Death wobbles

[Mudgee hunter]

Tera flex ball adjustable ball joints are the go too.
Don't forget your drive line shaft pitch has now changed dramatically .
Putting more stress òn the uni joints.
Unsure if your model has the double cardinal (?) Joints at one end...
But if not, could be a bonus to fit.
If you have just fitted new springs, they will need time/kms to settle in.
And another alignment should be done a month (?) After.
As they will sag a bit, then steady out.
When you say " death wobbles " ?
Is it massive vibration , or crazy steering wheel shake.

[aevo88u]

Yeah I’m going to get some hd ball joints on order.

Geometry should be good as I fitted all the alignment correction in front and back.

The wobbles are crazy vibrations and steering wheel, it literally feels like the wheel is rocking back and forth.


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[5oclock]

On my WG I have had bad DW twice, both times triggered by an unseen massive pot hole on the blacktop. Both times the problem was because worn ball joints. I solved the problem by installing good heavy duty ball joints. The crap quality joints solve the problem too but in my case they got play in them after only a few thousand km. Oddly enough it was mainly the top ball joints both times. For the record WG front end is classic jeep like TJ and JK. Also I was running standard size tyres at 34 psi. In my case poly bushes in the track rod where a major improvement too. Also the track rod bolts must be nice and tight, check they havent flogged the holes in the frame out, hope this helps.
PS also check all tie rod ends, use a BIG pair of channel lock pliers and squeeze from top and bottom,should have on movement at all.

[aevo88u]

Wheel alignment and balance came back perfect.

Have hd ball joints on overnight delivery, so will put them in tomorrow and see how I go


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[st_za]

Real death wobble is caused by the axle moving side-to-side, which tugs on the steering wheel.

As you can see in this video:
https://youtu.be/ncTgYl7P_TE?t=48
The axle is moving side to side because the track bar allows it to.

If you haven't already, check that the track bar mounts haven't become oval, in which case you will need mount braces and/or bigger bolts, and that the bolts at both ends are torqued to 125 ft-lb spec.

Ball joints can cause similar side-to-side movement but as you can imagine because of their "range of motion", much less than the track bar.

This is also why a steering stabiliser doesn't do anything for DW and if you have a vibration, most likely because of wheel bearings or balancing, masking it with a new steering stabiliser doesn't fix anything either.

[humdingerslammer]

I have had this problem in the past. I

1) fitted better grade HD ball joints
2) fitted new track bar etc
3) got rid of the standard tyres as these were implicated more often than not
4) make sure wheel balance is always perfect.

To check ball joint play I lift the front wheel (1 by 1) a little off the ground, stick the shovel end of a long handled shovel under the tyre, get on my knees, push shovel handle down to lift the wheel and check to see if any movement in ball joints...there should be NONE... much easier than using a plank of wood.

Hope this helps

[aevo88u]

[mention]st_za [/mention]

Thanks, I took this video to check if the track bar was moving when steering, to me it looks like it isn’t moving, so the culprit should be ball joints, new ones arrive tomorrow.

What are your thoughts do you think it’s moving?

https://youtu.be/DTXQq5wea74

It’s hard because I don’t have anyone at home to turn the steering wheel, so had to resort to filing to confirm.

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