Tire imbalance or death wobble?

[gearhead22]

Tires have been rebalanced. Seems better, will report back when I can get some more drive time.

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[Zachanadandy]

There's no such thing as "less severe death wobble". It's either a slight shake or it's death wobble that feels like the front end is going to rip off and the only way to stop it is to slow down. I'd try 1/16" toe out. Mine had a slight steering wheel shake over certain bumps and that cured it for me. Steersmarts and a few others recommend slight toe out and I figured it was free to try. No I'll effects on handling and I drive my JTM harder in corners than most people. I also find replacing the factory metric track bar hardware with 9/16" grade 8 3" bolts helps tighten things up. The 9/16" is slightly larger than the metric hardware but fits without drilling telling me the bushings and mounting holes are larger than they need to be for stock hardware.

 

[Zachattack50]

When you installed your control arms and track bars, did you have the truck sitting on the ground? Sometimes people overlook that and torque things with axles hanging, causing a preload effect that can be inconsistent. My experience with beads is all positive for what its worth. Two different sets of 37's, on true bead lock one factory wheels, with no issues.

 

[gearhead22]

There's no such thing as "less severe death wobble". It's either a slight shake or it's death wobble that feels like the front end is going to rip off and the only way to stop it is to slow down. I'd try 1/16" toe out. Mine had a slight steering wheel shake over certain bumps and that cured it for me. Steersmarts and a few others recommend slight toe out and I figured it was free to try. No I'll effects on handling and I drive my JTM harder in corners than most people. I also find replacing the factory metric track bar hardware with 9/16" grade 8 3" bolts helps tighten things up. The 9/16" is slightly larger than the metric hardware but fits without drilling telling me the bushings and mounting holes are larger than they need to be for stock hardware.

I’ve thought about going toe out to try. I did order the 9/16 bolts. They just showed up so will be installing them.

 

[gearhead22]

When you installed your control arms and track bars, did you have the truck sitting on the ground? Sometimes people overlook that and torque things with axles hanging, causing a preload effect that can be inconsistent. My experience with beads is all positive for what its worth. Two different sets of 37's, on true bead lock one factory wheels, with no issues.

Technically yes but no it wasn’t on the ground. I had the axle on jack stands while everything was torqued and the load of the truck resting on the suspension.

 

[gearhead22]

There's no such thing as "less severe death wobble". It's either a slight shake or it's death wobble that feels like the front end is going to rip off and the only way to stop it is to slow down. I'd try 1/16" toe out. Mine had a slight steering wheel shake over certain bumps and that cured it for me. Steersmarts and a few others recommend slight toe out and I figured it was free to try. No I'll effects on handling and I drive my JTM harder in corners than most people. I also find replacing the factory metric track bar hardware with 9/16" grade 8 3" bolts helps tighten things up. The 9/16" is slightly larger than the metric hardware but fits without drilling telling me the bushings and mounting holes are larger than they need to be for stock hardware.

Did you try toe in? What differences have you noticed?

 

[Zachanadandy]

Did you try toe in? What differences have you noticed?

It was set at 1/16" tow in like most recommend and it had a steering wheel shake over some bumps at certain speeds. Tried the toe out and it doesn't shake at all over the same bumps. All the other mods were already on before the toe change. The handling feels the same to me so it's a win win. No drawbacks and eliminated the shake.

 

[gearhead22]

It was set at 1/16" tow in like most recommend and it had a steering wheel shake over some bumps at certain speeds. Tried the toe out and it doesn't shake at all over the same bumps. All the other mods were already on before the toe change. The handling feels the same to me so it's a win win. No drawbacks and eliminated the shake.

I may try that just for the hell of it

 

[gearhead22]

After putting a few more miles on since the rebalance it definitely still has a shake around 52-55. Not nearly as bad but it’s still there enough to move the wheel back and forth. It didn’t do it last night on my way home which is weird.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I may try that just for the hell of it

It's free and 5 minutes with a 15mm wrench/socket.

 

[gearhead22]

After putting a few more miles on since the rebalance it definitely still has a shake around 52-55. Not nearly as bad but it’s still there enough to move the wheel back and forth. It didn’t do it last night on my way home which is weird.

Also the road force numbers are as follows
RF started at 29 they got it to 11
LF 18
RR 19
LR 18

Not sure what this shake is from… happens are 52-57. Physically moved the wheel back and forth

 

[gearhead22]

Definitely at a loss. Not sure if they still aren’t balanced right or if it’s something else. Just not sure what else it could be?

 

[gearhead22]

It was set at 1/16" tow in like most recommend and it had a steering wheel shake over some bumps at certain speeds. Tried the toe out and it doesn't shake at all over the same bumps. All the other mods were already on before the toe change. The handling feels the same to me so it's a win win. No drawbacks and eliminated the shake.

I decided to try toe out as opposed to the toe in I’ve been running. I ended up with 3/32” toe out as opposed to the 1/16” toe in I had been running. I noticed a few things pretty quickly. There’s a road I travel daily that has a decent crown to it. Prior, to go straight down the road, it required me to position steering wheel to be quite a bit left as the crown wanted to pull me right (also had to overcome the sloppy jeep steering). With toe out, the jeep tracks much straighter down that road. The steering wheel requires only a slight shift to the left. Also the steering feels a little more responsive in the sense that smaller movements result it direction change where as before I would need to turn the wheel more to get the same response. Driving down the highway feels similar, might track slightly better. I don’t notice any negatives, and I think overall it just feels better. I will keep it like this for some time and see what my long term experience is.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I decided to try toe out as opposed to the toe in I’ve been running. I ended up with 3/32” toe out as opposed to the 1/16” toe in I had been running. I noticed a few things pretty quickly. There’s a road I travel daily that has a decent crown to it. Prior, to go straight down the road, it required me to position steering wheel to be quite a bit left as the crown wanted to pull me right (also had to overcome the sloppy jeep steering). With toe out, the jeep tracks much straighter down that road. The steering wheel requires only a slight shift to the left. Also the steering feels a little more responsive in the sense that smaller movements result it direction change where as before I would need to turn the wheel more to get the same response. Driving down the highway feels similar, might track slightly better. I don’t notice any negatives, and I think overall it just feels better. I will keep it like this for some time and see what my long term experience is.

If it's going to be a problem anywhere, it will be tire wear. Look for "feathering" across the face of the tires. If you see or feel none, you're fine.
Run your hand across the face of the tire left to right, then right to left. If it's smooth one way, but catches the other, it's a problem. If it's fine both directions, you're good to go.
Normally the only time you need toe out is when you have a large change in scrub radius - wheels, spacers, much different tire diameter, that sort of thing.

 

[Camaroboi13]

It was set at 1/16" tow in like most recommend and it had a steering wheel shake over some bumps at certain speeds. Tried the toe out and it doesn't shake at all over the same bumps. All the other mods were already on before the toe change. The handling feels the same to me so it's a win win. No drawbacks and eliminated the shake.

Now this has me wondering… with my Metalcloak HD steering components, I get the shimmy for the first few hundred miles or so after greasing, then it quiets down. I’m wondering if the grease is causing some kind of change in geometry, just enough to mess with the alignment. Whether it’s pushing out the drag link just a hair, or moving the toe ever so slightly. It seems far fetched, but literally every time I rotate tires and grease all the joints, I get this same little wobble.

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