Trying to get my Jeep to go into a full out Death Wobble so I can capture it on camera... I got nothing more than a good shakeup. Gives you a good idea as to how damn loud my mudders are though
Dry Steer Test For Death Wobble: 2004 Jeep TJ Sport
This is a dry steer test for diagnosing a case of "death wobble" on my 2004 Jeep Wrangler Sport after the installation of a Teraflex 3" suspension lift. There seems to be some movement in the draglink-tierod linkages and tie rod ends. But this looks minimal to me... track bar seems to be solid, very little movement at either end. Ball joints are good, unit bearings are good, everything is torqued to spec. I have replaced the passenger side upper control arm bushing (axle side) and will be replacing the drivers side upper bushing tonight.
Here are my next steps:
1. Replace drivers side upper control arm bushing in the axle housing - go for test drive. If problem persists go to step (2).
2. Determine if the movement I am seeing in the steering links is excessive (bad tie rod ends) - if bad, replace - if okay, go to step (3)
3. Get tires balanced and rotated
--- Drive and feel for wobble if persists go to (4)
4. Set toe "out" 0.75"
--- Drive and feel for wobble, if wobble is gone, replace upper control arms-- if wobble persists call Savvy and ask for help...
Death Wobble - Track Bar Conversion to Fix Death Wobble - KevinsOffRoad.com
Death Wobble Cure: Highlights of the KevinsOffroad.com Track Bar Conversion and Super Durometer Bushings to help stop Death Wobble on the Jeep ZJ Grand Cherokee, the Jeep XJ Cherokee, and the Jeep MJ Comanche - KOR-9001 Track Bar Conversion for Jeep XJ MJ ZJ
Hey guys. It's Kevin from KevinsOffroad.com . Today we are going to look at one of our Track Bar Conversions.
This is what we use to get rid of Death Wobble on the XJ Cherokee and the ZJ Grand Cherokee, and we've been using it for a lot of years. It seems to work really, really well...I'm going to show you all the components that are involved.
First off, we have the lower end. That goes down on the axle side. We've got a jamb nut that goes on over it, and then this assembly threads into this main bar here. Now, this bar, you'll notice, has an open end...it does not have a bushing like the normal factory track bar would. This is an after market JKS track bar, which is mounted from the bottom side of the Track Bar Bracket on the Jeep. This piece goes up through the bottom of this bracket here. You can see the little hole which is left over.
This bracket has been modified with this extra piece down below. We do that for two reasons, one to keep the cost down for you guys, but most importantly, you'll see this rib on the back side of this bracket here. This mounts to the frame here... you have two bolts that come up from the bottom and two bolts that come in from the side.
When the Jeep turns left and right, the axle moves left and right, and the Track Bar's job is to keep it positioned so that it doesn't move, so if you don't have this rib on the back side of this thing, what happens is this bracket actually bends like this... there are some After market brackets that are on the market that just bend, and then you still have Death Wobble problems, so this is very,
very important, and key to a good solid design.
The bar fits into the bottom here, and it gets a Grade 8 half-inch bolt through it. You have your option of either the bushings that come with it normally... these are the same bushings that would come in any after market track bar...made by Daystar...or you have the upgraded Super Durometer bushings that we have manufactured specifically for us.
This is an exclusive KevinsOffroad.com product... you can't get this anywhere else. I'll show you the difference. If you squeeze this, you may be able to see on camera how it mushrooms out a little bit. If I squeeze this one...uurrrrr...no mushrooming. So, this is a 60 or so Rockwell Durometer bushing, this is a 45 or so...so this one's approximately one third to half again stiffer. I think this one might be like a 62 or 64 or something...I'm not a hundred percent sure on that. It's much, much stiffer.
What happens is that these bushings get put together as a pair, and they go inside of this here, and then the other end goes inside, just like that...in fact, I'll show you...maybe not very well... well, I won't waste your time with that, but basically everything slides together... a pair goes in here, and this tightens up the steering immensely because of the lack of movement the track bar is allowed, because these bushings don't crush any longer since you've got these Super Durometer bushings.
So, basically, this is why this is such a wonderful bar if you're having Death Wobble problems. So, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to give us a shout. Our e-mail address is sales@kevinsoffroad.com ... and if you want to give us a call it's 602-841-3355.
Thank you very much! I really appreciate it, and let us know how we can assist.
Jeep Death Wobble
My Jeep doing a death wobble after comming home from wheeling. Would do it after hitting 60 km/h. Mud getting into the tire from loosing a bead on the trail was the cause.
JK Death wobble.wmv
Warning: This video contains grapic images of "death wobble". If you have ever experienced this you may find parts of this video disturbing and/or unsettling.
Out of Control Wrangler
Drifting my jeep around the Scotiabank Place parking lot after a decent snowfall
PLANMAN explains Common source of death wobble on Jeep JK Wranglers
To understand your front end and see a Death Wobble Diagnosis, you need to watch my 2 other videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uQwlmlhiF4&list=UUKzIyplv3FIj1EXoFsRG0qg&index=6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii81V7XYr-k&list=UUKzIyplv3FIj1EXoFsRG0qg
Northridge4x4.com now has a solution for the undersized bolt issue that is more affordable than sourcing the hardware yourself. http://northridge4x4.com/shop/nr4x4-jeep-jk-hardware-kit
Chrysler decided to use 14 mm bolts for the front trackbar on 07-12 Jeep JKs even though the stock bracket holes and the trackbar end bolt sleeve holes are 9/16".
This is a common source of Death Wobble for 07-12 Jeep JKs because if the stock bolts are not correctly torqued and periodically retorqued, the looseness or play of the 14 mm bolts in the 9/16" bracket holes ends up ovaling/wallowing the holes out--allowing even more play/looseness.
When the bolts are not sufficiently torqued and the bolt holes are ovaled/wallowed out, and the suspension hits a pothole, railroad track, or some other road imperfection, the front end suspension and steering can get thrown into a very violent harmonic type resonance that can end up damaging the rest of the front end components (ball joints, drag link ends, tie rod ends, unit bearings, front upper axle side control arm bushings, etc.).
Death wobble is so violent that it can crack or tear off stock trackbar brackets and welds.
Death wobble requires coming almost to a complete stop to get the harmonic resonance/vibration/wobble to stop. It is dangerous because the driver can lose control of their vehicle.
It is vital to stop driving a vehicle that has had even one episode of death wobble and immediately diagnose and fix the source(s) of the problem.
Death wobble is relatively simple to diagnose and fix through a series of component inspections.
I have posted write-ups on several jeep related forums about how to diagnose and fix death wobble. Generally, post #1 explains DW, and post #2 gives an inspection checklist.
Google:
