Help with death wobble after alignment (2” Mopar lift and leveling kit)

[DrJ]

Just experienced the death wobble for the first time.

About 2 weeks ago I installed my 2” Mopar lift, 1.5” leveling kit on the front and 3/4” spacer kit on the rear. It was running great, highway speeds, twisty/bumpy roads without issue.

I installed a rubicon adjustable front track bar to center the axle and fox 2.0 TS steering stabilizer yesterday. It was running fine up to about 60 mph and on some twisty roads, again, no issues.

Today I had it aligned at Firestone (got the lifetime unlimited package). They said numbers weren’t too far out, and the tech apparently owns lots of Jeeps. Within 10 miles at highway speed and around a long corner with a bump I experienced the death wobble. It happened a couple more times at lower speeds as I limped it back to Firestone where they told me my front driver spring was installed incorrectly.

Just seems weird that it drove fine and as soon as I got the alignment this issue popped up?

It does appear however, that the top of the spring isn’t seated properly, although the upper isolator and leveling spacers are installed correctly. Also, I noticed the lower isolator that came with the Mopar kit is an exact copy of the right lower isolator (parts 68427380AA & 68342250AC respectively). Also noticed that the the driver side spring sits very close to the upper sway bar link (see pictures attached). In the install manual the isolators are supposed to be mirrored parts for the different sides, not the exact same part as it looks like I received. I did verify on the actual parts that the numbers were correct prior to install.

Did the Mopar kit somehow not have the correct isolators or did the part get mislabeled prior to being packaged?

If so, just want confirmation before I get it on jack stand without the part in hand.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Jason

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[KurtP]

Can you post your alignment sheet?

1- check/redo your spring install just because you notice it is off

2- recheck all your torque values

3- consider more caster. The mopar kit seems to be coming in well above 2” in some cases, and youve added spacers on top of that. Put bluntly, it is entirely possible (and Id guess likely) your geometry is fucked. The mopar control arms get caster back to stock specified range; additional lift makes that even worse, probably on the low end of stock at best. Add adj control arms or a geo bracket and get caster to 6°-6.5°

Check torque and alignment of tie rod and drag link just to make sure they retorqued it after alignment.

 

[DrJ]

Here is my alignment spec sheet...

just wondering why this problem came up after the alignment?

 

[DrJ]

Here is the install illustration. Maybe it isn’t correct and in fact I do have the correct isolators.

 

[KurtP]

Here is my alignment spec sheet...

just wondering why this problem came up after the alignment?

It probably just made itself known because of the way you happened to impact whatever it was. Its part black magic, dont try and understand it.

Ok- you probably want more toe in. I find i like toe in closer to .2 for highway stability personally. Other opinions may vary.

You DEFINITELY need a fuck ton more caster. Get an adjustable control arm kit and get the axles centered and caster at 6-6.5. Just watch your pinion angle on it as you do it.

Your thrust angle is ok, but near top range of acceptable.

 

[KurtP]

Again, i get alignment methodology differs somewhat person to person; but i advocate for what I do because it results in one-finger stability on the highway.

At the 8second mark ill cross a bridge expansion section with just enough angle it hits each tire individually

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...k-rock-krawler-teraflex-aev.40624/post-663417

 

[DrJ]

I’m going to get it up in the air and see what is going on with the driver spring/isolator.

Will report back soon.

 

[KurtP]

Good luck op!

 

[Reeb65]

The shop that installed my Moper lift said they would not install spacers on top of the lift because of the geometry issues. If you want more lift buy a higher lift kit.

 

[DrJ]

I added the spacers not because I wanted more lift, but because I wanted to fix the squat from the bumper/winch weight on the front end.

Took springs/isolators out and re-installed. Turns out that one of the isolators included in the mopar kit is the same as stock, I may have installed one incorrectly, but couldn’t tell once I pulled them off and compared to the original (they all got mixed even though I was trying to keep them organized).

Spring on driver side looks a bit better, but sway link is still closer when compared to pass side.

Re-torqued everything to spec.

Also the axle was about .75” off (favoring the driver side), I guess the tech didn’t center it, not sure how much this will change things now that it is centered.

Drove it on my mountain road for 10 mins but at under 50 mph without issues. Tomorrow picking up the wife from the airport so will see how highway speeds go.

So I guess if it continues, the consensus is geometry brackets or adjustable LCA’s?

 

[DrJ]

Oddly enough, it appears the fox steering stabilizer was the culprit.

To diagnose:
First I took off the adjustable trackbar and replaced it with stock, still had DW.
Next I took off the steering stabilizer and replaced it with stock, DW is GONE.

Any ideas as to why this could have been the cause? Faulty stabilizer?

 

[KurtP]

Oddly enough, it appears the fox steering stabilizer was the culprit.

To diagnose:
First I took off the adjustable trackbar and replaced it with stock, still had DW.
Next I took off the steering stabilizer and replaced it with stock, DW is GONE.

Any ideas as to why this could have been the cause? Faulty stabilizer?

Could be. No one bats 1,000; not even Fox. Check the bushings and see how it feels to manually compress it. Send it in for service. But in either case it doesnt negate the need for more caster. The damper is hiding the effects of the low caster.

 

[DrJ]

Could be. No one bats 1,000; not even Fox. Check the bushings and see how it feels to manually compress it. Send it in for service. But in either case it doesnt negate the need for more caster. The damper is hiding the effects of the low caster.

I hear you about the caster. Unfortunately I bought the stabilizer off someone on this forum, I will try and reach out.

 

[KurtP]

I hear you about the caster. Unfortunately I bought the stabilizer off someone on this forum, I will try and reach out.

Which one is it? The 2.0? Im pretty sure those are rebuildable; or just upgrade it.

GL!

 

[DrJ]

Yeah, it's the 2.0. I sent a message to the seller, will see what happens

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