I didn't think 32's were enough to change anything.

Sorry guys...thought I knew what I was talking about! lol