death wobble!!

Hi!

It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?

thanks,
cal

Bill H will tell you to change the stabilizer again but you have some
play in the system that needs to get put right. Start with tie rod ends,
then check the ball joints. Jack up one wheel, try to turn it like you
would going around a corner. Any play, start looking for the source.
With the wheel hanging down, use a crow bar underneath and lift up. If
you get an 1/8 of movement and a 'clunking' sound, ball joints are
history. Same on the other side. Rebalance your tires, especially if you
have some oversized ones. Sway bar links have nothing to do with it.

Cal wrote:
> Hi!
>
> It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
> after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
> steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
> linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
> stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
> the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
> jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
> balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?
>
> thanks,
> cal
>
>

Thanks!
I've jacked up the front end, and can't find any play. I plan to take the
jeep to a front end alignment guy and let him see if he can find something
i'm missing. At least he can check the alignment/camber.

cal

"RoyJ" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> Bill H will tell you to change the stabilizer again but you have some play
> in the system that needs to get put right. Start with tie rod ends, then
> check the ball joints. Jack up one wheel, try to turn it like you would
> going around a corner. Any play, start looking for the source.
> With the wheel hanging down, use a crow bar underneath and lift up. If you
> get an 1/8 of movement and a 'clunking' sound, ball joints are history.
> Same on the other side. Rebalance your tires, especially if you have some
> oversized ones. Sway bar links have nothing to do with it.
>
> Cal wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>> It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
>> after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
>> steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
>> linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
>> stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I
>> replaced the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be
>> defective. The jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and
>> the tires are in balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the
>> stabilizer bar links?
>>
>> thanks,
>> cal
>>

There is a track bar and if it's bushings or ball joint end go bad you
can get the shakes,

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

RoyJ wrote:
>
> Bill H will tell you to change the stabilizer again but you have some
> play in the system that needs to get put right. Start with tie rod ends,
> then check the ball joints. Jack up one wheel, try to turn it like you
> would going around a corner. Any play, start looking for the source.
> With the wheel hanging down, use a crow bar underneath and lift up. If
> you get an 1/8 of movement and a 'clunking' sound, ball joints are
> history. Same on the other side. Rebalance your tires, especially if you
> have some oversized ones. Sway bar links have nothing to do with it.
>
> Cal wrote:
> > Hi!
> >
> > It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
> > after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
> > steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
> > linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
> > stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
> > the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
> > jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
> > balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?
> >
> > thanks,
> > cal
> >
> >

Hi Cal,
We know we it is physically impossible to transfer the tire bounce
into a shimmy with have a bad, dampener shock absorber in-between. Of
course, once it's bad it doesn't take long knock out the weaker parts.
If you're running larger tires, it stands to reason to use larger
shocks, and dampeners:
http://www.wanderingtrail.com/Buildu..._stabilzer.htm or
http://www.bds-suspension.com/steeringstabilizer.html If you hear any
air in the dampener, it's history.
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
http://www.billhughes.com/

Cal wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
> after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
> steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
> linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
> stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
> the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
> jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
> balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?
>
> thanks,
> cal

We all know it is quite possible to have a tight and non yielding
steering stabilizer and have one wheel precess (death wobble) all by
itself if the ball joints are loose. And we all know that Bill will tell
you to mask the problem by getting a new stabilizer rather than fixing
the underlying problem. And we have all had the flame wars with Bill
trying to get him to even budge off his standard position of "change the
stabilizer" So what else is new under the sun?

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III wrote:
> Hi Cal,
> We know we it is physically impossible to transfer the tire bounce
> into a shimmy with have a bad, dampener shock absorber in-between. Of
> course, once it's bad it doesn't take long knock out the weaker parts.
> If you're running larger tires, it stands to reason to use larger
> shocks, and dampeners:
> http://www.wanderingtrail.com/Buildu..._stabilzer.htm or
> http://www.bds-suspension.com/steeringstabilizer.html If you hear any
> air in the dampener, it's history.
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> http://www.billhughes.com/
>
> Cal wrote:
>
>>Hi!
>>
>>It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
>>after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
>>steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
>>linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
>>stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
>>the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
>>jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
>>balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?
>>
>>thanks,
>>cal

And if you knew anything about tires, you would know a death wobble
a tire problem that happen only at high speed, catastrophic to
motorcyclist: http://www.big-boys.com/articles/bikewipestreet.html The
poster described the classic shimmy. which if you had sold the thousand
of tires I have you would know it takes two tires bouncing off each
other to create: http://www.billhughes.com/tireShimmy.mpg
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O


RoyJ wrote:
>
> We all know it is quite possible to have a tight and non yielding
> steering stabilizer and have one wheel precess (death wobble) all by
> itself if the ball joints are loose. And we all know that Bill will tell
> you to mask the problem by getting a new stabilizer rather than fixing
> the underlying problem. And we have all had the flame wars with Bill
> trying to get him to even budge off his standard position of "change the
> stabilizer" So what else is new under the sun?

http://www.billhughes.com/temp/tireShimmy.mpg

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:
>
> And if you knew anything about tires, you would know a death wobble
> a tire problem that happen only at high speed, catastrophic to
> motorcyclist: http://www.big-boys.com/articles/bikewipestreet.html The
> poster described the classic shimmy. which if you had sold the thousand
> of tires I have you would know it takes two tires bouncing off each
> other to create: http://www.billhughes.com/tireShimmy.mpg
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
>

i see it all the time and a new one from jeep is weak at best
fricking cheap germans dropped the big one for a cheap smaller diameter one
that isn't worth a **** rancho is a good one

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

> Hi Cal,
> We know we it is physically impossible to transfer the tire bounce
> into a shimmy with have a bad, dampener shock absorber in-between. Of
> course, once it's bad it doesn't take long knock out the weaker parts.
> If you're running larger tires, it stands to reason to use larger
> shocks, and dampeners:
> http://www.wanderingtrail.com/Buildu..._stabilzer.htm or
> http://www.bds-suspension.com/steeringstabilizer.html If you hear any
> air in the dampener, it's history.
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> http://www.billhughes.com/
>
> Cal wrote:
> >
> > Hi!
> >
> > It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
> > after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
> > steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
> > linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
> > stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
> > the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
> > jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
> > balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?
> >
> > thanks,
> > cal

When all else fails and you are 'sure' all the bushings, bearings and
ball joint or tie rod ends and tires (rotate them to the back to be
sure) are perfect and still have the shimmy, check the rad fan.

We had the death wobble in our Cherokee so bad I thought I was going to
lose a front wheel finally. It worked it's way worse. I checked
everything, changes a pile of 'marginal' parts and still no joy.

Then my fan started eating the fan shroud. Bingo. That sucker went
into a harmonic wobble literally bad enough to shake us off the road. A
weak engine mount and a spongy tranny mount let the vibration magnify
that bad.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Cal wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> It seems our 97 wrangler has developed the 'death wobble.' Occasionally,
> after i guess hitting a bump just right, we get a severe wobble in the
> steering wheel that will only stop after slowing down. I have checked
> linkages in the suspension, and the only play i can find is in the
> stabilizer bar links. There is some play on both sides there. I replaced
> the steering damper last summer, and I guess it could be defective. The
> jeep handles great (well, as great as a jeep can!), and the tires are in
> balance. What do i look for?? Could it be the stabilizer bar links?
>
> thanks,
> cal