Hunting down the Wobble

[rbroncotx]

Same thing happened on my JTR after a tire swap -- shop set caster back to stock spec and the shimmy showed up almost right away. Bumping it up a couple degrees fixed it for me.

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[Toothgnasher]

That is one thing I don't like about MetalCloak. Otherwise, I really like them and run their stuff. But using adjustable uppers to add caster means adjusting the upper arms to be shorter than stock. That is pulling the front wheel back instead of moving it forwards to put it back where it used to be as far as wheelbase and axle centering. With a 3.5" lift the axle is already back from where it should be, and then you have to shorten your upper arms to add caster, moving it back even more.
I assume they do that because the upper arm is cheaper, and they are just pinching pennies. But there is a reason most other kits that use adjustable or different length arms to adjust caster replace the lower front arms.
I would add a set of adjustable lower front arms from them (in fact, I did for the lift I put together for our JT).
Of course, that is just my opinion. Feel free to ignore it.

The eventual plan will be to get the "Game Changer" upgrade if I feel the rear and lower control arms could use the adjustments.

 

[WetWilly]

Well, I put on new tires, and I'd been pulling slightly to the passenger side for a couple of weeks/a month before that. So after the tires, I got an alignment done, where they dial everything back to factory spec.

Since then, I've picked up an occasional shimmy and a full-on wobble when catching a pothole, hitting the right bit of uneven highway, or some bridge expansion joints.

See-sawing the steering wheel kills the wobble off, so it's not full-on death wobble, but I'm not sure where to start looking. The track bar is good, with no play at either end; the drag link seems fine, as does the tie rod.

I've put just over 1000 km on it, as they requested, and I'll call the alignment shop today to get it back in. One thing I'll be requesting is setting castor to closer to 6º vs the ~4 they have set.

Any ideas on where to point them? As the truck was solid before the alignment, I don't think it's a tire out of balance, but I'm willing to get to a shop to check that.

When I bought mine new it started within a 1000-1500 miles I do my own wrenching so I went under and started checking bolts and nuts, from the factory some of the front end bolts and nuts were left loose. I tightened everything up and have not had the shimmy/ death wobble since.

 

[Toothgnasher]

When I bought mine new it started within a 1000-1500 miles I do my own wrenching so I went under and started checking bolts and nuts, from the factory some of the front end bolts and nuts were left loose. I tightened everything up and have not had the shimmy/ death wobble since.

Might do some of that this weekend.

Crawled under last night and could not feel any clicking or slop in teh drag link or tie rod joints. There's a little play in the steering stabilizer's mounts, but the bolts are tight. I may need a washer on the axle side to tighten that up.

 

[ChrisNLA]

Might do some of that this weekend.

Crawled under last night and could not feel any clicking or slop in teh drag link or tie rod joints. There's a little play in the steering stabilizer's mounts, but the bolts are tight. I may need a washer on the axle side to tighten that up.

You had someone rock the steering wheel while you had a hand on the joints?

Won't lie, I'm a little surprised. Roads must be real bad here - drag link was bad at 25K and tie rod ends were exhibiting wear by 40K.

Good luck on the hunt

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