Jeep TJ Death Wobble

[HKP7M13]

One other place to look for the cause of death wobble is the steering gear. Some times the wobble is caused by the steering system low on ps oil causing air to mix with the ps oil and foaming up. The air is compressible causing the steering control valve to self oscillate. I have seen very high mileage steering gears have wear in the pin hole in the top of the control valve where it holds the torsion shaft so that there is slack that can not be adjusted out. When this happens the steering is super light with no resistance. As others have mentioned any excess movement especially in the track bar with give you a problem. new bushings in the track bar may not help if they are not stiff enough. On my wj the slip in urethane replacement track bar bushings did not help. Used the factory press in rubber bushings and that removed the side to side slack. Properly balanced tires are also very important. Make sure the wheels have no bends or large dents causing the tire to not run true.
warped brake rotors can get the shake started with hard braking.
If it does not work hit it with a big hammer, if it breaks it should have been replaced anyway.

 

[sh00ter]

I have not read the replies, but I will tell you that the axle-side hole on the trackbar likes to get wallowed out. Replace the TB entirely with a Kevin's Offroad (if lifted) or just replace the OEM TB bushings with urethane (I think KOR also makes some for TJ) and then put in the thickest grade-8 bolt to fill the hole. You may need to weld a new plate over top the old hole and drill a new hole for the bolt if the old hole is oval shaped now.

I had this issue on a ZJ and that fixed it, although i also over time did a lot of other front end work that I'm sure was also helpful.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Crawl under the Jeep and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth ( when you turn the wheel, it works better with the engine running and only turn it an 1/8 turn back and forth constantly and just enough to move the steering slightly) and inspect everything for any movement. Even if if the parts are new, check them. Check the ball joints with a long pry bar placed under the tire and have someone pry up the tire while you watch for movement in the ball joint.

I would adjust the caster. Think of the caster like a wheel on a shopping cart and how some of those shake when you push the cart. Not enough caster on a solid axle will do the same thing.

 

[Duncandl]

Don’t do another thing until you get that hardware changed out, waste of time and safety.

 

[Chuckie]

Your post "Hitting a bump was introducing my wobble & it would wobble till I almost came to a complete stop."

"If you had bump steer, it would have jerked the wheel and then back to normal." My last sentence.

You don't have to come to a stop to make bump steer stop, it stops on its own immediately after the bump. If it jerks back and forth until you slow down or stop, you have death wobble......

" "If you had bump steer . . . "

Then surely the ATF would be interested in visiting I suspect

 

[SHANESTAY27]

90% of the time DW is caused by the track bar. Torque the piss out of the bolts and make sure bolt holes haven't been "wallered" out. Dual steering stabilizers might mask the issue but that's just covering up the root cause.

 

[Jcann]

I believe most of the time it’s steering stabilizer. You need really good ones. Also having very good shocks

 

[Capm_Spaulding]

I put a Teraflex monster trackbar on my JK back in the day and it resolved my death wobble with my 35s. Death wobble starts with something small out of sync, it’s going to be hard to chase down exactly what it is that’s causing it, so as much as I dislike this type of advice, the best thing you can do is put on heavier duty parts to prevent it from getting to death wobble stage instead of “fixing” what’s causing it. An HD Trackbar, and stiff dual steering stabilizer are a great way to start. I saw you already replaced these parts, but if they weren’t replaced with a heavy duty replacement, it won’t do much good. The monster trackbar for example is almost twice the size of an oem or aftermarket trackbar. They aren’t actually the cause of the problem, they just don’t allow the wobble to be magnified with speed which doesn’t allow the death wobble to happen.

I would be willing to bet the true cause is your tires/wheels. Even if they’re “balanced” they will still wobble a bit as they rotate, even more so unless all other components have been upgraded to offset the weight and size difference. There isn’t anything wrong with them per se, but they will still cause death wobble if you hit a pothole or get to a certain speed that throws off the balance and rhythm. Throw on an HD trackbar and I bet you’ll be rid of the issue.

 

[PBramble]

I got death wobble in a Jeep once, I ended up fixing by replacing it with a Toyota.

 

[Lee Beaittie]

There are several things that haven't been touched on, as I've helped people with this issue before.
If your front spring and shackle bushings are worn replace them, second, take it to a shop that can check your tires for being out for round, don't laugh, you'd be surprised, and have them road force balanced, and if they take large amounts of weights to balance them reject the tire and get a new one. And finally, check the front diff/axle housing spring perch for cracks.