death wobble returns, any more ideas?

[mattadams]

Well on the way back from the Colorado Colors Pre-Run, my dreaded death wobble returned. Coming out of the eisenhower tunnel hit a small bump in the road and the front tires began wobbling out of control, so bad that even pressing on the brakes did nothing and I ended up swerving over to a cemi truck chain-up area for it to stop. It happened two more times on the trip home. now, its got two brand spankin new tie rod ends and both appear to be in good working order still. I checked the bearings to make sure those were tight and they seemed plenty tight. Everything steering-wise (as far as tie rods, steering components, etc.) seemed plenty tight and appeared to be in good working order... The only thing I haven't done yet that i am hoping to do as soon as I get the replacement parts from superlift, is to replace the springs, replace one of the radius arms thats getting a crack in it (the crack isn't so bad that it would cause any kind of whobbling though) and while I'm down there, replace my radius arm bushings and probably replace my bearings at the same time, even though they seem to be just fine. (might as well do it all while it's all torn apart right? .)
Anyone know of a specific component that could be replaced to address this problem? I don't want to replace my whole front-end just ot keep me alive on the highway .

 

[JDraper]

Sounds like a resonance problem. What do you have for a front stabilizer?? It might be that the damping you have up there, combined with all your other suspension mods is producing a resonanace that spirals out of control. Try either adding a second (If you have one), or removing the second (if you have two) to see if it helps.

 

[mattadams]

I don't have any steering stabilizers, and was told by a quite reputable four-wheeling shop that adding one was not only nearly impossibly, but wouldn't help the wobbling issue.

 

[JDraper]

Is that wobble up and down on the wheels, or side to side?? (I'm assuming it's side to side)

 

[mattadams]

I am quite certain it is side to side. Unfortunately whenever it happens I can't really look out the window to see what its doing as I'm holding on for dear life praying I don't crash into something .

 

[JDraper]

Have you tried using a different setting on your shocks to see if it helps?? (sorry if you did in an earlier thread, I didn't see that one)

 

[mattadams]

yeah... tried all the way from 1 to 5... unfortunately its tough to duplicate when I want it to, and its completely random. Sometimes I'll just hit a slight crack in the road and that will send it out of control, other times I can hit a big pothold or large crack in the road and it will continue going straight without a problem.

 

[ACBlessing]

My car had the same problem, especially when rounding bends and hitting a rough area at the same time. New front struts fixed the problem flat out.

AC

 

[mattadams]

front STRUTS??? Oh wait, 2000...

 

[Rick]

What about the other 2 rod ends? The one going into the pitman arm and the other on the draglink.

Have you checked the mounting of the steering box itself to make sure it's tight and there are no cracks in the frame?

How are your axle pivot bushings?

Any cracks in your axle drop brackets?

 

[mattadams]

Rick, I have checked the steering gearbox and that appears to be fine, even checked for cracks where yours was at. The main tie rod links (not hte tie rod ends) appear to be in good working order... One of the axle drop-down brackets has been cracked and re-welded. I'm currently waiting on a replacement part from Superlift and I'll probably be replacing the bushing all around at the same time, since I'll have the whole thing apart.

 

[Rick]

BTW, I had a steering stabilizer on my rig until I switched to the solid axle. It may very well dampen the ocsillations enough to make the rig safer to drive.

 

[RangerX]

Originally posted by mattadams
I don't have any steering stabilizers, and was told by a quite reputable four-wheeling shop that adding one was not only nearly impossibly, but wouldn't help the wobbling issue.

Matt, can you explain WHY it's nearly impossible? Having one seems pretty mandatory to me.
Also, have you ever replaced your ball joints? I had the same problem/symptoms on an old CJ-5.
And for the real obvious, had your tires balanced lately?

 

[Dannyboy]

not to get off Matt's spotlight, but when I put my 4" kit in this weekend, should I go with a stabilizer right away or drive it and see what I think, also What do you all think of the rancho stabilizer, 1 or 2 shock.

 

[mattadams]

I was told that with the linkage and the axle setup and the super-runner steering components that they wouldn't be able to add a steering stabilizer, maybe I'll try a different shop... hmm...
as for tires balanced, yes I've tried a few different shops. I'm hoping to possibly try to swap tires with someone local at some point to see if that might be the problem. They do have some uneven tread wear, but they seem to be balanced prettywell. I think the uneven tread wear is coming from the bad springs in the front, which I should be replacing soon her (they are uneven because they slope slightly to the inside). I have had it aligned and tried different camber bushings and so forth, and that always seems to fix it for a little while, then the problem shows up again.

 

[Rick]

I didn't realize you had the Super Runner steering. That could present a problem. Also, the Super Runner steering hasn't been considered the most reliable way to go. Do you still have your stock pieces? It would be interesting to compare.

 

[mattadams]

unfortunately I got rid of the stock pieces..., although its my understanding that with the superrunner steering you use the stock tie rods and if you go without it you use different tie rods, that is probably incorrect though . Either with, I've ogt the superrunner and that uses the stock tie rods and tie rod ends. I suppose I could tell Ryan to bring his Explorer over so we could compare, since he's got the standard (not superrunner) steering components... we could do that when he's helping me swap out my front end LOL.

 

[AlaskanJack]

I know this is old but I just wanted to see what the answer was on this.

I am also having the same issue. And it seems like I am having the same wear and broken parts as you had. My drivers axle drop bracket had cracked, coils had settled(replaced now), idler arm bushingsworn(replaced), bearings tight, uneven tire wear, I have a RA bushing that could probably use replacing, I have a lot of play in steering wheel and so I just got a salvage steering gearbox to go in.

But I get same thing for no apparent reason the death roll shows up. If I slow down it goes away and I continue on. Sounds like it will get worse, so I want to address it now. So when I drive to Moab down the Alcan, which has many bumps, I don't go wandering off the road.