I need some help getting rid of a case of "death wobble".

What has me curious is it came out of nowhere.

Set up is simple and all I need for general off road use:

'06 TJ under 14K miles.
2" budget boost.
10.5x31 BFG AT's

History:

All has been on for for a year with no troubles.

Daily commute sees me at 35-40 MPH max. (Only 4 miles to work one-way, no freeways).

Last freeway/highway driving was in February this year (hunting season ended)

Wife and son occasionally drive in town. They report no curb checks or pot hole smashes while they had her on the road.

Current:

About 2 moths ago I began feeling more vibration in the steering wheel on rough roads and railroad crossings.

Before the school year ended I asked my son to have the auto shop rotate the wheels and check the brakes all around.

Shop teacher reports the brakes are OK but the front rotors may have a little warping.

Weekend after that I needed to get on the freeway. Rolled up to speed well and felt shake after I tapped the brake. It did settle down and my first thought was rough conditions from the construction on I-10. Note the shake was not violent but definitely an attention getter.

The next day I took front rotors in and had them turned.

The following weekend I again had to get on the freeway. I entered and the shakes began as I hit about 45 MPH. They were bad enough that I took the exit ramp that was right there.

Put the front up on jack stands and checked for anything loose. Nothing. Checked for any play on the front wheels, side to side, up and down. Again nothing.

Got online. Did searches. Found these basic thoughts.

Rotors (already done)
Loose parts/play (already done)
balance (did today)
Toe-in (did today now back to 1/8" difference. NOTE: When I first did the budget boost last year I measured and it was 1/8". This morning when I put the tape to it it was a full 1/2")

Last night. Thought I would see how things were. I got on the freeway and dear God in Heaven I aimed the Jeep straight for the shoulder. The front end looked to be moving a literal 4 inches side to side and the steering wheel was doing its best to break free of my white knuckled grasp. I did not apply any brakes while slowing until the steering wheel did not fight me as hard. Then I only tapped them to bring everything to normal.

Did the balance today. First time up to 45MPH violent wobble. Just for grins I put her into 4-HI and at 45 it was time to hang on again.

Did the toe-in. Got up to 55MPH and it was a smooth ride. I then took my foot off the gas and rested it on the floorboard. Speed fell to between 45-50 and all Hell broke loose again.

Back to the house. Put the Jeep up on stands to get all 4 wheels off the ground. All weight was resting on the axles by the way. Fired her up and put her in 4_HI to see what may shake. At 50+ there was noticeable movement in the steering wheel and a felt vibration in the body.

Last thing we did was rotate the tires back to their original positions.

Violent wobble is still present.

I need help. I do hope this is enough info to get an idea of where I am at in the process of fixing this.

I'm here in Houston too and don't mind turning a wrench as you can see.

bob

Pics of yoiur front end setup would help. Did you check your track bar bushings? are they worn? The bolts have to be pretty tight. My biggest thought is how is your whole front end moving that much if you have your track bar hooked up??

u joints going out? maybe steering stabilizer

the last 2 times i had dw on seperate jeeps, both ended up being trac bar related problems (axle end bolt hole enlarging/wallowing). although both of mine had significantly more miles than yours.

the increased angle on your upper, which is a stock tie rod end style, could be on its last leg, so you could try replacing that. also pull of your trac bar on the axle end and check if the bolt hole is larger than the the bolt. this hole wallowing out is what i have had to fix twice. not fun, trust me.

Hm, its strange your getting death wobble with only 31's and 2 inches of lift. I had a little when i had 35's(different tho, Cj7), but it went away with a new steering box.
If i were you, i would think about a new steering box(AGR worked for me), change the u-joints, look at your track bar, change steering stablizer, look at tie-rods, but also look at steering shaft(its best to upgrade now). Also, i could be your body lift(thats the budget lift, correct?) Maybe try a after-market coil spring lift, not body lift. Hope i helped! :smokin:

I have an 06 TJ and I had death wobble when it was stock height.

Under warranty I had the steering stabalizer replaced and the brake rotors (bother were shot).

Best thing I can reccommend is check the following:

Steering stabalizer (if its original its probably crap take it off and check the compression)
Brake Rotors (this probably doesnt cause it but the original rotors are crap too)
U joints and tie rod ends check for play in them

Good luck.

