death wobble!!

I would say check your tires for binging out of round..... and choppy from
not rotating at 3000 miles. After then I would go to the stabilizer shock.
and listen very close to Bill H. he has been around Jeeps a very long time.
and we have be doing it for 15 plus yrs. and deal with nothing but TJ's

Larry



"Mike Romain" > wrote in message
...
> 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

The most common malady that causes death wobble is incorrect caster angle.
Caster angle is an imaginary line that goes through the center of the upper
and lower ball joints, and the spindle that the tire actually revolves
around. This angle should be tilted a few degrees toward the rear for
stability. This helps hold the tires in a straight ahead attitude. If the
caster angle is not steep enough, then the tires can set up an oscilation
that you feel as Death Wobble.

A test for caster angle is to turn the steering wheel full lock, and let go
of it, then as you press the gas pedal to start going, the steering wheel
should come to center by itself, if it makes no effor to come to center,
then your Caster Angle is not correct. When you make a U-turn in the street,
you should simply give a flick to the steering wheel and let if slide in
your hands to straight ahead, if you have to physically crank the wheel
around to get to straight ahead, then you have issues with caster.

I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT YOU SHOULD LET THE STEERING WHEEL FLY AROUND
BETWEEN YOUR FINGERS AS A NORMAL COURSE OF DRIVING, I AM SUGGESTING THAT
THIS IS A TEST TO SEE IF YOU HAVE A MALFUNCTION. IF YOU ARE GOING TO LET THE
STEERING WHEEL GO, MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT WHERE YOU WILL STRIKE ANY OTHER
OBJECTS OR PERSONS STANDING BY.



"Cal" > wrote in message
. com...
> 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 once owned a '65 Ford pick up truck, it did not have a steering
stabalizer. I suspect the steering stabalizer has very little to do with
death wobble.




"L.W. (ßill) Hughes III" > wrote in message
...
> 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?

"Mike Romain" > wrote in message
...
> 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



NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF BEANS IN CHINA,
But I was changing the oil in my BMW last week, and while rolling around in
the oil spilling all over the floor, I noticed that there were several
chunks of plastic laying around in the fan shroud area, and a few more back
by the firewall. Anyway, it was the fan. It had stripped all of its blades
and I never even knew. All that remained attached to the viscous coupling
(fan clutch) was the ring that the fan blades are molded onto.

Jeff,
My '62, '72. '78 all came stock with dampeners, anything with a
straight axle did. And I've never had a death wobble, I've always used
better tires than that. If you would have wanted to replace yours, you
could have at: http://www.billhughes.com/temp/jeffsTruck.jpg
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O


Jeff Strickland wrote:
>
> We once owned a '65 Ford pick up truck, it did not have a steering
> stabalizer. I suspect the steering stabalizer has very little to do with
> death wobble.

"L.W. (ßill) Hughes III" > wrote in message
...
> Jeff,
> My '62, '72. '78 all came stock with dampeners, anything with a
> straight axle did. And I've never had a death wobble, I've always used
> better tires than that. If you would have wanted to replace yours, you
> could have at: http://www.billhughes.com/temp/jeffsTruck.jpg


Why would I want to do that? I didn't have one, why would I replace it? I
should rephrase that, I don't remember that it had one. I remember lots of
stuff it did have, but the steering stabalizer isn't any of them.

Yes Jeff, your senility would have something do with your remembering
what a Real Ford would have come stock with. I merely pointed out it's
steering dampener part number, to prove it:
http://www.billhughes.com/temp/jeffsTruck.jpg
I would be checking under your hood more often, sounds like your
hearing is going, too.
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
http://www.billhughes.com/

Jeff Strickland wrote:
>
> Why would I want to do that? I didn't have one, why would I replace it? I
> should rephrase that, I don't remember that it had one. I remember lots of
> stuff it did have, but the steering stabalizer isn't any of them.

> NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF BEANS IN CHINA,
> But I was changing the oil in my BMW last week, and while rolling around in
> the oil spilling all over the floor, I noticed that there were several
> chunks of plastic laying around in the fan shroud area, and a few more back
> by the firewall. Anyway, it was the fan. It had stripped all of its blades
> and I never even knew. All that remained attached to the viscous coupling
> (fan clutch) was the ring that the fan blades are molded onto.

NOooooo!
Don't ever mention BMW's here or Bill will have to post a link about
his brothers 12-cylinder 740i lemon again!

wonder if death wobble caused this?
http://www.big-boys.com/pictures/picture0934.html

Patrick
Ô¿Ô


"L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" > wrote in message
...
> 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?

Any motorcyclist who experiences death wobble should change his steering
stabilizer immediately.

"L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" > wrote in message
...
> 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?