bad front end vibration

everyone else calls it death wobble. it's not a wobble, it's a very volitile vibration.

anyway, after doing some reading, the three experiences i had on my cummute yesterday were most likely caused by my track bar bolts not being snugged up. or so i thought. i crawled under there last night and with my torque wrench, i set them at 140lbs. the top bolt moved about an 1/8 of a turn but nothing out of the bottom. tried the same route this am. same results in the same places. i know my stabilizer needs updating but prior to the lift i've never experienced this before. what's my next step? if my wife rides in this and it happens again, i'm screwed. and not in a nice way.

any help from the collective?

Replace the steering stabilizer shock, the factory one is junk.

ok, i went to 4wheel parts @ lunch and picked up new pro-comp one. guess i'll see what happens. thanks

Check your control arm bolts as well.

I'm trying to recall all we did do his Jeep...
2.5" spacer stacked with a 1" spacer in the front
4 door rubi springs...

IIRC, we are looking at 3.5"-4.5" of lift in the front..

It's probably his caster is way off, and may need to get some adjustable front arms to correct it

Hmmm, I may still have some cam bolts. i'll check when I get home.

i feel like i'm at a dr. office listening to a dianosis. i have no idea what all that means. lol they are 2" blocks with .75" levelers up front. and yes the 4dr rubi springs and shocks. i have noticed the steering wheel is slightly off if that matters. and i can feel the front end shake a little under hard braking.

i figure the stabilizer needs to be replaced anyway so i'll go ahead and get that done tonight

any idea what the control arms should be torqued to? i look at it tonight when i install the stabilizer.

What is your e-mail address, i have all the torque specs in a Word doc.

Stabilizer will not cure anything. It might help to mask the problem, but I really doubt that too.

the 2" pucks along with .75"- that alone wouldn't cause any caster issue. BUT adding in those 4dr Rubi springs (on a 2dr). Now that along with the other 2 very well may have netted enough height to cause a caster issue.

Time for Geo to chime in

Rescue1 wrote:

i have noticed the steering wheel is slightly off if that matters. and i can feel the front end shake a little under hard braking.

this could all be the esp kicking in at all sorts of wierd times............would cause a strange shutter and pull when it hit the brakes........ never seen it happen and not had the dash light up as the esp/bas system turned on

i cant imagine caster is that bad , lots of guys run 3-4 inches of lift with stock control arms...... but its posible the reduction of caster caused by a lift magnifyed a pre-existing problem that dident show up before

lets start off simple......

adjust the steering wheel back to center..............if that dosent work......

get the tires balanced....it is posible a weight got knocked off during the install, but i doubt it

and if that dosent work i guess i'll be seeing you this weekend

christopher.caubarreaux@mustaneng.com thanks

i'll work on my tasks and wait for any updates. thanks guys

do ya'll have a walk through on how to recenter the wheel?

just to add, there is no pulling under braking, just a vibration.

First you jack the jeep up and then you take all four tires off and then take all the breaks off then remove the rotors. Remove the front drive shaft and the rear shaft too. Then drain all the transmission fluid where it don't get in your eye when you pull the tranny. Make sure the muffler bearing is dissassembled properly or it will never go back on again, and you'll have to buy a new one. Stop for a break at that point and get you something to drink. So now you need to remove the injector pump and drain the water off of it. If you look very closely at the glow plugs they have a meetering rod on them, it needs to be set at 37.12 millabars. I think that's about all for right now, if I think of any other parts that need to be removed before you start on the rear diff cover ballancer I'll let you know.

thanks, i think i got it.

Just loosen the sleeve and adjust until the wheel centers, then retighten it. No worries.

Paul Paul Paul...good luck with that Rescue1

Hey, hey, hey - if you're going to service the glow plug, you might as well clean the water trap while you're at it!

!c

Paul08Wrangler wrote:

First you jack the jeep up and then you take all four tires off and then take all the breaks off then remove the rotors. Remove the front drive shaft and the rear shaft too. Then drain all the transmission fluid where it don't get in your eye when you pull the tranny. Make sure the muffler bearing is dissassembled properly or it will never go back on again, and you'll have to buy a new one. Stop for a break at that point and get you something to drink. So now you need to remove the injector pump and drain the water off of it. If you look very closely at the glow plugs they have a meetering rod on them, it needs to be set at 37.12 millabars. I think that's about all for right now, if I think of any other parts that need to be removed before you start on the rear diff cover ballancer I'll let you know.

:smilieheaven:

If I am understanding you correctly then it may very well be the steering stabilizer. My father had a 01 dodge 2500 and everynow and then it would just start bvibrating making you think what the hell. After breaking the tierod he found out that the stabilizier had caused it. Hope that helps you.

how far off was your steering wheel? when i lifted my jeep, it cause the esp to go off when i was going straight down the road. also, my tow was off. didnt think lifting the jeep would effect the tow, but it did.

**UPDATE**
after talking with Geo i disconnected the ABS system. i also inspected each tire for missing weights and did a 5 tire rotation. the wheels were washed Sunday after the build so there isn't any mud on them.

But this morning it happened again.

is it possible that the 4dr rubi springs are just too stiff, and not letting the rest of the suspension do it's job?

what are you doing after work chris? can you come out here?

I have a close quarters combat class tonight. Can't miss it.
I can swing by tomorrow (I get out early) or sat.

**well*** i believe i have one X and one Rubi spring up front. the part numbers are 6319 and 6313. when i push lateraly on the pass side one it moves a lot more than the driver. and the top two coils are compressed on the pass but not the driver.

guess i was going too fast handing out parts.

looks like someone picked back up one of the stock springs and put it back in.

you comin out to the house tonight?