drgreybow

Most of us have read ton's of posts about Death Wobble. What it is, what it isn't, and what causes it. But I've seen very few threads about people who actually fixed it and what they did. So here's my story.....

I started getting Death Wobble a few months ago. It was a fairly mild case, but it was unmistakable. I did a good job of keeping it under wraps whenever I would feel it coming on and slowed down immediately to get it to stop. I was well aware of what Death Wobble was and what caused it but for some reason I had a little trouble diagnosing it.

I went to my Track Bar first. For the most part it looked fine. Maybe a very slight case of wallowed out bolt holes, but not much if any. To be safe, I had a buddy weld on some washers and installed 9/16 bolts instead of the stock bolt. That didn't fix it.

I took it to the dealer and a local shop and neither one could tell me what was wrong.

Finally I went to the Lower Control Arms. I checked several times that everything was torqued to spec and it always was, but I decided to unbolt them completely and check the bushings. I've been running Rock Krawler control arms in case you're wondering. When I pulled them off on the frame side, the inner metal sleeve simply fell out. This is bad. What I found was that for some some reason the rubber bushings were shot. Take a look at the picture below. You can see daylight between the metal sleeve and the bushing. This means that there has been play in the control arms making the axle move back and forth and resulting in death wobble. I ordered a new set of bushings from Rock Krawler and just to give you an idea of how tight it should be, I had to use a vice to get the metal sleeve to seat all the way into the new rubber bushings. I bolted everything back up (this time using 9/16 bolts as well), and everything has been solid ever since. No more Death Wobble!

So if you're having trouble diagnosing your Death Wobble, and you have aftermarket control arms, take a look at your bushings! It could be the source of your problem if everything with your trackbar checked out fine. Hope this helps some people out there!

thedrod

So the 9/16" bolts fit into the Rock Krawler arms without having to drill them out?

drgreybow

Yes they do. No drilling required.

thedrod

Interesting. That is the exact opposite of what people on this forum have been finding.

jason0341

Are these first generation or second generation Rock Krawler control arms?

To the post above the 9/16th bolts will fit Rock Krawler arms on the frame side not axle side.

drgreybow

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what generation mine are. But I was able to use 9/16 bolts on both the frame and axle ends.

fleetwood8890

nice good find!

RedOffRoad

I havnt changed the bolts on my control arms, but I was under the impression that Jeep used 14mm bolts on them as well even with them being drilled for 9/16ths from factory. Havnt really seen much on the forum to dispute this? Good write up

drgreybow

Not sure why the mods moved this to the Show & Tell board, but hopefully people will still be able to find it here.

Pamj

Not looking good! Just starting to get it! Need to start looking closely!