Front end Wobble Wobble Wobble (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 16, 2020
Threads
3
Messages
12
Location
Colorado
Hi,

I have wanted an 80 for a few years and finally got a 1993 80 triple locked a few months ago for $2500 knowing it was going to be a long and pricy road to a dependable rig. When I got it she was beaten and neglected and leaking everywhere but drove good enough to drive two hours home with no hood and one and one-half headlight ( PO hit a mailbox). Drove it into the garage and did a full drive train rebuild regear to 4:88 with Zuk approved patterns, a iron man 2in lift, ripped out all the interior repaired cleaned and customized a bunch of interior stuff. Fixed a lot I need to do a build thread for sure I have learned a lot from this forum!

The problem: On acceleration up to 50mph I get a wobble that speeds up with tire RPM. It feels like a bent rim or really out of balance tire coming from the drivers front. This was happening before and after axle rebuild and lift. Decel and coast buttery smooth and straight up to 90MPH Tires show no signs of misalignment but need to get that checked. When the wheel is turned like accelerating out of a corner doesn't happen.

What I have tried:
  • A different set of tires and rims + old set rotate
  • Inspected all bushings and tie rod ends multiple times
  • took the axle down to the birfs again to inspect and nothing looked bad.
  • All new Powerstop rotors pads and rebuilt calipers.
  • expletives
  • locked the center diff last night and removed the rear driveshaft was a little less but still there.
not really sure where to look now the only thing I didn't replace in the front axle was birfs and drive flanges. I am unsure of how old they are but they seemed to be in decent shape I completely disassembled them and deep cleaned them. I was going to replace them with terrain tamer birfs and new flanges after a few thousand miles.
 
I've done most of those things and still have a similar wobble, but not too bad. I have an OME 2" lift on mine at the moment, just for reference. I believe the culprit for my situation is the lack of caster correction with the 2" lift. When I bought mine with the lift already installed, the P/O said he had the caster correction bushings installed, but they're just regular bushings. Maybe an alignment check would show the caster as out of spec? Good luck! I'll be keeping my eye on this and can report back if I find anything further
 
hmm I have caster correction bushings that came with my Ironman kit but haven’t installed them. I really want to go with a rear arm drop/forward brackets to assist with tire clearance. I saw some on here before but don’t remember the name of the guy that makes them. Anyway I don’t think this would help as it was just as bad before the lift and regear at stock hight.
 
Didn’t replace but I had them all out and they still were tight but could be moved by hand.
 
I have a 2.5 in lift with no caster correct right now, drives ok. When I bought it had a front end wobble, needed tie rod ends, and wheel bearings were loose.

It can be hard to track down stuff like that. My truck also had a crack in the frame where the steering box mounted. Not sure if that imparted any “looseness” to my front end, but it got fixed at the same time as the tre and wheel bearings.
 
Definitely could be a bent rim or arm if the PO curbed it hard.
Or hit a mailbox hard.......



Also make sure the steering arm nuts are tight. 71 LB-FT and dead blow hammer the arm while torquing.

How much lift? That can affect caster a lot and cause it if there is lots of toe in or out.

Check alignment on a real machine so you have actual numbers.
 
Yea I have no idea how honest the PO was with me about what really happened. He said he hit a mailbox with a metal pole dead center on the front bumper. No idea if he went in the ditch or not. Also, one of the front fenders has been replaced at some point defiantly not an OEM paint job on that panel I, unfortunately, didn't notice that originally.

I'm going to put a dial indicator on the rim and rotor tonight. Might have time to get an alignment this week defiantly next. I went with the 2in lift and wanted to see how it drove without castor correction the Iron man kit came with the two-piece adjustable poly bushings. I'm not sure how I feel about those bushings but I might as well try them along with new radius arm bushings that I just haven't installed yet.
 
Update: Replaced the radius arm bushings and added the castor correction bushings. The wobble is still there I am getting an alignment tomorrow. We shall see what the toe numbers are. The front axle is nice and pretty now every time I fix something I try to paint it. I repainted the arms and most of the axle housing. So fresh and so clean.
 
I've delt with wobble a lot over the years on several rigs. What I've experienced is that wobble is usually a combination of things. Every junction that connects the steering to the tires can contribute to looseness. Steering shaft to box -> steering box ->steering arm -> tie rods -> knuckle arms -> wheel and trunion bearings -> spindle bushings -> wheel. Then, there are all of the things that locate the tire in relation to the frame. Control arms -> springs and shocks -> axle housing -> knuckle -> rims. Then something usually starts the wobble and that wobble is multiplied by any of the loose or worn connections just mentioned. From my experience, tire balance is the most common reason the wobble starts.
My suggestion would be to revisit tire balance if you haven't already. With 4.88s I assume you're running at least 35's? Large tires are often hard to balance, and since the large lugs of offroad tires get chipped, torn and worn more than street tires, balance can change in a short time. In my case, since I'm running 37's on beadlocks, I've got to the point of investing in an old school bubble balancer and routinely rebalance tires every 5000 miles or when I begin to notice a wobble. Almost everytime I begin to notice a wobble, I discover an imbalance.
tire balance1.jpg
tire balance2.jpg
 
Rotate and balance tires and go from there.

Wheel bearings next.
 

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