Explain the suspension to me

[richk225]

Old school way was to jack up one front wheel at a time about 3~4 inches and place a long solid bar or even the jack handle all the way under the wheel and pull up on it and let it go quickly. Either on the way up or down you might hear a knocking sound and that would be the ball moving inside the socket of the ball joint
You can also grab the top and bottom of the tire and pull outward on the top and push inwards on the bottom and vice versa and listen for knocking or you may even feel the “play” in the ball joints. Hope this helps

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[bllprk]

Please also check wheel balance. Wheels out of balance can absolutely cause a wobble or death wobble in a Jeep.
Also we should define death wobble:

death wobble is an event that occurs while driving at highway that does not stop until you slow down to say 20 mph. The shaking gets worse until you slow way down.

Its not just a wobble in the wheel..

 

[JHTS]

Old school way was to jack up one front wheel at a time about 3~4 inches and place a long solid bar or even the jack handle all the way under the wheel and pull up on it and let it go quickly. Either on the way up or down you might hear a knocking sound and that would be the ball moving inside the socket of the ball joint
You can also grab the top and bottom of the tire and pull outward on the top and push inwards on the bottom and vice versa and listen for knocking or you may even feel the “play” in the ball joints. Hope this helps

yes it does thanks!

 

[GATORB8]

I have lateral play. Where should I start? Ball joints seem to be the most common problem. Your post identifying the parts was most helpful. Nwe to solid front axles. I’m not sure I understand the interaction of the parts.

Fix what you have lateral play in. If you can move the draglink without moving other items, it's likely the draglink joints (ball joints/tie rod ends whatever you want to call them).


I'll try to summarize the parts.

The "ball joints" allow the knuckles to rotate on the axle C's.
The tie rod "ties" the two knuckles together so they move at the same time.
The Drag link takes the input from the steering box/pitman arm and moves one knuckle.

So Steering box moves the drag link moves one knuckle. The tie rod makes the other knuckle move with the first one.

The Steering Stabilizer/Damper dampens the movement of the tie rod so that it doesn't react as much to small forces.

Now the other culprit, the track bar keeps the axle in place compared to the frame. If the axle moves and the steering stays in the same place, it still turns the knuckles.


DW is a little movement that get's all crazy and amplified. That can happen at basically any of these places.

 

[GATORB8]

A couple more things.

The stock drag link and tie rod are both two piece adjustable (for alignment), they have one long end and one short end, you replace the "end" to replace the joint. The right socket and a hammer will get you all but the top end of the drag link, you'll need a pickle fork to separate that (it will destroy the joint removing it).

After replacement, you'll want to align if you touch the tie rod. The drag link just adjusts the steering wheel center so you can do that pretty easily at home with a few tries.

If you take either out in one piece, you can match the new one to the length and get pretty close.

The stock track bar is one piece not adjustable, and the bushings not really replaceable. The bushing gets squeezed/held in place by the bolt, so if the bolt is loose, it can cause play.

Ball joints are the bitch of the group. You'll have to press them in/out.

 

[Camaroboi13]

Also we should define death wobble:

death wobble is an event that occurs while driving at highway that does not stop until you slow down to say 20 mph. The shaking gets worse until you slow way down.

Its not just a wobble in the wheel..

I feel like 90% of people who experience “death wobble” are probably in this category. I mean I’ve had so many loose components in my steering and suspension for weeks at a time with no hint of vibrations. I drove a thousand miles with the steering box falling off the frame, even went wheeling that way…nothing. Now I have an out of round tire and I feel like people here are feeling what I’m feeling, and it’s not DW

 

[JHTS]

A couple more things.

The stock drag link and tie rod are both two piece adjustable (for alignment), they have one long end and one short end, you replace the "end" to replace the joint. The right socket and a hammer will get you all but the top end of the drag link, you'll need a pickle fork to separate that (it will destroy the joint removing it).

After replacement, you'll want to align if you touch the tie rod. The drag link just adjusts the steering wheel center so you can do that pretty easily at home with a few tries.

If you take either out in one piece, you can match the new one to the length and get pretty close.

The stock track bar is one piece not adjustable, and the bushings not really replaceable. The bushing gets squeezed/held in place by the bolt, so if the bolt is loose, it can cause play.

Ball joints are the bitch of the group. You'll have to press them in/out.

This is very helpful and really explains how the suspension works thanks!

 

[JHTS]

I feel like 90% of people who experience “death wobble” are probably in this category. I mean I’ve had so many loose components in my steering and suspension for weeks at a time with no hint of vibrations. I drove a thousand miles with the steering box falling off the frame, even went wheeling that way…nothing. Now I have an out of round tire and I feel like people here are feeling what I’m feeling, and it’s not DW

It only happens when I hit certain bumps in the road. It sends the suspension into an uncomfortable wobble until I get below 35. Otherwise smooth sailing.

 

[JHTS]

It only happens when I hit certain bumps in the road. It sends the suspension into an uncomfortable wobble until I get below 35. Otherwise smooth sailing.

So if I had an out of round tire if I rotated would that solve the problem? In the short run
?

 

[Tank the Jeep]

So if I had an out of round tire if I rotated would that solve the problem? In the short run
?

My last JK Jeep developed some terrible DW. The DW happened a lot after I rotated tires and a certain tire came to the front. Not sure if it was out of round or out of balance. If you recently rotated tires and it started, try rotating back and that might buy you some time to get your front suspension checked out.

Those tires were Coopers. I won’t run them again. It may not have been the tires fault cause I wheeled that JK hard and often. Now I’m on 37s KO2 with 41xxx miles. So far so good. Definitely evaluate your tires while solving the problem.

 

[OldGuyNewJeep]

Another diagram that I pilfered from this forum at some point.

 

[richk225]

So if I had an out of round tire if I rotated would that solve the problem? In the short run
?

It would not hurt to try a 5 tire rotation or just swap out one front with the spare and you can check the ball joints at the same time with the pry bar under the tire and listen/see if there is any movement

 

[Tncdrew]

@JHTS Just a note on both the drag link and the tie rod. It’s normal to have a little forced rotational play, like if you turn the bar like a motorcycle throttle. That’s the ball joints being ball joints.

If you have lateral play, like if you jerk the bar like a shake weight, definitely could be the death wobble source.

EDIT: So I was thinking that's a shitty analogy for checking for lateral play, but the next thing I thought of was like plunging a toilet. Throwing a hotdog down a hallway? Churning butter? I give up.

Great post!
But I find myself reading it over and over... friggin hilarious! ?

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Death wobble is violent and shocking to those who haven't experienced it. The whole vehicle shakes badly and the steering wheel will rapidly oscillate 5-10 degrees off center.

A bad/poorly balanced tire, or one where the wheel weights have come off, will make the vehicle shake a little and can be felt through the steering wheel if on the front and or a shimmy if on the rear, it will show up at speeds like 35, 70, and be okay in between those speeds. It's predictable and constant. Death wobble is sudden and violent, only happening at a certain event, such as hitting an angled expansion joint or s pot hole.

 

[richk225]

Great post!
But I find myself reading it over and over... friggin hilarious! ?

Me too and when he said Hotdog I was thinking did he mean a Dachshund or a real hot dog
Maybe add milking a cow

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