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Hello, death wobble

1K views 18 replies 14 participants last post by  4Bangler 
#1 ·
OK,
I've done a search, and know most of the causes, but this puzzles me. 00' TJ, running 35" (34" actual) General Grabber MT's on 8" - 4.75" BS wheels, and never a hint of death wobble. Today I picked up 36x12.5" TSL's (Sweet :D ) on 8"- 4" BS wheels. Now I get death wobble around 35-40.. My stock tie-rod is tweaked, I know that could be the cause. I have a new one coming (Should have been here yesterday :mad3: ), so I'll see what's up after that, but I'm just curious as why it suddenly appeared.

Mark
 
#3 ·
JS-Economos said:
Replace the tierod and all of the ends with Dodge ends (super beefy Moogs) and get that rig aligned. Also, I would think that the TSLs might not be helping too much, they're not the easiest tire to balance. Just my $.02 ;)
Yeah, the rod I having coming is 1.25" with the Dodge ends, and I've heard the TSL's are a bitch.... I'm just surprised it just popped up like that. I didn't know if it had something to do with the backspacing or not. I don't see why it would, but you never know. I'm sure it's not caster related, or it would have done it before. Plus the last time I checked, not long ago, all of my RE arm front bushings and joints were OK..
My RE trackbar froze up on me, and my axle's about 3/8" offset to one side, but I really can't see that being the problem either... I'll hold out until I get that tie rod on. I just want to have it fixed by Big Dogs in a couple weeks :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Well, it might not seem like much of a difference, but having the axle offset is not the best thing either; I'd try and get that remideed too.

DW sucks ass. When I first went with 3" on my XJ, the shop I had it done at never mentioned it to me, they never said anything about fine-tuning and what to look out for (thanks Tarheel 4wd :flipoff: :shaking: )

Back then, I didn't know shit about my rig. I was on the way back home, going 75 mph on I-77 heading north from Charlotte, NC to home when IT hit.:eek: I nearly died, no lie. I had DW so bad that my tires were screetching and I had tp pull off the road in 5pm traffic. Then, like a dumbass, I went back to those 'tards and had them add a POS TeraFlex Gen I adjustable trac-bar. Wasted another $200.:shaking:

So then, I reconfig'd everything myself. Added new RE stuff, which gave me 5" in the front (running 4.5" coils), SuperFlex lowers and their adjustable trac-bar. No DW since and I've given that stuff hell.
 
#5 ·
JS-Economos said:
Replace the tierod and all of the ends with Dodge ends (super beefy Moogs) and get that rig aligned. Also, I would think that the TSLs might not be helping too much, they're not the easiest tire to balance. Just my $.02 ;)
I agree. Mine was a toe/castor combo. The TSL are definatly what set it off. Don't get it aligned, align it yourself. The friggin alignment shop set me up with a nice 1" toe in:mad:
Cord
Good luck
 
#6 ·
cord318 said:


I agree. Mine was a toe/castor combo. The TSL are definatly what set it off. Don't get it aligned, align it yourself. The friggin alignment shop set me up with a nice 1" toe in:mad:
Cord
Good luck
1" in? :eek: That was nice of 'em.. Yeah, I always set the toe myself. Hell if I'm gonna shell out $40 for someone else to do that.
 
#9 ·
FWIW...

I had death wobble all over the place with my 36" TSLs for a moth or two on my Toy. After trying shimming the frontend to 8*... 5*... and 3-degrees of caster it stil did it. Jacked the truck up several times looking for loose stuff, never found anyhting. Toe was perfect the whole time, although I did change it in & out from the std. 1/8" in to see what would happen.

It went away when I had the tires re-balanced. There's a shop in town (gateway tire down toward mississippi) that does a lot of tractor tire installs and what-not, and they got them balanced right on the money. Boom. Never saw death wobble again. What clued me in was that a buddy gave me a set of bald 35s to drive on the street so I'd stop wearing the TSLs so fast... and I never had death wobbble with those on it.

When you take it in to get it balanced, make it CLEAR that it's coming right back into the bay if the front pair aren't right on the money. THat usually does the trick. Now my SAS'd TOy drives like a car. Well... a car on loud-assed, massive bias ply tires.
 
#11 ·
It's the swampers- my old 38's did the same thing. You may have an out of round one. i kept taking mine back till I got 5 round ones.
 
#12 ·
My LTBs actually wiggled a little when I first put em on my TJ. Around 35 or so they would just slightly wiggle the steering wheel back and forth. Not the death wobble, but just a little wiggle for about the first 200 miles or so. Then they wore-in just right and the little wiggle stopped.

As my LTBs are reaching the end of there life now, I get the DW, but a simple re-ballance solves it every time.

The flat spotting can also throw the tire out first thing in the morning till it rounds out. You'll be surprised just how fast your tires can flat spot. 5-6 hrs and you've worked up a nice one!:D
 
#15 ·
DWs some scary SH*T!!! Got mine with 35" MTR's had the tires re-balanced and it was a little better, but still there on some bumps. Played with the caster and nothin, played with the toe and at 1/8" toe in seems to have virtually cured it. I have the 1 ton dodge TRE and stout DOM tubes so it all seems to work as a whole now. Good Luck....and keep your belt on!
 
#16 ·
Try a good steering stabilizer...factory ones suck ass!!!
When you have your tires balanced and they spin them...look to see if they have lateral (sideways) movement. That will set off DW every time. If you bought your tires new, than get them to warr the bad ones out. No tire in that size can be balanced easily, so find a good shop with a good balancer (Hunter 9700 Road Force Balancer). Tire trueing is also a good idea if your gonna drive 90% street driving...Less resistance to roll...better ride quality.
Good Luck
 
#17 ·
This past weekend we put 35" MTRs on my Jeep for ERoCC and it lost all it's death wobble. Put 38" TSls back on it Sunday and it shakes just like normal from 30-35 mph :D


It's the tires accentuating another problem IMO. But the problem isn't so severe if a set of tires can mask it.
 
#18 ·
My YJ has driven perfect for 3k miles after my SOA and axle swap. But over the past week it has developed a somewhat sever death wobble at 40 mph. I know my tires are a little out of balance after grooving them. Other than that i cant figure it out. caster is still at 7*. All new tie rod ends. ahht he mysteries of a jeep.
 
#19 ·
Keep in mind that a very heavy unbalanced tire is way worse than a lighter tire, I'm sure your TSL are a tad heavier than the old Generals, and once they start wobbling for whatever cause, it takes a lot more to slow them down. They also exert way more nasty bad forces on you steering components, so something that could hold up to the light tire will give in to the heavy one. Also, a heavy duty tie rod can help some, my old Chebby's 38's were so egged out that they would actually bend my tierod up and down during DW, I tried to get video of it but it never worked out right, but the look on my buddies eyes from the back seat of the car in front of me told the whole story, "Dude! your tie-rod looked like a jump rope.....don't ever drive that close to me again!"
 
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