Hi all,

My betterhalf has a '05 Unlimited and she's been complaining about bad vibrations when driving down harsh bumpy roads.. I drove it and man it's bad! All of a sudden the wheel starts vibrating and the whole front end of the rig looses control. It's only when you hit harsh bumps not dips or anything like that.

I check everything and it's tight. I replaced the steering damper and no luck. I then replaced the entire track bar. No luck...

I don't want to continue throwing parts at it. Can anyone come up with a suggestion?

Thank you.

, J

the bampener, does exactly what its make implies, it will mask a problem not fix it. Death wobble can be cuased by almost anything in your front end.

this is always a good checklist
http://rubiconownersforum.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=29388

First and foremost, make sure tire pressures, wheel balances, and alignment are spot on. Play with tire pressures up and down.

park the jeep against a curb. have said betterhalf sit in the jeep and turn the wheel to the left and right (trying to turn the wheels into the curb). Lay under the front and watch for any movement of anything. Do this with power assist (aka engine running) and without. When the engine is off, listen for clunks, clicks, pops, and try to trace it down.

I'd recommend retorqueing everything. Again. Trackbar bolts need to be TIGHT. I'm talking hundreds of ftlbs. Control arm bolts, steering box bolts, EVERYTHING.

Bad tierod ends are also a culprit. Check them with a crowbar. You wont feel play by hand, you need leverage to generate the kind of forces that will show play beyond normal limits.

Check the balljoints. No 6/12 play is permissible. Also possible culprit here is the unit bearings.

In my experience, DW is caused by the following:

- poor caster angles <- Most common
- bad balance
- bad balljoints
- loose trackbar
- shot TREs
- bad steering box

Is the jeep lifted? on stock control arms? what is the suspension setup? Need more details.

Good luck, DW is a bitch and hard to solve without just throwing money at the problem.


edit: i guess that listed posted above is pretty much what I said. that got posted while i was typing. either way, good luck.

does the jeep have coil spacers as a budget lift?

A guy i work with experienced the exact same thing your explaining. Removed the budget lift and the problem went away.

Just try to trace back to what changed when the problem occurred. But it's just plain good safety to check everything the guys above mentioned.

check to see if the bolt for the track bars has been wobbled out. if so you can weld a washer on both side to fix it. that is what happened on my last tj.

In my experience, DW is caused by the following:

- poor caster angles <- Most common
- bad balance
- bad balljoints
- loose trackbar
- shot TREs
- bad steering box



x2 on these. Definitly some of the most common causes.

Only other one i've ever seen was when the steering box was actually loose on the mounts to the frame. Rare, but always a possibility.

progress?

I had the same problem, then I rotated the tires and it never happened again! I check everything like suggested above, but it seem to be the tires causing the problem. Check the bolts in the track bar, I know mine have come lose before.

One thing that might be overlooked but not uncommon could be a cracked or faulty weld on one of the brackets in the front end. I'm not sure if the Jeep gets wheeled hard or your wife maybe romps lots of curbs or something, but it can happen.

I started to experience a bad wobble after a wheelin' trip a couple weekends ago and I did everything you have done to check and replace stuff. I didn't realize that my trac-bar frame bracket weld was slightly cracked and moved ever so slightly (1/8", maybe less). Got the welder out and fixed it up and bam, wobble gone. Just a thought!

does the jeep have coil spacers as a budget lift?

A guy i work with experienced the exact same thing your explaining. Removed the budget lift and the problem went away.

Just try to trace back to what changed when the problem occurred. But it's just plain good safety to check everything the guys above mentioned.

Yep... Did a spacer on a yj for a buddy. Same thing. The alignment fixed it.