This is Death wobble

[rustyshakelford]

Mine with 2.5 RK lift full xfactor and 37’s just started getting a minor wobble at 45 mph, my steer smart stuff just arrived hopefully I will get it installed this weekend. I have almost 9000 miles, but it didn’t start until desert dune running with razers and motorbikes.

Everything was “decent” until we went wheeling a couple Sunday’s ago. Brought it home on a trailer, aired the tires up and here came the problems.

Brett

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[GhostActual762]

Does the tierod at the knuckle on the draglink have movement up and down and an audible clunk/clink? Another user posted video of his literally moving 1/4” up and down by hand. Have you checked for play at the balljoints?

 

[DeVoTee]

Do you think something got bent on your wheeling trip, displaced, dislodged? Axle/FAD?

 

[rustyshakelford]

Does the tierod at the knuckle on the draglink have movement up and down and an audible clunk/clink? Another user posted video of his literally moving 1/4” up and down by hand. Have you checked for play at the balljoints?

We can’t find anything loose. That’s the crazy part. Ball joints are good too. Tie rods are solid. I’m going to get my wife to shake the wheel tomorrow for me and see if I can track down the clunk

Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

Do you think something got bent on your wheeling trip, displaced, dislodged? Axle/FAD?

I don’t see how it could’ve. It was an easy trip. Only contact was a hit to the passenger side LCA mount and it just scrapped the paint. No misalignment or anything. It’s had a shimmy since we lifted it and had death wobble once before a few weeks prior but I thought tightening the track bar bolt would help.

Brett

 

[DeVoTee]

We can’t find anything loose. That’s the crazy part. Ball joints are good too. Tie rods are solid. I’m going to get my wife to shake the wheel tomorrow for me and see if I can track down the clunk

Brett

I have a little movement "clunk" on passenger side on both 2 and 4 door, but no shimmy what so ever, so I don't think that's indicative of DW.

 

[rustyshakelford]

I have a little movement "clunk" on passenger side on both 2 and 4 door, but no shimmy what so ever, so I don't think that's indicative of DW.

The clunk coincides with the DW. It would make sense that the two are related. Atleast I hope they are as that would make this much easier to figure out if it’s something simple like that.

All parts were ordered yesterday. Now I’ll just hope by next Thursday it’s fixed

Brett

 

[Moto_21]

I took this this morning and its kind of hard to see and short. But is this amount of draglink movement vs tie rod movement normal? I feel like the draglink is moving far more than the tierods, which could be causing bumpsteer or more feeling in the steering wheel on bumps? The tie rods and draglink also have a little noticable movement and noise up and down.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Not sure I'm following......if the tie rod ends are completely worn out (or any other major component like the ball joints for that matter)....then ya, you could still get DW b/c while the ram is holding things hydraulicly with much greater force than a traditional set up, the end could be so loose as to still exhibit the problem. But it would literally have to have tons of slop in said component to overcome the ram assist; so much so that I'd think it would be fairly obvious of the problem with a cursory check of the front end.

Man I’m still learning up on it. It’s similar to like a pcs hydro ram but at the end of the day it’s just your pump, ported and supplying a ram. I don’t know how much benefit you’d get and really need to learn more. I guess you get rid of the drag link completely? I’ll look up Kevin’s video and watch it again

Brett

 

[californiajeeping]

I took this this morning and its kind of hard to see and short. But is this amount of draglink movement vs tie rod movement normal? I feel like the draglink is moving far more than the tierods, which could be causing bumpsteer or more feeling in the steering wheel on bumps? The tie rods and draglink also have a little noticable movement and noise up and down.

My drag link doesn't move left to right light that at all, but it does move when I rock it up and down from the passenger side, like this video shows - mine rocks and thumps the same way. https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/drag-link-loose.23537/

 

[Moto_21]

My drag link doesn't move left to right light that at all, but it does move when I rock it up and down from the passenger side, like this video shows - mine rocks and thumps the same way. https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/drag-link-loose.23537/

hmmm maybe i should replace it with the yeti drag and see if that fixes it. I get the same up and down out of them as that post as well. Gear box to pitman arm and draglink movement is instant but theres a noticible gap between thier movements to the tierod/tire movements. If yours doesnt have that movement now im thinking it needs replacing

 

[Moto_21]

Man I’m still learning up on it. It’s similar to like a pcs hydro ram but at the end of the day it’s just your pump, ported and supplying a ram. I don’t know how much benefit you’d get and really need to learn more. I guess you get rid of the drag link completely? I’ll look up Kevin’s video and watch it again

Brett

Im pretty sure they still have the draglink in the video if i remember correctly that ram just assists the steering?

 

[californiajeeping]

hmmm maybe i should replace it with the yeti drag and see if that fixes it. I get the same up and down out of them as that post as well. Gear box to pitman arm and draglink movement is instant but theres a noticible gap between thier movements to the tierod/tire movements. If yours doesnt have that movement now im thinking it needs replacing

I noticed that the connection in the picture below is super loose and makes that clunking noise just like in the video. But is that on purpose so it has some room to articulate, otherwise if 100% solid, it would snap off or cause damage thus designed that way? Do aftermarket drag links flex as well? I know the Yeti drag link has the attenuator feature, but what about other brands? I'm thinking the OEM one is supposed to flex.

 

[Moto_21]

I noticed that the connection in the picture below is super loose and makes that clunking noise just like in the video. But is that on purpose so it has some room to articulate, otherwise if 100% solid, it would snap off or cause damage thus designed that way? Do aftermarket drag links flex as well? I know the Yeti drag link has the attenuator feature, but what about other brands? I'm thinking the OEM one is supposed to flex.

From what i can gather about the clunking is play in the socket for the ball, whether that amount of play is supposed to be there im not sure. The stud on the end of them can only go up so high because the are tapered and there should be no movement from the stud to the knuckle if the castle nut is tight. The side to side play could be normal just the ball moving side to side in the socket, im just wondering how much is too much. And as far as the yeti/aftermarket ones go i know how stiff new ball joints can be and im uncertain if they limit movement in anyway being so much heavier duty.

Or are you talking about where the draglink end ties into the draglink bar? That should be solid. Only movement should be in the balljoints. But im not an engineer so dont quote me lol

 

[GhostActual762]

I took this this morning and its kind of hard to see and short. But is this amount of draglink movement vs tie rod movement normal? I feel like the draglink is moving far more than the tierods, which could be causing bumpsteer or more feeling in the steering wheel on bumps? The tie rods and draglink also have a little noticable movement and noise up and down.

Wow that looks really bad(to me). Can you get video of the other end and do the same thing to get an idea what the tierod on the knuckle is doing?

It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense for anyone thats worked on any form of steering system(especially a frigging dealership with “trained” techs) to say this is normal by any means.

Whats the amount of olay in the steering wheel? 2-3”??

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