DEATH WOBBLE

MadMark wrote:For those of you that don't know I bought the Super Swampers(AKA DEATH WOBBLE DONUTS) from bill. As I was driving up to Evans creek (slightly fast) I hit a large pothole and experienced first hand what death wobble is all about. As I slowed down to keep from launching off the side of road and to remove the sheep skin seat cover from my crack I had just one thought, Bill's Fault Just because I haven't had the front end aligned, installed the steering shock or crawled under my jeep to look for loose fasteners, I still can only come to one conclusion; Bill's fault Bill jinxed my jeep. You gotta love those Swampers

Right now I can not drive my jeep above 40mph without death wobble. Don't even have to hit a bump.
I found a few loose items under my jeep! Retorqued everthing. Track Bar had some play in the heim joint and bushing was slightly worn(replaced with Currie adjustable track bar) had frontend aligned, no improvement Noticed the pitman arm(4"drop pitman arm)had some movement. Tried to remove with 1/2" breaker bar,not a chance Brought out the big dog, 3/4" 2' long ratchet, wasn't even thinking about moving. Bigger dog, 3/4" 3' breaker bar and all the force I could muster with both feet firmly planted against the driver side tire. About busted a nut!(not the one on the steering box)NO MOVEMENT!! Air hammer for 30 seconds, nothing. Again, nothing. Air chisel for 1 min. and 3/4" breaker and it finally broke loose Installed pitman arm puller, half a twist with ratchet falls on floor. Now the questions to all. New pitman arm, stock or 4" drop? The steering has felt loose since the moment I hit that bump and death wobble started. Before that not even a wiggle at 70mph. I'm thinking I need a new steering box, what do you think?

Well if all your track bar and drag link are parallel to each other without the drop arm then dont use it, go stock. I have a drop arm on mine because thats what works.

If you need a new steering box then there is a certain year Dodge Durango box that is a much better box and is a direct bolt in unit. I cant remember what year but it was supposed to be but I also think it has to be one with a tow option or something like that. I'll try to find out.

OK I did a little looking around and all I can find is some guys are putting a durango box in but I cant find the years except that it will not work in an anything later than an 03(I think) because they went to a Mercedes box. Also you will have 1 bolt on the frame that will not line up.

I wasn't having any perceptable problem with the 4" drop pitman arm but will pretty close to parallel with a stock pitman arm(2.5" stock)
I was thinking about a PSC steering box. I can't find anything else loose. Check this out, one guys opinion on DW.
http://www.jeepaholics.com/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=52170

I do have a drop pitman arm, because thats what works for my setup. You have to draw a line from mounting point to mounting point like the pic below. My trackbar is the red line, and the drag link is blue. As you can see, they are VERY close to being perfectly parallel.

My track bar is dropped 2" by the Clayton bracket, and I'm still running the stock pitman arm. I'm probably going to install the drop arm that came with the track bar kit, but I'm not having any death wobble since getting rid of the JKS track bar with it's goofy tapered spacer that goes in the mounting hole. I do have a very slight tire shimmy under certain conditions (infrequent), but it does not get anywhere close to death wobble now.

The only thing I notice that might be the pitman arm is that my steering seems a bit over reactive. Not really bump steer, but like it reacts too quickly to steering wheel input.

Edit: fixed the brand above - it's Clayton, not Currie, but it has a Currie Johnny Joint in it...

Supafly nice picture and illustration. Thats about $10,00.00 worth of hardware under there. When my jeep grows up it's going to look like that. Currie's making there own track bar with a 5/8" bolt and no tapered spacer.

The Death Wobble is gone at least for now! I installed the new PSC steering box, test drove it to 55mph and no wobble. No steering shock and hitting all the bumps I could, still no wobble

I installed the steering shock and I wonder if the shock will contact the left steering arm under full compression. The shock crosses over the top of the arm. Has anyone had a problem with shock contact? The picture makes it look closer than it really is. The shock is about a 1" away from the arm.