Death to the Wobble

[Azrocks]

Hey, whatever works! I'm going to order some steel wagon wheels as the same time just to get rid of all variables. If I'm still having issues it's time to break out the gas and match.

 

[steverb]

had the wobble in my old blazer with 40 by 17.5 gumbos tried every thing then put a stronger stabilizer on and it was gone.

 

[inkpot]

Does anyone know why death wobble is common in cruisers, but almost non-existent in minitrucks? There must be a simple solution as the two axles are very similar. The only difference I can thing of is the caster angle, but I've cut and turned mine and still get wobble. I actually added a few degrees over stock caster and still get wobble. I've completely rebuilt my axle with all new bearings, races, new steering joints, checked the pre-load and none of it seemed to help. My solution is going to be hydro assist and forget it. I really don't need it other than for the wobble. Granted I do run 38.5/16/15 swampers which are way heavy and poorly balanced...

Anyway, what is the difference between lc and minitruck front axles? Are the lengths of the steering arms different, or the arms at different ackerman angles and that's what makes the difference? I cant think of much else that would explain the difference.

Howdy! Yea, never thought about that, but seems to be true. Maybe because the minis were spring over by design, and something in the original geometry helps prevent this. That's what we get for trying to lift low riders!! John

 

[inkpot]

I had the front tires balanced at a tire shop along with the pellets. They said they balanced out. I'm thinking this has more to do with the larger tires weight starting the wobble. I don't know....this sucks. I took these tire off my rock crawler. On that I could go freeway speed with no problem. Now with the FJ40 I can barely make it out of the garage.

Howdy! Having tires balanced does not mean they are perfectly round, or that they are perfectly symetrical lefty-righty. That could be enough to trigger the problem. Check the fit of the spring hangers to the frame. Put a couple of tack welds on them to make sure they are not creeping back and forth. Small movement there will allow big movement at the tires. BTDT. John

 

[Azrocks]

good suggestions, I'll give it a shot. I could see how a little movement there could cause big issues.

 

[Azrocks]

Just keep increasing the tire size until it all balances out. Next stop, 46s!

If I go straight to 46's that limits the number of times I can keep increasing tire size!

 

[Azrocks]

OK, After having done all the stuff at the beginning of this thread I still feel like I have too much play in the system somewhere that's causing wandering. I can almost feel the loose area in the steering while driving before it "catches".

I've replaced just about everything. How does one get rid of slop in the steering at this point? I have saginaw PS conversion.

 

[wbb72fj40]

Azrocks. What do you have in the way of a steering stab. Dualshock wouldn't hurt anything i fixed my k5 blazer with those on gumbos one time. Do you have anyone close you can swap 35s with just to totaly eliminate your tires as the problem.

 

[Azrocks]

Azrocks. What do you have in the way of a steering stab. Dualshock wouldn't hurt anything i fixed my k5 blazer with those on gumbos one time. Do you have anyone close you can swap 35s with just to totaly eliminate your tires as the problem.

I just found somebody who offered to let me try out his tires / wheels. I'd rather not go dual stabs if possible but will use as a last resort.

I'm also going to try and lower my shackles about an inch to see if that helps to stabilize things.

 

[Azrocks]

OK, I have narrowed down my death wobble to my tires. Surprise, surprise. They are just out of round and I have to deal with it until i get new tires.

I put on a new stabilizer and whalla! It drives really nice except for rut following characteristics of large bias ply tires. I can hit bumps and stuff and even drive at highway speed with no death wobble whatsoever.

See, stabilizers aren't all that bad!

Thanks so everybody for the ideas and suggestions. I'll revisit this when I get some new tires and see how it goes from there.