and now: Death Wobble 1989 XJ Style

Ever notice how those types of problems seem to wait until the first really cold spell is on the way? ISTR that you have a pretty good tool set - that's good as getting those upper bushings out can be a real bear!

I agree with this post!

Those were a royal PITA to get out. Especially keeping the axle lined up. I used a strap/ratchet and did one side at a time.

I have a good set of tools plus a son with the larger metric wrenches, if needed.

I plan to jack the XJ up on stands under the axle and then pull one control arm at a time, swap the bushings with a homemade tool for the job then go on to the next one.

I made a lot of my own specialty tools when I worked as a Millwright / heavy equipment mechanic back in the 70's and I've devised a compact, screw operated, bushing press from scrap stuff laying around.

I watched a video on YouTube where a guy knocked the bushings out with a hammer and chisel and knew there had to be a better (easier) way.

;)

As I said, I remember you from past years as a fair wrencher but until you've actually pulled those @#$%^& things you might wish you had waited for a warmer day.

Last time I jumped into a front suspension job was when the daughter was complaining about slop in the front end of here little Nissan. Looked under and the rubber bushing were visibly shot so I figured no sweat.... Several hours later, after I had taken an oxy-acetelyne torch to burn out the old rubber then jerry-rigged a 3/4 inch bolt to press the new ones in we finally finished. My first and last front suspension job on one of those!

Millwright /

daughter was

The real pain is the final torque on the lower nuts. I had to use a lift to get enough oomph on mine. Couldn't get an air tool to fit. upper ones were easy enough.

Final torque should be with the wheels on the ground. Or the bushings won't be happy.

I reused the sleves, just cut/drilled/burned the old bushing material out.

next time I will buy the lower arms with bushings and save myself a lot of grief.

Buying new control arms was my first choice until I looked at my bank account. :(

And the same reason has pushed the job off another month.

The tool I made is made to straddle the larger lower bushing flange and uses a thick hardened washer of a diameter to press on the shell to remove the bushing and by reversing the unit it will press the new bushing in.

Friction between the screw that operates it and the shell top plate is reduced with a thrust bearing from a broken floorjack caster wheel

My elder brother likes to buy parts (he a bit eccentric) and then have a shop install them. The bushing replacement at a local shop cost $400 just for the labor.

I would have done it for half that.

AH, a man after my own heart! Coating the sleeve AND bushing with liquid dish soap works wonders for the install step.

BTW, anther reason to wait was just on tv - it's gonna get downright frigid out by tomorrow night at your house, like in the teens....

Sounds like a plan. Watch that washer, you might need to back it up with A slightly smaller one if it tries to bend on you. The pressure it takes to get that bushing material out is insane.

I used a small vice and a couple pieces of plywood to push in the new bushings.

You might need a couple of small pieces to go beteen the sides. The arm is a U shape and can compress a bit. Learned that when I used a shop press and just about folded the end of an arm. But I was pressing the rubber out of the shell, and didn't have the correct blocks to line up the press.

That's the reason I did the job myself. The labor price was just nuts. Took me a whole day just doing the fronts, but left me with beer money so that was fine.

Good luck!

Too late! Right now it 18 at my house.

Had to take my younger brother to Colorado Springs for a checkup after a triple bypass surgery and CO115 wasn't too bad till about 2 miles south of Gate 5 at Ft Carson saw 5 vehicles off the road: two with bling wheels and rubber band tires and a Wrangler with some lift and extra wide mudder tires (too much flotation, couldn't get a bite in the snow) and a rear ender accident between a pickup and a frozen slush covered japmobile ... wanna guess which had the front end damaged and the ice knocked off the hood.

One odd thing though, I have twin 4 foot top load CB antennas mounted above the rear wheels and I had to tie them down to the roof rack.

Ice built up on the front of the whips and made them bang into the rain gutter hard above 40 mph.

BTW, being in fulltime 4X4 kept the front axle from doing the Shimmy. I guess the center differential kept the suspension loaded.

Hmm ... hadn't thought of bracing the "U", but I will now.

I'll get the link for the video of the guy popping them out with a chisel and thread it to this reply.

He made it look real easy.

The wife teaches on Carson just inside Gate 2 - they left early to get home. That glare ice after a flash freeze is a bear! Not quite as bad as freezing fog but still a white knuckle ride.

I found the same thing with an old Scout. Loading the front end was a real help there as well but that old ball and knuckle solid axle was always touchy.

From painful experience, that chisel routine you mention is no fun. I've done it and there is no way to keep from hitting yourself working with all that give. You might consider taking a recip saw to the rubber to split it into chunks before banging away. The last couple of times I got into that operation I did that to lessen the amount of rubber I had to burn out.

I remember reading where someone drilled out quite a bit of the rubber. Probably could make a series of holes then use a coping saw.. but that would take a long time. It would smoke like a bitch but a wire wheel could be used to clean it out. I wonder what attacking both sides with a hole drill would do? (probably seize up and twist knuckles into the frame.)

No chiseling for me, that's why I made the pressing tool.

;

The hole drill trick would only be safe in a drill press with a good vise and vry low speed.

OTOH, a brace drill might work also with the control arm in a bench vise.

You would also need something like a center drilled dowel to hold the pilot bit in the center of the bushing bolt hole to insure you would line up to meet correctly.

You might be able to get it done with a Forstner bit - it has "ears" to cut the od of the hole with a chisel blade to clean the interior. Probably couldn't get exactly the right size bit, tho. Mine are by 32nds up to 2 inches but it would require a really solid vise and a good grip on the drill.

Anyway you look at it, this job is a royal pain!

Aw, Will, there ya go being a master of understatement again!

VBG!

I got the upper control arm bushings installed.

My homemade tool worked until I needed to press the new bushings in so I fumbled around with my balljoint press till the job was done.

If the oil pan sump had the front panel made 1" farther back or the designers had moved the axle 1" farther forward I would have had a much easier time.

Or better: made all the control arms to hold the bushings instead of having brackets on the top of the axle to hold them.

But I still have the Death Wobble although the primary cause of the axle rocking was because some lazy "technician" didn't torque the axle end bolts correctly.

I had to drill them out and use 7/16" grade5 bolts and nylock nuts torqued to 50 ft/lb (55 with the nylock nuts).

Improvements: ride quality much better, better caster induced return to center, less tire outside wheel scrub on sharp turns, better brake response.

I pick up the lower bushings and a track bar bushing in the AM and my son is going to see if we can use a bay at his job to do the work

Bud, my daughter brought her Nisson PU over this weekend whining about a shimmy in her front end. After screwing around with it for a couple of hours I put a strong light one the tread and spun the wheel slowly. Bingo! She had a deformation in the tread - just a small flat spot, but it showed under the strong light. I had her put the spare on (what? me do it for her??) and test it. Sure enough, the shimmy was gone. For me, just about every death wobble was fixed by having a shop I trusted re-balance the tires. Surprisingly, the Sam's Club shop here does the best balance around. Standard practice there is 4 distributed weights where most places try to get by slapping on just 2. Makes a real difference. Also, the manager down there checks the tire temp and asks you to drive a couple of miles if it is cold.

Just some things for you to chew on...

couple of

balance around.

I'll second the balance and add checking the shocks. Last time I changed mine the darn shock fell apart when I took it out!