[twistedtj]

I am in the same boat with mine. I put in a used Currie D44 axle, Currie HD steering system, new Allied beadlocks and now have the dreaded death wobble at about 35MPH.

The difference from then to now besides the axle is that I didnt re install the stabilizer, took out the sway bar, and dont have the bb's in the tires.

My caster is 5 degrees. I will take peoples advice and maybe try to put it at 7 degrees.
Where should the tow be? I believe you want it to be a tad negative correct?

I may also put the shot glass of bb's back in too. I normally dont drive it on the street any more, but on the nice days it is nice to just drive it to work 5 miles.

 

[geberhard]

same thing here. I think caster I think caster adjustment is not doing anything for me at all. I am also not runninga stabilizer. twisted, what do you mean by "Where should the tow be? "

I tried a few combinations to adjust the caster with shims: 4, 7, 9 and even down to 2 degrees on the caster angle. No change, WTF!!! I even took the hubs apart to check if for whatever reason the hub rings came loose or whatnot, and they were fine. I am going to open one up again, and see what is the status of my bearings (I had just replaced all new bearings and seals), if that is the case.

I tried adjusting toe in, and no change, WTF X2!!!! When I am driving, and look at the tire, I can see the front tires are slightly wobbling. I tried using other tires, and have the same problem, so that eliminates balancing, etc. Any ideas? It happens once in a while, no idea why, I think it may be death wobble since it is worse sometimes around 30-40 mph, and eventually "kind of disappears" at higher speeds.

What can I do? Any suggestions? Seems that a lot of people have issues with the Ford 44's...

 

[twistedtj]

Well the tow has to be at I think 0.30. Caster has to be set at max and tow to be set at min.
I looked at mine and seems the knuckles may have been welded at a greater angle than the spring perches. If that is the case, I am at 7 degrees.

I havent really messed with my tow in/out settings too much.

I was thinking of putting on hydraulic steering or at least the hydro assist. I think this will eliminate the death wobble, because I dont believe that it will pull that ram back and forth like just the gearbox. Right?

Also it is nothing to do with the Ford axles. It is the design of the TJ front end for some reason. When I first put my 4.5" RE short arm on, I got the death wobble doing 60 MPH. I thought the death wobble was going to kill me. Once I got the long arm I never had problems. Then I went to my beadlocks with grooved SX's and got minor wobble, but with the bb's, sway bar and stabilizer I was ok.

 

[geberhard]

Ah, I see what you are talking about "tow in/out" it is actually "toe" in and out ;D Hmm as far as the frnt of the TJ, I do not agree with that, I am running the 44 on a YJ, but other guys are having issues in different rigs as well, YJ, CJ, Toy, TJ, XJ, etc. I think there must be a "magic" setup (i.e. toe, caster, camber, etc), that would work for all or most and not give the wobble. There are many factors here, so finding ones that are working for some would be great. Very few people are having issues with the D60 setup, but again, very few with front 60's are driving their rigs on the street at all anymore.

Gui

 

[billmtnman]

do not increase your caster, it will only aggravate the problem.Set your caster to 4 degrees for 33" or taller tires.

 

[pnut333]

Billmtnman, you are way wrong. Increasing castor increases straight line stability (to a point, but we are no where near that, which is above 15 degrees). 4 degrees was NOT enough in my D44 (not HP) swap into my CJ7 to maintain proper stability. I run 7 degrees now and all is good. You can never say with modified Jeeps "xxx degrees is what you need to run for xxxx". EVERY Jeep even with same setup is different, and each needs to be tuned individually. My 2 cents




Keep 7 degrees. IMHO, if you KNOW (double and triple check at a shop) you have 7 degrees, this doesn't sound like the root cause.

 

[NORCALtrav]

Did you check to make sure the your drag link and track bar are not bent at all? Also did you check the u joints? Clips holding the driveshafts to the yokes, and make sure those are tight? These are basics, but sometimes skipped over for bigger things.

