real time alignment spec please

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Mar 6, 2007
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I have death wobble on 1985 fj60 after alignment at local Big-O. What is an allowable toe number for 3 inch spring under with 33x10.50?

I just replaced tie & relay ends w/ new. It also has new spring & shackle bushings, a fresh nuckle rebuild, and all bolts checked & torqued properly. It had no problem driving to the shop after installing the new ends and a tape measure align.
Spec when I drove in were left -0.24, right -0.26 degrees. Death wobble appeared with settings @ 0.18 left, 0.15 right.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks. - M.
 
Last edited:
update

So I read and followed all advice here on alignment and death wobble. I set my alignment to toe-in 1/8 inch (with 33 inch tires) and adjusted drag link (relay rod) to 1.5 turns out. I also checked EVERYTHING front end for tightness and was able to tighten shock upper mounts and sway bar ends slightly. This resulted in undriveable death wobble.

I drove for the last 3k miles with 17mm wrenches under my seat, making 1/8 turns of the tie rod, turning then driving then turning direction depending on better or worse results.

My findings are: that nothing will make the wobble stop entirely, it always shakes at some point. It always occurrs between 30 and 60 mph. It scares other drivers. It scares me. It changes: I will set to a toe setting where it goes away for a while, then it returns and requires another toe change. When it shakes you can either speed up <60 or slow down >30 to make it go away. I have to add p/s fluid regularly because it leaks out now from the steering box. Toe out setting is necessary to drive at all, not toe in. THIS DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL AFTER FT. AXLE SERVICE.

When I picked up from axle service, I noted it felt like a tire was out of balance. Then later I got my first death wobble when I hit a large bump at speed (think speed bump @ 30). Then it became more frequent, smaller bumps, etc. Since the knuckles were done, I figured new tre's would do the trick. It got much worse. Now it is back at the shop that did the knuckles.

I can only think something went wrong with the knuckle rebuild. I noted when replacing the tre's the steering would bind when cycling by hand left and right. I did this with the drag link disconnected, but with tie rod connecting left and right sides. As I cycled back and forth it would bind, but if I backed slightly it would move freely again. I will post to this again with findings when I get it back from the shop. -M.
 
So I read and followed all advice here on alignment and death wobble. I set my alignment to toe-in 1/8 inch (with 33 inch tires) and adjusted drag link (relay rod) to 1.5 turns out. I also checked EVERYTHING front end for tightness and was able to tighten shock upper mounts and sway bar ends slightly. This resulted in undriveable death wobble.

I drove for the last 3k miles with 17mm wrenches under my seat, making 1/8 turns of the tie rod, turning then driving then turning direction depending on better or worse results.

My findings are: that nothing will make the wobble stop entirely, it always shakes at some point. It always occurrs between 30 and 60 mph. It scares other drivers. It scares me. It changes: I will set to a toe setting where it goes away for a while, then it returns and requires another toe change. When it shakes you can either speed up <60 or slow down >30 to make it go away. I have to add p/s fluid regularly because it leaks out now from the steering box. Toe out setting is necessary to drive at all, not toe in. THIS DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL AFTER FT. AXLE SERVICE.

When I picked up from axle service, I noted it felt like a tire was out of balance. Then later I got my first death wobble when I hit a large bump at speed (think speed bump @ 30). Then it became more frequent, smaller bumps, etc. Since the knuckles were done, I figured new tre's would do the trick. It got much worse. Now it is back at the shop that did the knuckles.

I can only think something went wrong with the knuckle rebuild. I noted when replacing the tre's the steering would bind when cycling by hand left and right. I did this with the drag link disconnected, but with tie rod connecting left and right sides. As I cycled back and forth it would bind, but if I backed slightly it would move freely again. I will post to this again with findings when I get it back from the shop. -M.

Death wobble was really bad, and I don't know but maybe I have learned to control it or I have done something that fixed the darn thing. My problem is at 35-40 MPH, I can hit 60 and the truck behaves fine.:hhmm:
 

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