Jeep Vs Telephone poll..DEATH WOBBLES???

[KNCJeeper]

Ok so last week I was driving down this big(little to you west coasters) mountain in a what I would like to call a mild hurricane and then my jeep decided well i think i can take that telephone poll...so jeep proceeds to slide off road and ram telephone poll not even thinking about me the driver and giving me a concussion...well anyways....

I hit the telephone poll right at the bumper where it meets the frame on the passanger side. Frame is slightly bent forward of shock mount(no big deal i hope) had someone look at it and said the lower control arm passanger side is bent..i cant see it but hey he is a mech. so he is probably right. Anyway i have the death wobbles horrible now mostly in left hand turns at 45 or 50 or when i hit a bump in the road. anyone have some input on this situation? Probably is the lower control arm? I just dont want to go start buying stuff and it doesnt fix it.

Thanks guys

[Black & Tan TJ]

Check your trackbar bolt at the axle, it might be loose. That seems to be the usual source of the wobble. Loosen it first then tighten to at least 40lbs (factory spec). Don't go and buy control arms, I'm sure you can get some free, or pay for shipping free. There's a lot of them floating around.

Post some pictures if you can, have someone drive behind you to see if the Jeep is driving straight down the road. This should tell you if something worse might be damaged. That bend in the frame might not be so good.

Hope for the best, B&T TJ

[The-Hurricane]

you didnt say what damage was done to the pole..did it break completely? if you lived here i have a buddy with a frame straitener in his garage, its like chains and stuff run underneath the pad and some sorta winch thing, anyways weve straightend probably a thousand insurance writeoffs with it and could do your jeep in ten min's. sadly you dont live here..so thats not helpfull at all. best of luck!

[KNCJeeper]

Thanks B&T..ill try and get some pictures up as soon as I can get a camera. I had a mech. look at the frame and he said that is looked far enough forward that it shouldnt be that serious? I dont know that he just kinda looked under there saw that and said it looked like the lower control arm was bent.

As far as the poll it just has a big dent in it. lol

[maddmike]

i would recommend quickly checking yourself to see if the lower control arm is bent or severely damaged, and if it is i wouldn't drive the vehicle until you replace it. the control arm is one of the 5 parts that holds the axle in the right place and it is not safe to drive the vehicle if it is damaged.

the red line in the picture below shows the location of the "lower control arm" (driver's side shown, you need to look at the passenger side but they are the same side to side), and it is visible if you crawl underneath the vehicle and look just behind the front passenger tire. it should be a piece of pressed steel, about 2" square and 24" long, with an open bottom and bottom edges rolled up. it bolts to the frame between two flange pieces, and bolts to the bottom side of the axle.



as B&T TJ mentioned, you can frequently find them for free, just look around on the forums.

[KNCJeeper]

yea i have looked at it...it doesnt look bent to me but the mech. that looked at it said he thought it was.

Now im more afraid of the frame though...since the frame is bent is this going to cause huge problems for me? Should I just move on to another jeep? ive never bent a frame on a vehicle before so dont really know what you do about that

[Mike]

Hey Cody, I just crawled under my rig to see if I could visualize what might be bent.

The problem with the frame being bent to the front of the shock mount is two-fold from what I can guess. The coil spring is in front of the shock so that could be affecting your turn stability. Additionally, the anti-sway bar is attached to the front of the chassis. If that is out of alignment, I am not sure what could happen.

If you have quick disconnects, you should try disconnecting and making a turn that has proven to give you the wobbles. If you do not have disconnects, use a torx bit to remove the sway bar mounts. Tuck the sway bar links up and out of the way before doing this experiment. The Jeep will not corner as fast so be careful while driving in this mode.

Either way though, I am guessing that the fix will require moving the frame somehow. Don't know anything about that. Maybe others can help???

[KNCJeeper]

Hey thanks a lot mike. I got under there yesterday as much as I could. Its been raining here for like 5 days straight and its starting to piss me off. I did see the the control arm is def. bent and the frame is to..not much but it is. Its bent forward of everything except the sway bar. I think the whole body is just twisted. You can tell its not right cuz where the hood latches line up the passanger side one is so far off now and I opened it yesterday to see that it moved whatever enough to rip off the air intake hose from the filter box. So I just went ahead and called GIECO last night and we will see how that goes. They are going to inspect it thrusday. Thanks for the help though mike!

[Black & Tan TJ]

So I just went ahead and called GIECO last night and we will see how that goes. They are going to inspect it thrusday.

..and then there's that option. Good choice. It's not like you were trying to move that pole.

Cheers, B&T TJ

[KNCJeeper]

..and then there's that option. Good choice. It's not like you were trying to move that pole.

Cheers, B&T TJ

yea im still at fault though...hope my insurance doesnt go up to much. thanks for all the help thought guys!

[Kodiak Spirit]

hey, if they total the jeep, make 'em let you buy it at salvage, so we can all share the parts!

[Kodiak Spirit]

ok, sorry!

I just realized that that was really a bad post, I hope it all turns out good...

[KNCJeeper]

lol wasnt that bad of an idea!

[KNCJeeper]

ok so took it to a GEICO inspector. total cost of damages comes to $1144. Now i have to find a shop so we will see how this goes.

[maddmike]

glad to hear it's not totaled.

good luck finding a shop.