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Death Wobble - How To Fix Death Wobble. What is Death Wobble / Dodge Wobble / Ford Death Wobble / …and How Do I Fix Death Wobble? If you have to ask what Death Wobble is…then you’re lucky, because most likely you’ve never experienced it. If you ever do, you will know this terrifying experience immediately, and you will never forget it!
If you have already experienced it, then you know “Death Wobble” is the horrible front end wobble that feels like your vehicle is about to fly apart. Death Wobble makes if difficult to maintain control of your vehicle and usually starts when one tire (usually the right tire first) hits a groove or bump in the pavement somewhere around 4. Death Wobble is quite possibly the worst possible downside to having a coil- sprung front suspension on a vehicle with a track bar or Panhard bar. Jeep vehicles affected by this design are the 1. Jeep Cherokee XJ and 1. Comanche MJ, the 1. Grand Cherokee ZJ and 1.
Grand Cherokee WJ, as well as the 1. Wrangler TJ / LJ and 2. JK Wranglers. Other vehicles affected by this phenomenon include trucks like Toyota, Ford, and Dodge Ram (a page written specifically for Dodge Wobble is located here), but we have not yet written one on how to fix Ford Death Wobble. Death Wobble is so extremely difficult to diagnose and fix because it is actually caused by slop in the entire steering and/or suspension system as a whole, not by one bad component, and therefore, there is no one cause. We’ve been experimenting with and learning about the root causes of Jeep Death Wobble and Dodge Wobble since 2. VERY few other shops possess. In fact, we get calls for help from other 4×4 shops, and auto mechanics from all over, requesting help and our proven replacement parts to solve their customers’ Death Wobble problems. To diagnose and fix Death Wobble correctly, your mechanic needs to look for “play” everywhere in the steering and front suspension system, searching for anything that could have “play” in it. It’s very time consuming to find a Death Wobble fix and can be downright dangerous while you are in “testing phase”, trying to exorcise this demon from your Jeep or Truck. This page discusses Death Wobble Causes and Cures specific to the Jeep vehicles. Dodge Wobble specifics are located here, but Ford Death Wobble is not something we’ve gotten deeply into yet.________________________________________________________________For a more in- depth discussion and tutorial, Kevin has written his first book on Death Wobble, entitled “Death Wobble: Causes and Cures“, which is available here.________________________________________________________________Where do I begin, in order to Fix Death Wobble problems on my rig? Death Wobble – Front End Suspension Components – 4x.
Xplor. com. The place I tell people to start is with an overall visual inspection. Spend 1. You will be looking for shiny spots on steel, rubber, or polyurethane, which is typically indicative of suspension components that are moving around when they are not supposed to be. Pay CAREFUL attention to the track bar (also called a Panhard Bar inside and outside the USA, as well as variant spellings (misspellings?) of trackbar, tracbar, and trak- bar ). The Track Bar is often the culprit in many cases. If ANY of your bolts are even the least bit loose, Death Wobble also can manifest itself and make your life a living hell, so check for looseness EVERYWHERE!
Here are some other steering components to check over for looseness or improper movement: Tie Rod Ends (all four, plus the upper track bar end)Upper and lower Ball Joints. Track Bar mounting bracket bolts. Steering Box Brace. Track Bar Ends. Front End Alignment. If everything appears to be “normal” on the underside of your vehicle, and you’ve verified the bolt tightness on both ends of the track bar, the next thing to do is get a front end alignment, making sure that caster (frequently misspelled as ” castor “) is set correctly as well as toe- in. If you have been offroading and have bent your tie rod even slightly, that, also, will throw off your alignment. Plus, it’s only $4.
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Here’s a list of all the known problems with the 2007 Toyota Tundra. We’re not trying to tear the truck down or anything – we love it – we just want to make.
By the way, DO NOT let the alignment shop talk you into a four- wheel alignment! This is only useful on vehicles with independent rear suspension in my experience, and since there are no adjustment points in the rear of a live- axle vehicle ANYWAY, you’re merely paying for a service that you won’t get. Furthermore, if you have a lifted vehicle, make sure that the alignment shop you choose knows the variant specifications for lifted vehicles.
DO NOT let them set it to the “default/stock” settings! A good quality alignment shop familiar with lifted 4×4 vehicles will know these settings; a poor quality shop will likely tell you that it doesn’t matter whether it’s lifted or not and that they use the stock specs. If they tell you this, walk away immediately, or hang up the phone and call the next shop. Track Bar / Panhard Bar tightness. If you are now *certain* that the front end alignment is set correctly, and that you have not replaced ANY other front end components recently (including tires or wheels) which may have caused the oscillation to begin, I tell people the next most suspect thing is the factory front track bar. Over time, the tie rod end on the upper portion of the Panhard or Track Bar develops “play” in it due to wear and miles on the vehicle (some applications like the Grand Cherokee WJ, Ford truck, and the Dodge Ram have a rubber bushing configuration instead, which also wears out). The same findings often go for the lower end bushing, which has a rubber or polyurethane isolator bushing in it, and this “slop” will allow the Death Wobble oscillation to occur.
Aftermarket trackbars generally come with urethane bushings that allow a LOT less “play” (with respect to movement / crush) than the factory rubber bushings do. The problem with most aftermarket track bars for the Jeep is that they also come with either a Heim joint, Johnny Joint, or tie rod end on the upper end of the Track Bar. This works fine for a while, but wears out over time, leaving you right back where you started; with a large mess in your shorts, a temporarily deafened right ear (from the wife screaming for dear life, or, quite possibly at YOU, for buying the Jeep to begin with, lol), and an overall high level of frustration with your entire rig in general. I developed our Track Bar Conversion kit for XJ Cherokees and ZJ Grand Cherokees to eliminate that problematic (and expensive to replace) previously mentioned joint, as well as for the additional flex benefits you get from it. If you are running a Cherokee XJ or Grand Cherokee ZJ with or without Death Wobble, and it has more than 1.
I highly recommend you check it out. Many aftermarket track bars, as well as the stock track bar, are completely ineffective in managing Death Wobble due to their “effective angle of operation”, particularly if you are above say 2 or 3 inches of lift. Keep in mind that another alignment is necessary after replacing ANY front end components, especially if Death Wobble still remains. Sometimes you might get lucky and not need one…but be forewarned. Track Bar Bushings / Panhard Bar Bushings. A product we have found to work VERY well in getting rid of Death Wobble is our exclusive Hard- KOR brand Super. Durometer Track Bar Bushings.
These bushings are also available for the Track Bar Conversion, and fit most “normal” sized 1. ID by 1. 2. 5″ deep aftermarket and factory track bar end loops, which would originally take a 1. OD rubber cartridge bushing. Our Super. Durometer Track Bar Bushings are about TWO TIMES as hard as the typical polyurethane bushings that come with most aftermarket track bars (which typically are made by Daystar or Energy Suspension for most of the various aftermarket manufacturers). Polyurethane bushingsare also one of the least expensive replacement parts in the steering components, so it makes sense to try them. Steering Stabilizer / Steering Damper. The next thing to check is your steering stabilizer.
I recommend AT THE MINIMUM, replacing your stabilizer (or dampener, as it’s sometimes called) at the same time as whatever worn components that you find during your inspection. This “combination punch” is often more effective than changes caused by each individual part alone. Death Wobble shakes EVERYTHING and loosens up other components at the same time.