 

[cisco]

the problem was the BB's. this past weeknd i pulled out half the bb's. i had 16 oz in them now i have 8 oz. the difference is dramatic. now i just get a slight( very slight) shimmy at about 50 mph. if i get the energy i might break em open again adn try 6 oz. but i am defintely able to live with this. BB's are very funny. before i put mine in i heard several people running 12-18 oz on tire sizes from 33-38. some had good results and some didn't. i have found that you can put too much in a tire. i guess it is like everything else on a jeep. specific to the jeep and driver!

 

[pnut333]

Just curious, why not balance them the "normal" way with adhesive weights, etc?

 

[GoingOffRoading]

Just curious, why not balance them the "normal" way with adhesive weights, etc?

Because over the life of the tire, with sticky weights you have to keep rebalancing the tires. Not to mention they fall off. With BBs or some of the other methods, you throw them in and forget about it.

nice DW writeup

http://www.nagca.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8730&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

 

[billmtnman]

pnut333,castor is the very thing that makes death wobble possible,watch shopping cart wheels.My yj runs 44hp,10 inches lift 37 x 12.5 and 1 degree of castor, it is stable.I agree totally,different vehicles do need different setup.

 

[twistedtj]

I just put in 3/4 shot glass of BB's in mine. I dont have a small scale so I dont know how much that is. How much is 8 oz equal too?
I still get the mad wobble at about 30-35. However I did find out the joint at the pitman arm was worn out. I replaced it but havent had a chance to retest with that and the BB's. The other thing I noticed is my toe in is 1/2 inch different from front to back, so I have to change that to be about 1/8 different. Once that is done I will retry and post up to help others see results.

Are you running a sway bar and steering stabilizer? I am not.

 

[twistedtj]

OK................

I replaced the worn parts that I found such as the part on the drag link that connects to the pitman arm , the track bar joint that connects to the bracket on the frame, adjusted the toe in/out, put BB's in the tires, etc etc etc.
Take it for a test drive thinking it wont do it and I STILL get the mad wobble at about 35. :mad3: :mad3:
WTF?

Any other suggestions? It is not a steet Jeep anymore and I know that, but if I have to drive it on the road for any reason, I can not go over 30? That sucks! There has to be a solution. Anyone?

 

[Doby45]

http://centramatic.com/New_Catalog/300series.php

For $200 a set you can not beat them. I have been running them on my TJ with 33s for the past 5 years.

 

[twistedtj]

FINALLY FIXED!!!!!
My remedy was (after fixing the worn components) 3/4 shot glass of bb's in each tire, adjusted my toe in to be about 1/8 toed in, and put a steering stabilizer on.

 

[pnut333]

quote:
"castor is the very thing that makes death wobble possible,watch shopping cart wheels.My yj runs 44hp,10 inches lift 37 x 12.5 and 1 degree of castor, it is stable.I agree totally,different vehicles do need different setup."

I agree completely. Castor (lack of it) IS what typically causes death wobble. I am stunned you can run 1 degree safely and have it stable. I also know people's opinion of "stable" and "drives straight" vary wildly, especially with Jeepers.

Cheers!

 

[geberhard]

Twisted, could you post pics up on how you setup your steering stabilizer in the 44, and what kind did u get? I may go in the same direction. Did u fill the bb's through the tire valve, or unsetted bead and throwed the bb's in?

THX,

Gui

 

[twistedtj]

Twisted, could you post pics up on how you setup your steering stabilizer in the 44, and what kind did u get? I may go in the same direction. Did u fill the bb's through the tire valve, or unsetted bead and throwed the bb's in?

THX,

Gui

Here is my setup. for the stabilizer I took my old one I had on my D30, a Superlift stabilizer. Then I just took an old bent drag link, cut the section where the stabilizer bolted to, rounded the top and welded it to the new drag link so that the stabilizer was centered when the Jeep wheels were centered. You can also use some 1/2" or 5/8" flat stock and drill a hole in it to make something similar. You can also get a bracket kit for like $30 from Currie enterprise, but I wanted to do it now and with what I had was free, that is always better.

As for the bb's I tried the valve stem to save some work, but they wouldnt fit. I broke the backside bead and put them in there that wau. I broke my bead, by laying the tire on the ground, put the bottom of the hi-lift on the edge of the tire near the rim and proceeded to jacked my truck up and did that in two spots and it came free.
Good luck.

 

[geberhard]

Twisted, thanks for the info and pics

Gui