Death Wobble (1 Viewer)

[CruisinTiger]

Yeah see that's what has got me baffled..how did they come loose? Fortunatley I've got my spare tire so I'll just switch out the rims and use the bent one as my spare. In the second set The top picture is the passenger side tire and the bottom pic is the driver side, which is like 2 inches further back than the passenger tire. I'm just baffled...could I have hit a big enough bump or hole,etc. to cause the axle to stretch out the ubolts so that it would come out of the spring packs....it's hard to believe that all 4 nuts would simultaneously come undone and then it would be able to come off of the springs. I'm stumped.

 

[60wag]

Is the amount of bolt sticking out of the nut the same on both the driver and pass side? If so, definitely replace the ubolts. If the nuts just backed off, then you should be ok. I think that's why its a good practice to retorque the ubolts after installing a new suspension.

 

[CruisinTiger]

yeah as I remember they look the same

 

[fj803fe]

Yeah see that's what has got me baffled..how did they come loose? Fortunatley I've got my spare tire so I'll just switch out the rims and use the bent one as my spare. In the second set The top picture is the passenger side tire and the bottom pic is the driver side, which is like 2 inches further back than the passenger tire. I'm just baffled...could I have hit a big enough bump or hole,etc. to cause the axle to stretch out the ubolts so that it would come out of the spring packs....it's hard to believe that all 4 nuts would simultaneously come undone and then it would be able to come off of the springs. I'm stumped.

I'm assuming from your reply that you are SURE both DS and PS springs are installed correctly. I notice from you pics that you're shackle seems aftermarket and its at the frame to boot! This means that you have a shackle reversal kit/fab of some sort and the springs have aboviously been off before-which is indicated by your post.

I'd just go after it and take off the U bolts and re-center the spring-use new U-bolts if you need and re-torque-then measure from fender to wheel again. If you are still off-by like 1.75 to 2"-I would check to make sure both springs have short side forward.

 

[CruisinTiger]

Got back in town today and the first thing I did was check the rear spring attachment on the passenger side....I knew I didn't have a shackle reversal but when you mentioned it fj80 it made me think. It's just the way the pic came out and caught it, it's the tear drop bolt in there. gonna go back out tomorrow or sunday with a tape measure and measure the ends of the ubolts to see if they are even or not with the 2 sides.

 

[nuclearlemon]

ok...i have horrible death wobble. occurs about 35+ mph. sometimes a bump starts it, sometimes it just happens. 83 fj60 wtih 33" bfg mt's, all pro hi steer, fj80 ends in custom tubes (been on approx 6 months) with 4x4labs adapters for the drag link side, i do have an aftermarket steering stabilizer that was off and i put back on, 5" alcan lift sua.

this is a new symptom from the last time it was wheeled (a friend wheeled it, but i drove it home about 40 minutes at highway speeds with no issues). since then, i've adjusted the drag link, changed one front axle seal and rotated the tires, now it's got d.w.

it's not a stabilizer issue because while it did have one, it fell off months ago and i've never put it back on...had no issues. put it on today, still have d.w. bot with and without it.

i put the tires back to their original locations...still d.w.

checked alignment, appears good.

tie rod ends are fine, drag link ends have the barely noticeable play in the threads (barely enough that you question if there is play, so i put new ends on, still the faintest of play...could this be it?)

i pulled the side that i'd done the seal on even though spinning the tire showed nothing abnormal, reassembled it and i still have no indication of problems except death wobble.

spring bushings look good, shackles look good, springs look good...wtf?

 

[nuclearlemon]

anyone?

 

[60wag]

Any chance you have a bent spring? I know loose stuff and bad tires can appear to cause wobble but I've always thought that if you have enough caster, the steering should be stable. If you're out of things to check, you might try having the caster, camber AND toe measured with some precision allignment equipment. Maybe you had low caster to start with and a tweaked spring put it over the line?

 

[gen2600]

anyone?

Are you positive that you have a suspension wobble? You'll get some random vibration (goes away at some rpms but comes at other ranges) from a wobbling harmonic balancer. If that guy is wobblin' then you may be hogging out your woodruf :whoops: key on the crank... And if that's the case it'll get worse and worse as it's driven over time until all hell breaks loose

Just an idea if you've check all of your suspension and still have a strange wobble.

 

[nuclearlemon]

Are you positive that you have a suspension wobble? You'll get some random vibration (goes away at some rpms but comes at other ranges) from a wobbling harmonic balancer. If that guy is wobblin' then you may be hogging out your waldorf key on the crank... And if that's the case it'll get worse and worse as it's driven over time until all hell breaks loose

Just an idea if you've check all of your suspension and still have a strange wobble.

i'll take a look at that tomorrow. i know it's going to be something stupid, but i'm stumped as to what.

 

[Dynosoar]

Check to be sure your U-bolts are torqued to spec, if they are out of spec it can cause all kinds of problems. If you break them free and retorque be sure to check the torque after about 100 miles.

gen2600 - There is no such thing a a waldorf key!!!! It's called a Woodruff key, the design is from the Woodruff Mfg. Co., in New England, I think maybe Connecticut, from the late 1800's. Colse but no cigar.

Dynosoar

 

[teerexfzj80]

I had it bad a while back. 6" lift on a coil over J%*p running 35's. I replaced the stabilizer and did front quick disconnects - rubber was trashed - poly on the new ones. Worked great then I aired down from 40 to 25 lbs and the wife was on a road trip in it and got dw. Aired back up to 32 and no problem. It must be pretty close to the edge of the castor fwd is my guess. they will drop 2" in sidewall height if you take them down to 15 lbs.

 

[gen2600]

gen2600 - There is no such thing a a waldorf key!!!! It's called a Woodruff key, the design is from the Woodruff Mfg. Co., in New England, I think maybe Connecticut, from the late 1800's. Colse but no cigar.

Dynosoar

I wasn't lookin for a cigar - that's what I get for postin when I'm so tired but I think the point was made

 

[82cruiser]

I had DW for years on my FJ40. It was minor at first and then grew increasingly more scary as time went on. After a couple of hard wheeling outings it got unbearable. The entire front of the truck would violently shake from side to side. This happened whenever a bump in the road pushed the truck to one side or the other usually around 20-30 mph.

After checking steering components, springs, axles, and hubs, which were all within specs, I found that it was the shackles and bushings that were the issue. I run extended Rubicon shackles in the front which were loose due to the bushing being worn out. The shoulders of the bushings that mate up to the shackle were wasted creating extra movement in the shackle setup. I tightened the shackles and POOF! no more DW. I felt like a dope for not noticing it sooner. Something to check in any case.

HTH's
Randy

 

[dbryan]

I had death wobble comming back from a recent 4x4 trip into the snowy mountains. My tyres were aired down to 3 PSI for 4 days and when I put them back to 32 PSI I had Major Death Wobble.

I noticed that the jam nut was loose on my tie rod. I fixed it with a little less toe-in. Just a half turn on the tie rod and no problem! NO MORE DW!

This worked for me. Hope it helps you.