death wabble on stock TJ
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:18 am
Reports of TJs developing a death wobble are popping up on the web. My
little sister is now experiencing the death wobble on her 2004 stock TJ with 50K miles on it.
The story is the same...45 to 50 mph, hit a small bump in the road, and the death wobble appears.
What I could gather from the various forums is that the TJ's suspension and steering components must maintain tight specifications in order operate as designed. While all of her components looked good (special attention to the Tie Rod Ends), they must have enough accumulative slop to induce the death wobble. I read that increasing the caster slightly beyond factory specs. eliminated the occurrence of death wobble. Interestingly, she put a grocery-getter with about 50lbs on the back of the TJ (squatting the back about 1") and we could not get the death wobble to appear.
So my question is...Have any of you TJ owners had to deal with this problem and found a solution? Does increasing the caster a few degrees cause any other problems?
little sister is now experiencing the death wobble on her 2004 stock TJ with 50K miles on it.
The story is the same...45 to 50 mph, hit a small bump in the road, and the death wobble appears.
What I could gather from the various forums is that the TJ's suspension and steering components must maintain tight specifications in order operate as designed. While all of her components looked good (special attention to the Tie Rod Ends), they must have enough accumulative slop to induce the death wobble. I read that increasing the caster slightly beyond factory specs. eliminated the occurrence of death wobble. Interestingly, she put a grocery-getter with about 50lbs on the back of the TJ (squatting the back about 1") and we could not get the death wobble to appear.
So my question is...Have any of you TJ owners had to deal with this problem and found a solution? Does increasing the caster a few degrees cause any other problems?