Have an 01 TJ had bad d/wobble when bought with 82000 mi. and 33's .Bought new adj.track bar and dual stabilizers and it went away, got 35s later and it's still fine w/116000 mi. .... hope this helps.

The Budget Boost is NOT a body lift. It is spacers that go on top of springs, plus new shocks. You can toss a lot of money at this problem and never find the cause, or you can spend some time under your Jeep and try to determine what is going wrong. My first thougt is to check BOTH track bars to confirm that bolts are in BOTH ends and that they are tight and that they do not allow for movement of track bar (holes wobbled out). If this checks out, I would check tires to make sure there isn't odd wear or other issues going on. If all this checks out, check front end parts like TRE for excessive wear.

Check your toe-in. It's free, takes about 30 seconds, and cures this issue often.

Check your toe-in. It's free, takes about 30 seconds, and cures this issue often.

Toe in isn't going to change by itself, unless there is excessive wear to a TRE. Poster has been driving this Jeep with this setup for a year without issues which would indicate a problem with excessive wear, bent part, poor wheel balance, etc.

Check your toe-in. It's free, takes about 30 seconds, and cures this issue often.\


He did mention doing the toe twice if u read his opening statement. I must concur with the other's that mentioned track bar related issues, im guessing that u did not not upgrade anything else but the spacer's and shock's. u need to look at the tre at the upper end of your track bar is worn for sure from the extra load do to the raised angle of the spacer's, replace with oe part or upgrade slightly to one such as the re1600 from Rubicon express . Stabilizer's just mask problem's imo u should not need one if u have good steering. We have found that setting the caster to between 0 and 3 degree's helps greatly with lifted tj's and the death wobble issues i believe stock to be close to 7 degree's .. so track bar as mentioned above and get a quality alignment from a shop used to doing 4x4's if it still is present in start to look at control arm bushing's for play ...

but i bet it's all to do with the track bar get some one else to turn the wheels side to side just part way each way, not lock to lock and watch each component one by one ...

good luck

B ...

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I will be back under the Jeep today for a little while (hopefully longer).

Trust me I don't have money to throw around so there will be a lot of investigation prior to any spending. That's why I am here for more suggestions.

Hopefully my dad still has his torque wrench because I want to check all that to specs. If not I'll either have to find one to borrow or buy.

You are correct that the rest of the Jeep is stock. I did forget to mention I do have a one inch body lift. I did that at the same time as the BB.

I did check U-joints and tie rod ends for play when I mentioned looking for loose parts and play. Matter of fact each time i get under the Jeep or have it up for any reason I poke, prod and scan. Houston isn't known for being a smooth road town.

Pitman arm is tight and no play.

I did not see anything out of the ordinary with the track bar but I will give that the focus today.

Again thanks and I'll let ya'll know what else if anything I find.

Bob

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I will be back under the Jeep today for a little while (hopefully longer).

Trust me I don't have money to throw around so there will be a lot of investigation prior to any spending. That's why I am here for more suggestions.

Hopefully my dad still has his torque wrench because I want to check all that to specs. If not I'll either have to find one to borrow or buy.

You are correct that the rest of the Jeep is stock. I did forget to mention I do have a one inch body lift. I did that at the same time as the BB.

I did check U-joints and tie rod ends for play when I mentioned looking for loose parts and play. Matter of fact each time i get under the Jeep or have it up for any reason I poke, prod and scan. Houston isn't known for being a smooth road town.

Pitman arm is tight and no play.

I did not see anything out of the ordinary with the track bar but I will give that the focus today.

Again thanks and I'll let ya'll know what else if anything I find.

Bob

Be sure to check out that rear track bar as they have been an issue with me. Esp. bolt that connects the rear track bar to body of Jeep. I wouldn't think a 1 inch body lift would have any ill effects. Esp. if you have been driving this Jeep like this for a year. Good luck as these issues can be a PITA to figure out.

Check track bar bushings and make sure the bolts are all snug.

Check lower control arm bushings / bolts.

