Toe in gave me Death Wobble

[srt20]

Little update:
Caster is anywhere between 6.6 and 7.3. I get different reading everywhere I check. Top of C, bottom of C, flat circle on front of housing, at the pinion with the 6* separation figured in. Whatever, I dont care what the actual number is, just as long as it drives correctly.
Toe is set to 1/8” out.
BJ are torqued more than factory spec.

No steering stabilizer installed.
I drove it over the bump that was causing the DW, and it was a small “shimmy” or “oscallation” or whatever you want to call it. I then took it over another bump that usually would cause a “shimmy” and it I felt no ”shimmy”. In fact it felt probably the most firm or in control that its ever felt on that bump. I drive over this bump usually twice a day since its 1 mile from my house on my road. The other bump that caused the DW I happened to stumble upon because I very rarely drive that road.
Otherwise I felt like the Jeep drove surprising well. Though I didnt drive it over 50mph yet. It felt tight, stable and very predictable.

Edit: my definition of “shimmy” is slight steering wheel movement left and right, but no movement of the Jeep. No shaking of Jeep.


Anyway the Teraflex 2.1 is supposed to be here tomorrow and I will install it and drive again.

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[KevinC11]

Twice you have mentioned some of your bolts are "more than spec" when referencing torque. It is my understanding a spec is in place to prevent parts/bolts from overstressing under load and possibly failing. If you are torquing control arm bolts to 205 ft.lbs, instead of the recommended 180 ft lb., I would guess you are causing issues, or will be down the road.

KevinC

 

[Jtphoto]

I’ve never seen a problem with over tightening suspension bolts only from not tight enough. I certainly wouldn’t be worried about 20lbs difference.

 

[srt20]

Installed the Falcon 2.1 SS. Took a quick drive No shimmy, wobble, oscillation whatsoever so far. I’m not saying it’s cured, I want to get a lot more miles on it first. But its feeling good so far.

 

[KevinC11]

I’ve never seen a problem with over tightening suspension bolts only from not tight enough. I certainly wouldn’t be worried about 20lbs difference.

I have witnessed a lower control arm bolt that was over torqued snap while driving through a curve. You are causing stress to the bolt when the nut is tighter than specified. Throw in a little side movement and it will fail.

KevinC

 

[srt20]

I have witnessed a lower control arm bolt that was over torqued snap while driving through a curve. You are causing stress to the bolt when the nut is tighter than specified. Throw in a little side movement and it will fail.

KevinC

I do appreciate what you are saying.
But if the lower control arm bolts break at 200LBs they would likely also break at 180lbs. With the vehicle on the ground, I doubt I can get an extension long enough to have enough leverage to put the amount of torque on those bolts to come close to breaking them.

I dont know what size bolts those are, but they have to be 5/8” or bigger (metric equivalent). Should be able to handle 500Lbs easy.

A person can feel when they’ve “stretched” a fastener too far. And at that point it’s a failure waiting to happen. These bolts did not stretch.

 

[srt20]

Last update.
Changed the toe to 3/16” toe in as the steering was just a little flighty at mid range speeds, 40-55 mph.
Also installed the Falcon 2.1 SS. Seems fine.

Drives very good right now.
Has a very very small tire shake at exactly 59mph so I will have the tires balanced soon.

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