Death Wobble Problems -
As I’ve posted before, my jeep’s having death wobble problems. It can happen at any speed over about 30 to 35 mph. It usually happens when one front tire hits a bump and the other does not, like hitting a pothole or manhole cover, for example. It gets so violent, that I have to slam on the brakes and slow the jeep down to 10 mph. or less.
I’m running a Full Traction 4� kit. A few months ago, since the FT springs were sagging so bad, I replaced all four springs with RE 4.5� springs. I also put 35� MTR’s on.
Over the last few months I’ve had the jeep aligned 3 or 4 times. I’ve also had the tires balanced and re-balanced.
Yesterday, as best we could (my kid and I), we measured the track bar for centering. It looked OK.
I am now thinking that it is a caster problem. Here’s why – when I took off my old tie rod and drag link, I noticed that the end of the tie rod, where it connects to the drag link, was rubbing on the steering stabilizer bracket on the axle. Next, my front coil springs rub on the bump stops when I’m flexing. I’ve read that with proper caster angle, that your steering should have some amount of “returnability�. Meaning that when you turn the steering wheel to the left or right, once you’ve made the turn, it should return back to straight. I don’t know if my jeep does that or not, I haven’t really thought of it, but I’m going to take it for a quick drive and see what happens. Just eyeballing things, it looks like everything is rotated a bit forward, which caused the stabilizer bracket to rub on the tie rod end and cause the other noted problems.
Assuming my caster angle is wrong, how do I verify it and what do need to correct it?
Any ideas, suggestions, thoughts, or comments are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Flywaterguide
As I’ve posted before, my jeep’s having death wobble problems. It can happen at any speed over about 30 to 35 mph. It usually happens when one front tire hits a bump and the other does not, like hitting a pothole or manhole cover, for example. It gets so violent, that I have to slam on the brakes and slow the jeep down to 10 mph. or less.
I’m running a Full Traction 4� kit. A few months ago, since the FT springs were sagging so bad, I replaced all four springs with RE 4.5� springs. I also put 35� MTR’s on.
Over the last few months I’ve had the jeep aligned 3 or 4 times. I’ve also had the tires balanced and re-balanced.
Yesterday, as best we could (my kid and I), we measured the track bar for centering. It looked OK.
I am now thinking that it is a caster problem. Here’s why – when I took off my old tie rod and drag link, I noticed that the end of the tie rod, where it connects to the drag link, was rubbing on the steering stabilizer bracket on the axle. Next, my front coil springs rub on the bump stops when I’m flexing. I’ve read that with proper caster angle, that your steering should have some amount of “returnability�. Meaning that when you turn the steering wheel to the left or right, once you’ve made the turn, it should return back to straight. I don’t know if my jeep does that or not, I haven’t really thought of it, but I’m going to take it for a quick drive and see what happens. Just eyeballing things, it looks like everything is rotated a bit forward, which caused the stabilizer bracket to rub on the tie rod end and cause the other noted problems.
Assuming my caster angle is wrong, how do I verify it and what do need to correct it?
Any ideas, suggestions, thoughts, or comments are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Flywaterguide
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