Check tie rod ends

Check Your Tires, Try Cross Rotating Them, See If The Wobble Moves To The Rear, Possibly A Broken Belt (assuming They Are Radial's). Or A Bent Wheel. If Your Jeep Is Anything Like Mine It Has A Couple Hundred Grams Of Weight On Each Rim, Did The Weights Fall Off?

First, steering stabalizer....its handy, but will really only mask an existing problem. If the suspension is set up correctly, you don't even need one, but anyways....

Like mentioned, check your track bar. It may seem tight, but I bet you its either 1) loose ate the axle or at the frame or 2) either of the holes are wobbled out. Try breaking them loose and then re-torquing them. Check the ends on the tie rod, the bolts may be tight but the joints might be worn out. Check the track bar mount on the frame. Make sure its tight and that its not cracked and the frame around it isn't cracked.

Check the control arms for security and integrity. Might have some torn bushings, bent or broken arms.

Check your shocks as well. Castor/camber angle might also be a factor, but I doubt that it is your only problem.

I'd be leaning more towards a trackbar/track bar mount issue, but that's just me.

\
We have found that setting the caster to between 0 and 3 degree's helps greatly with lifted tj's.

Your kidding, right?...

You said you checked to make sure everything is tight, but later in the thread you might need to buy or borrow a torque wrench to make everything is tight to speck. This brings up a question on how you determined everything is tight.

Did you ensure everything was tight by grabbing the control arms, track bar and tie rod and try to move or shake them by hand? Did you actually put a wrench on them and ensure they are tight? They are not the same, and what feels tight to the hand may in fact be loose.

The other problem areas people have already mentioned but once again the obvious would be tires, track bar, tie rod, control arms and toe.

check your track bar exactly as bigbaggedbeast says. have someone move the steering wheel back and forth (1/4 turn left, right, left, right and so on) as you are under the jeep looking at track bar and brackets and bolts. checking it in this way puts a lot of lateral force on the track bar and related parts. good luck!




\


He did mention doing the toe twice if u read his opening statement. I must concur with the other's that mentioned track bar related issues, im guessing that u did not not upgrade anything else but the spacer's and shock's. u need to look at the tre at the upper end of your track bar is worn for sure from the extra load do to the raised angle of the spacer's, replace with oe part or upgrade slightly to one such as the re1600 from Rubicon express . Stabilizer's just mask problem's imo u should not need one if u have good steering. We have found that setting the caster to between 0 and 3 degree's helps greatly with lifted tj's and the death wobble issues i believe stock to be close to 7 degree's .. so track bar as mentioned above and get a quality alignment from a shop used to doing 4x4's if it still is present in start to look at control arm bushing's for play ...

but i bet it's all to do with the track bar get some one else to turn the wheels side to side just part way each way, not lock to lock and watch each component one by one ...

good luck

B ...

To reply on the checking the tightness of the assemblies.

I do not myself own a torque wrench. I checked and my dad has one and I will be at his house this coming weekend. I was called in to work Sunday so that day fell through.

For checking tightness I did have the spec list with me and had to go best guess. Not the greatest but it is a heckofa lot better than no guess. Yes a wrench was put on everything.

Visual checks were done with the Jeep on the ground and moving the steering wheel back and forth. Moving was done at both quarter and half turn intervals. I then had my son crawl under and I did the turning while he observed. No binding, flexing or movement at mounting areas was witnessed.

While under the Jeep yesterday I did put a medium pry between the track bar and the axle bracket. Note again the Jeep was on the ground so there was not a lot of room for leverage. With one hand leverage I did get some noticable movement in the rubber bushing. How much is bad I do not know. I could compress the rubber about an 1/8th inch and no more.

If anyone can describe to me how much compression I should see in the bushings please let me know.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I won't be able to get back under until Saturday.

Have a great week.

bob

Chrysler replaced my track bar on the front 3 times under warranty. first time was 13K. All stock. 2Nd and third time it had all-terrains on it 31x10.50x15 they stopped replacing them @ 36K.
(This is on an 04' TJ with the stock MTRs)

Lift it, get rid of the stock sheetmetal control arms that are prone to flexing. Put a trackbar on that wont wear out like the stock one.

BALANCE the tires @ a good shop. sears lifetime works good. have wobble, take it back.