PEAK PUTTERS

Jeep death wobble strikes again...

The LJ has started the 40mph wobble dance. At first I thought it was gonna be an easy fix after finding i had a slow leak in the right rear. Apparently that tire was missing snow wheeling, it was LOW!

Everything aired up and still wobbling. Crawl under the front and have the wife wiggle the wheel, bad TRE at the pitman. Replacement acquired in the mail. Looking at the steering box I remember its the MB box and I thought there was something about it being a little "delicate". Figure the normal hammer method of popping the TRE probably wasn't advised. After a short drive to the Richland Harbor Freight, their TRE separator was put to work. I've never used one of these tools, and was a little leary of its abilities, but after positioning it and applying MASSIVE pressure to the bolt the tool SHOT across the driveway! I start looking for the parts when I realize its fully intact, and the TRE had popped out of the pitman arm. IT WORKED

After recentering the steering wheel, locking down all the bolts and greasing the front end i take it for a drive. While the wobble is much less than before, it's still lurking in the background. Maybe time for a tire balance and rotation.

While you are in there replacing worn out parts, you should upgrade to the ZJ steering linkage... With oversized/heavier tires the stock stuff is much less tolerant, which is why a lot of people claim success in curing wobbles with steering stabilizers and/or a fresh tire balance. The reality is, tire balance is NOT the root cause but it most certainly can accentuate a downstream problem. Wobble stems from alignment and worn parts, period. If tire balance makes it go away, that's great but it's not the real problem... Where is that dead horse emoji?

Stabilizers

Great idea! Wonder if I can still get them in chrome???

Roman wrote:Stabilizers

Great idea! Wonder if I can still get them in chrome???

The chrome ones only come in doubles.

I like my Rusty's ZJ stylish steering linkage.

Tire beads?

What have peeps used?

I found that air soft bbs come in different densities. I got the heavy ones from Walmart for cheap. I can’t remember how many ounces Of bbq I used for 35x12.50, but it worked out well for me. The guys at Discount Tire thought I was nuts but they inserted them with the new tires.

I run ceramic tire balancing beads in the bronco. I e been very happy with them.

I ran Dyna Beads for while in 37" Firestone MT2s. Worked great for a while but diminished over time. I was daily driving them though.

Now that some out of town family stuff is out of the way, time to focus on vehicles again.

Over the last week all the parts showed up for the 42rle valve body/solenoid block work.

Not looking forward to the tranny fluid.

Eeekk! Do NOT quote tires right now...

Finally went in and got the tires balanced. Asked for a leak repair on one of them but its a crack around the sidewall (old wheeling tires don't live forever)

While there I thought, lets see how bad it'll be, since I'm not looking for 37" Iroks. I apparently forgot to tell them that.

Its the way things go these days. Time to dust off the HF tire machine again.

One word...

Toe

That platform hates it. Remove some. 1/8" is enough 3/32" is better

Jimmy, I'll have to try that once I fit new rubber. Right now my old MTR's are trying to come apart so don't know how much fine tuning will be noticeable.

*Crossing fingers*

Trans work seems to "fixed" the problems, but while I was under there I saw the cooler lines at the radiator were leaking. If you drive a Liberty or Commander they're on the shelf locally. If you have a 4sp TJ, no luck.
Found them in Nova Scotia with free 2 day shipping! Man are these things a bear to install. Some peeps say you have to drop the exhaust down pipe, but that sounds like broken bolt just waiting to happen. Others (including the manufacturer) say you have to pull the 2 lower O2 sensors, also sounds like trouble. Turns out I did have to UNPLUG both lower O2 sensor leads, but was able to snake the lines into place without destroying them. They're run between the block and the down pipe, that also has the 2 pre-cats. Its tight, but they slide in!

Now that they are routed (roughly) its time to get the lines plugged in and into the factory plastic "clamps".

