[Guest]

OK, I realize this is the short wheelbase page but there is more people on this forum. I have a 1996 ZJ, I installed a Tomkin 41/2" articulating lift on it and it worked well except it looked like a stink bug. Tomkin said to give it time and the rear will settle. After 6 months of towing things it still was high in the rear so I purchased a 2" poly spacer for the front, it looks perfictly level now but about 55mph it startes shaking,now im not talking about a little driveline vibration, I'm talking about a shake that if you don't slow down to approx. 30mph you will end up in the ditch. I have heared it called the 'Death Wobble". So, me being a pretty good mechanic/fabricator, I figured No problem, So here is what I have done so far,I had it aligned and the tires ballanced,I got rid of the track bar and installed a chrome moly one with heim joints on both ends, I made the lower control arms to where they are adjustable now and this morning I moved the pinion angle all over the place to see if I could even get it to get better and had no positive results. my next thought is to convert it over to x-over steering. Am I on the right track? Am I even close? I know the obvious fix is to take out the spacers, but that is a last option, I'm not tired of working on it yet. please help.

desertoy

 

[Guest]

Do you have a streering stabalizer or have you replaced it
if you dont have one get one and try it and if you got one check it out

Dan

 

[DRM]

Steering Stabilizer. Nothing else needs to be said. Get a new one, one that is up to the task.

David
Davids 4x4 Page

 

[Guest]

Sorry guys, not that simple. It has a brand new rancho steering stabilizer.

desertoy

 

[Guest]

Come on guys, I thought you knew alot about Jeeps? I can't be the only one having this problem.

desertoy

 

[Guest]

ZJ be a whole lot different than nice simple CJ!

Brad (from the 4 Wheeling center of the universe, 4 corners USA)

 

[DRM]

I will explain my answer.

A friend had a 1 & 1/4 tom Chevy truck that was deadly when you put the 42" swampers on it. I know exactly what the death wobble is.

Check your "new" stabilizer anyway. Once it is off, try to compress it really fast. On his, it would compress in little "jumps". When the truck hit a bump it would compress-stop-compress-stop and that caused the death wobble.

Now on to your problem if that is not it. Does your stabilizer mount from the axle to the drag link, the axle to the tie rod, or the drag link to the frame?

I have seen where a stabilizer from the frame to the drag link caused the problem. If you hit a bump, the suspension compresses, and the steering would naturally compressalso, and would normally force the steering wheel to move some. On frame mounted stabilizers, they will dampen the steering wheel movement, therefore, if the steering wheel cannnot move, the tires will be forced to turn slightly. This happens back & forth as the suspension cycles after the bump, often casuing the described death wobble.
Let us know if this is getting closer to helping/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

David
Davids 4x4 Page

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info DRM, to answere your question the steering dampener mounts from the axle to the drag link.

desertoy

 

[TOM85CJ7]

I think I saw a lot of posts about this on either The Ultimate Jeep Site(http://www.ultimatejeep.com/) or (http://jeepsunlimited.com/). Give them a try I think this is a common problem with lifted ZJ's.

TOM85CJ7

1985 CJ7 4.2L, T-176, Dana 300, 2.73 gears(too high), 2.5" lift, 31" tires, Durabak

 

[GeeAea]

My money's on a caster problem......your symptoms are typical of excessive caster.......develops at a decent road speed ......won't stop until the vehicle is almost to a stand still....it just keeps overshooting the center mark when it trys to straighten out. The odd thing about it is that you describe the rear end being higher than it should ..... this would tend to tilt the front ball joints more forward and hence give you "less" positive caster ......which is usually the cure for this .....not the cause.
Even if the alignment shop said that it was in spec. ........ it may be incorrect for your current running gear.
GeeAea

 

[DRM]

Wait, ZJ's have that silly steering with a straight link to the passenger side and a joint about half way down that goes to the drivers side, right?

If so, basically the same thing is happening. As you change suspension height from a bump causing the suspension to cycle, the tires are forced to move inwards & out again causing the death wobble.

I think crossover steering (Rusty's?) may be the answer for you.

David
Davids 4x4 Page