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Topic: Death Wobble from mud???

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aci4369
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Death Wobble from mud???
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So I got a chance to go off-roading this weekend, unschedualed otherwise I would have notified some people on here.  Anyways there was a mud pit, and while doing donuts I noticed that my stearing started to get sloppy.  I one time turned the wheel all the way around twice.evileye 

We then moved to a creek.  The guy I was following was trying to get the XJ stuck.  He was in a Rubi with 8" of lift, locked front and rear, long arm kit, winch on an ARB bumper (nice machine).  Anyways HE get stuck and I had to pull him out....  hahaha then he winched himself up and out of the Creek, and then had to winch me out as well.  Sand and water of the creek made things hard to climb out. 

After I got out of the creek I noticed that the Power Steering wasn't working as well.   I was running late so I didn't have time to really look at things so I limped home.  On the way home I got Death Wobble like no other from 40-50mph. 

So today I fill up the Power Steering pump, it wasn't empty just down to the fill line, and the power steering started to work again.  Then I hosed all the mud off, spent like 30 min.  Took it out for a test drive and no wobble.  I have been up to 50 just for a sec and then back down.  No wobble and the steering feels just as tight as before.

So the question is did this happen because of mud on the rims?  Felt really bad, even worse then when I had DW before I put on the one ton and Adj. Trac Bar.  Could the Power Steering pump have something to do with this either?

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DW can be caused by several things.

I'd first check all bolts on your steering (jamb nuts especially on the TRE's) as well as on your trackbar. If everything looks tight (and checkouts to be actually tight) I'd move on to checking the bushings on the control arms (on the arms themselves as well as your upper control arm bushings on the axle itself).

My guess is that the mud in the rims caused the DW to happen as it was out of balance. That was just the cause of it, not the actual reason.

If the bushings look good (I doubt they do if they are originals and with the lift your running) I'd swap your front tires to the rear as you may have an unbalanced tire.

I don't think that a PS pump would be the cause of DW unless it's really shot and there is a ton of play in it.

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aci4369
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I took off the skid plate and looked at everything.  I couldn't find anything loose, or that had any play in it.  It is working now though so I don't know.  Just more wondering if it is something that I should be worried about for the future, or if I should just keep it in the back of my mind and move on.

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My guess is that running 5" of lift on stock upper and lower control arms has finally cought up to the Jeep and that the bushings are shot on the control arms.

Drive it and see if you can get it to happen again. If it's really DW it will just get worse (happen more often) and than you know it's a problem that needs to be fixed.

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89eliminator
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i was getting progressively worse death wobble lately as well. I thought that maybe the tie rods were going or my ball joints were bad. nope they are all tight. so i then checked out the tracbar and that was tight as well.

The idiots over at 4wheel Parts put stick on weights on the back of the rims to balance them out. well after one trip, most had come off. I was getting dw that i could really feel in the steering wheel. I rotated the 2 front tires to the back and took it for a spin. Now i have very minimal wobble and it drives way better.

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aci4369
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It only happen on the trip back.  Since I have cleaned it, it has not done it again (only driven 2 times).  I have not had any hints of DW before this.  I do want and need to get a long arm kit.  Maybe the wife will let me spring for it.... evileye 

Rebecca, anything you can do???  Tell her that I need one, you are a girl she will listen to you more then me.... haha

JK


Wade, Nick balanced my tires for me.  I watched him do it and there were those magnets on the rims originally.  We took them all off and balanced them without them.  So I know that is not the problem.  But that makes me think that it was mud all the more being stuck on the rim or something.

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HuNtS
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i've had snow packed in my rims give me DW. i say if it drives fine with the rims cleaned off you're probably gonna be alright unless it starts happening again.. then you need to look for the problem.

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