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"Death" Wobble?

Over the weekend I bought some home improvement materials from the local DIY place and while bringing them home in a trailer on my 1994YJ 6cyl I started to feel the DW at about 50 mph. Slowed down and it went away. I was too chicken to try again to see if it was the road (ie. rough, pot holes, ect..) or if it was inherent in the design. I'd like to know since I haul firewood with the same rig but usually don't make it over 40 mph when I'm doing that. What is the general consensus on the DW? Thanks H-S-F

Reply to
help-slip-franklin
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DW is sometimes difficult to cure but at least do the two initial suggestions which commonly cure that situation. Get the tires balanced PERFECTLY and then see if anything is loose on your YJ's front-end. I don't recall if a YJ has a front trackbar but if it does, make sure its mounting bolts are tight. An out-of-balance tire or bent wheel is a common trigger for DW.

Jerry

help-slip-frankl> Over the weekend I bought some home improvement materials from the local DIY

Reply to
Jerry Bransford

Agree with post, Also (credit to Bill) after all checked out, it was the steering stabilizer...yes it was recently replaced, but there was a dead spot where there was no shock absorbtion, about 1 inch where the wheels would be straight. Buy from advanced auto, not NAPA, they sold me the wrong one... At least it worked on my XJ...

Reply to
TF

Did you feel what you thought was a death wobble, or the trailer snaking? A reasonably heavy trailer may well behave under 40mph, but misbehave terribly over 45mph. My (2T) trailer was a real scary thing over 45mph until I fitted a stabiliser. That's not the cure, since something else is causing the trailer to be unstable. Front or rear suspension issues are the problem I think, in my case, but you should be checking tongue weight and trailer issues first if you were actually experiencing snaking.

Reply to
Danny

DW is NEVER caused by a bad steering stabilizer, all a steering stabilizer does is to mask the symptoms caused by something else. As soon as that stabilizer wears out from fighting the true root cause of your DW, the DW will return. My other suggestions on checking the tire balance, looking for a loose/bad ball joint, or a loose/bad trackbar bushing or bolt.

Once again... and this is a problem I know well... replacing the steering stabilizer to "cure" DW is like placing a band-aid on a melanoma skin cancer. You can't see the cancer but it's still there.

Jerry

TF wrote:

Reply to
Jerry Bransford

Reply to
tim bur

I think Jerry is right. Mine has leaked out all its oil, and I've not got round to replacing it yet - no wobble at all. I can't see logically why it would do anything other than mask vibrations caused by worn components.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Reply to
Dave Milne

Reply to
L.W.( ßill ) Hughes III

The death wobble on my 92YJ was caused by a worn drag link joint and a loose track bar mount on the frame side. First thing I did was have the tires rebalanced and replace the steering stablizer. DW remained. I finally took it into a good shop and they were able to pinpoint the cause. Be careful of some so-called "mechanics". I had many recomendations, to include taking off the track bar and the steering stabilizer. Don't take anything off. Everything is on there for a reason.

Good luck. Terry

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Reply to
Terry Jeffrey

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