Major tire wobble and cure

[audibahn]

I experienced a major tire wobble, reminiscent of the death wobble during my LJ days. I was getting onto the highway, hit a bump going about 45mph when the front tires started shaking uncontrollably, forcing me to slow down. A few hundred feet later and back up to speed, the same wobble returned.

I recently installed the Mopar lift and adjusted the steering wheel alignment. Upon closer inspection, I noticed play in the Drag Link Adjuster Clamp. It was torqued to spec at 34 ft lbs. Here's a quick clip of the amount of play:

I had to go up to about 65 ft lbs for any play to disappear. No wobble since.

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[Stormtroopin]

I had my first experience with bump steer or dearth wobble this past week as well, ball joints are good going to check out the rest of the steering this weekend and will definitely check out the C clamp, after I put a 1 inch spacer on all around and mopar control arms it drove great for a couple months now I have issues. Even upgraded the stabilizer this past week and still feel it on the freeway in rough parts today I actually had to slow down to 25 to get the shimmy to stop.

 

[Gvsukids]

Even upgraded the stabilizer this past week

Stabilizer is a band-aid fix and doesn't address the issue.

 

[21Mojave24XR]

Majority of the times I have seen it it is usually the drag link or the track bar

 

[SanTan38]

I have seen (few you tube videos and a few articles) that say that the death wobble thing has more to do with the alignment between the track bar and the drag link. Or more so how parallel they are to each other. When you do a lift, it throws them out of alignment. From each other. At least that’s what I read.
I got the wobble on my 2022 gladiator within the first 20k miles. Changed the stabilizer and came back within the first 5k after. I wanted new tires and put 33s on (procomp at sport LT285-70-17) and no more death wobble. Not sure exactly what it changed but maybe it was the increased tire contact patch……. Or maybe it was the new tire alignment……
It’s a mystery to me… but I’ll take the win. lol.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I had my first experience with bump steer or dearth wobble this past week as well, ball joints are good going to check out the rest of the steering this weekend and will definitely check out the C clamp, after I put a 1 inch spacer on all around and mopar control arms it drove great for a couple months now I have issues. Even upgraded the stabilizer this past week and still feel it on the freeway in rough parts today I actually had to slow down to 25 to get the shimmy to stop.

I have seen (few you tube videos and a few articles) that say that the death wobble thing has more to do with the alignment between the track bar and the drag link. Or more so how parallel they are to each other. When you do a lift, it throws them out of alignment. From each other. At least that’s what I read.
I got the wobble on my 2022 gladiator within the first 20k miles. Changed the stabilizer and came back within the first 5k after. I wanted new tires and put 33s on (procomp at sport LT285-70-17) and no more death wobble. Not sure exactly what it changed but maybe it was the increased tire contact patch……. Or maybe it was the new tire alignment……
It’s a mystery to me… but I’ll take the win. lol.

Bump steer and death wobble are different. Bump steer is a single turn and turn back through the steering wheel. A result from hitting a bump and the drag link and track bar not being parallel or not being close to the same length.

Death wobble is repeated back and forth violent shaking in the steering wheel. It is not caused by an improper relationship between the drag link and track bar.

The track bar and drag link remain parallel when you lift. Both of them are lifted the same amount and they are parallel before a lift. They become unparallel if you do a drop pitman arm and leave the track bar in its stock mounting location. Or vice versa, if you drop the track bar but not the drag link connection through the pitman arm.

If a wobble goes away after new tires, you most likely had a tire balance problem previously.

 

[Stormtroopin]

Definitely have Death wobble then, would lifting the vehicle 1 inch all around really require an adjustable track bar, my alignment guy said otherwise I even mentioned it to him when I brought it in to recenter the steering wheel.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Definitely have Death wobble then, would lifting the vehicle 1 inch all around really require an adjustable track bar, my alignment guy said otherwise I even mentioned it to him when I brought it in to recenter the steering wheel.

Off center axles don’t cause death wobble.

Only being lifted 1”, I can’t imagine your axles are off center enough to warrant messing with them.

How are your tires? Miles, wear, and last time balanced?

 

[Stormtroopin]

2 yea

Off center axles don’t cause death wobble.

Only being lifted 1”, I can’t imagine your axles are off center enough to warrant messing with them.

How are your tires? Miles, wear, and last time balanced?

BFG 37 and only 2 years old mabey ill go get them rebalanced this weekend thanks for the info

 

[Gizmo]

When you lift a JT usually the end of the drag link attached to the spindle don't like to be on the new angle. My Rock Jock draglink like many are designed to be at a better working angle and will last on a lifted Jeep.

 

[Gvsukids]

Definitely have Death wobble then, would lifting the vehicle 1 inch all around really require an adjustable track bar, my alignment guy said otherwise I even mentioned it to him when I brought it in to recenter the steering wheel.

No, it wouldn't.

 

[Stormtroopin]

Soo took it in for a re alignment and had the guy check all the t-ends and track bar for play as well as ball joints, everything checked out okay and said the tires need to be rebalanced, he put in beads inside this time to prevent the weights from falling off, haven’t taken it on the hiway yet to see if it’s still gana wobble in rough patches but plan to today. He also recommended ditching the Mojave rims since there a 9 inch on a 37 inch tire and it causes issues, anyone else experience a similar problem?. I’m all for new rims Ive wanted the extreme recon bronze ones that come on the rubicon 392s but unsure if I will have the same issue.

 

[Pilsner]

I had my first experience with bump steer or dearth wobble this past week as well, ball joints are good going to check out the rest of the steering this weekend and will definitely check out the C clamp, after I put a 1 inch spacer on all around and mopar control arms it drove great for a couple months now I have issues. Even upgraded the stabilizer this past week and still feel it on the freeway in rough parts today I actually had to slow down to 25 to get the shimmy to stop.

I just went through and corrected some wobble. Got to DW for a bit. Ended up being several loose items that all added up. The last thing I fixed was ball joints. Mine showed no play when using a big pry bar under a lifted tire, but they were absolutely toast when I finally pulled them. Control arms need to be TIGHT. Both drag link and tie rod had bad rod ends as well. They were all bad by 50k miles. They just don't hold up to 37s. Bad engineering imo. Same can be said with the rear sway bar mount.

 

[Pilsner]

2 yea

BFG 37 and only 2 years old mabey ill go get them rebalanced this weekend thanks for the info

Dude, you haven't had them balanced in 2 years? Start there, hopefully that helped. I had a balance done and went wheeling for a week in CO. Had a shimmy on the way back and went back in for a re-balance. They claimed they were all off at least 4 oz. If you wheel, it is really easy to chunk them and then you are WAY off balance again. Might go beads next time.

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