Death Wobble?

[Dollar]

I have a 94 ZJ with a 3.5 Rubicon lift and it has a minor death wobble from around 55mph to about 70mph. It's not too bad just very annoying. Once I get above 70mph it stops. It don't do it all the time at those speeds, mainly on rougher roads. If I apply the brake lightly it just about completely goes away. It has a new steering stabalizer. I have had two different type wheels and tires on it and it seems to be worse with the 15X10 wheels with 32" Goodyear MT's which is what I am running on it now. I had the front end alligned by a shop that does a lot of 4X4's and it did not really change it. Any ideas where to start?

[YJason]

could be a number of things or a combination of things.

unit brgs
track bar
TRE's on tie rod and drag link
control arm bushings
ball jonts

These are the items I would start checking. Jack one side up at a time and take a pry bar and see if you have any play in the items above.

[kmac220]

had the same problem with my 95 zj with 3.5 lift but it didn't matter what speed or what tires i had on. stablizer fixed my problem but play in the joints can contribute.

[kmac220]

my death wobble was bad enough to shake your fillings out of your teeth.

[Dollar]

The only steering stabalizer I could get at the time was a stock replacement. I have had several Chevy 4X4's and if the tires are 35" or bigger they really need duals or a good off road stabalizer but I have not had a Jeep before. Would an off road or HD stabalizer help any? I will check the things you mentioned (YJason), what kind of difference does your stroker make? Thank you for the help.

[YJason]

I've always been told all a steering stabalizer does is hide what is causing the DW.

Stroker:

an extra 50-60 hp, 80-90 ft lbs, extra 4-5 mpg and an empty wallet. Its a petty cool mod but the money I spent on a stroker I could have had a chevy 6.0L, a 4L60E and a nice chunk of $ towards a Atlas II TC.

[Dollar]

Did you build it yourself? Would'nt the changing of the computer be costly?

[Dollar]

Replaced u joints when I did the gears and lift. Checked tie rod ends and ball joints, found one tie rod end loose. Replaced the outer tie rod end on drivers side, made the wobble worse. It does it just as I am hitting 55 and more often now. There is very little, if any play moving the tires side to side and doing the same holding the top and bottom of the tire, there is less than 1/8" movement if I put a pry bar under the tire and raise up on it. Found an article about the caster settings and toe out, it said that the bottom ball joint should be in front of the upper ball joint and mine is. Maybe I should check with the shop that did the allignment and see what the caster is set to. They may not have looked at any of that but they should have.

[mikea]

Do you have adjustable control arms? That's how you would adjust your caster. Either lengthen the lower or shorten the upper to get more caster if you want to see how that handles. Jeep alignments are pretty easy to do yourself. There is no camber adjustment. Caster is pretty limited and you need adjustable control arms. Toeing is too hard. I had good luck setting mine to about 1/4 inch closer together at the front then the back of the front tires. I used an adjustable paint roller extension to measure.

How are the wheel bearings and balancing?

[Dollar]

no adjustable arms,thought about getting adjustable upper control arms since the lower ones were what come with the lift. wheel bearings seem ok, no play in wheel when jacked up.

[Dollar]

Rusty's is about the cheapest place to get the control arms, $190 with shipping. Is there anywhere else I should look?