These lines are REALLY close to perfect. Comparing them to originals i couldn't see any differences, but now that they are in place I see them in a whole new light! Minor differences in degree of bend, and exact location the bend starts really add up when there's 7-9 bends in a 36" piece of 3/8" tubing.
It took some time to get them to "kinda hang" where they go. Then make some adjustments to get them to plug in to the quick disconnects. Next is some messaging to clear contact points, like the front pre-cat. Don't think trans fluid would like hot exhaust converters too much.
Now that they look like they fit, it is time to get them in the clamps... Except they don't fit!
While both stock and replacement are 3/8" tubing, the stock lines have a flat spot crimped into the lines to match with the factory clamps. I'm not about to try recreating this on the new lines, so I found some rubber lined p-clamps and hardware to secure the lines to each other and the block.

Once I finish this, need to drain the trans pan (again) to install a Lube-Locker pan gasket. Then do the top off dance again.

Add a drain plug and temp sensor to the pan while you have it down... And plumb in a trans cooler... [eats popcorn]

tobyw wrote:Add a drain plug and temp sensor to the pan while you have it down... And plumb in a trans cooler... [eats popcorn]

Last year I put on the "updated pan" w/ drain plug.
It's the newer pan that's supposed to be .5-1 qt larger capacity, can't remember exact spec.

No cooler/temp gauge yet, but most of my drivability issues have been in town/light load.
If gremlins stay at bay I'll progress on finally building this Jeep, there have just been too many issues till this point.

Mounting rubber now...

With a dash of Airsoft BB

Roughly 5 1/2 oz of "salmon egg" airsoft bb's in 35" Cooper Evolutions seems to work.

I also switched from factory 7" wheels and wheel spacers to 8" Outlaw II's and no spacers! Same overall width!

Passing 45mph I did have a hint of shimmy but I don't remember if I replaced a loose TRE I had found earlier.

Ah poo, just reread my own post in here and looks like I already replaced that end. Time to look for more wore out parts.

Last week I got the full on full lock to lock DEATH WOBBLE on the way to work! Had to turn around and grab the truck before making it to work with seconds to spare...

I've gone through the whole front end and nothing is LOOSE, the control arms have soft (old) bushings but not shot, the track bar looks solid, all steering links are tight.

I think the steering stabilizer was covering bigger problems and finally gave up the ghost.

Through my investigation I found the front tires were down to 17 lbs. Set all 4 tires at 22 lbs and its "safe" again. The DW monster is still lurking, so let's keep looking. The caster was WAY to aggressive at 10 to 11 degrees. Flattening that out to 5 degrees helped. Toe was about 3/16", straightening out to 1/16" helped a little too.

For now I think I'll slap on a new stabilizer and focus back on flat toe conversion!


What do people recommend for adjustable control arms?
Savvy?
Core?

Savvy double adjustable with Currie Johnny Joints. Easily adjust pinion angle and caster without removing an end. Tight and silent until I sold it. The Rusty's and Rubicon Express arms they replaced were junk. Buy once, cry once.

I had similar issues about a year ago. Ditto Toby's comment on balance etc. It affects DW but doesn't cause it.

I replaced control arms with RockJock uppers and lowers and JKS track bar. Iron Rock Offroad makes a press in upper joint for the axle side that is similar to a Johnny Joint. The other thing was checking the play between the bushing sleeve and stock bolts. There was enough play to upgrade to 9/16 grade8 bolts without drilling anything out. That all and a good alignment cured it. Tiny amounts of play in many places create enough tolerance for wobble.

Full disclosure... I still had a camber issue caused by my lack of talent and right foot and eventually ended up swapping the front axle for a ProRock 44.

Full disclosure is fine, this is a safe space..

Yeah, I'm thinking its an accumulation of many not so tiny amounts of play leading to my overall problem.

Its corrected enough for this weekends adventuring duties. Successfully flat towed to Silverwood, will use the LJ to Scout out a camp site for after the park stay