I just finished a week long wheeling trip. We finished the trail, I proceeded to air up and after driving off the front wheels begin to shake horribly. It was like riding a bike with a bent rim, the only difference was that I was traveling at 40 mph. I will be the first to say that I do not know a lot about fixing or repairing my own rig. However, below is a list of infomation I can provided.

4" Teraflex Short Arm Kit
Wheels and Rims are not bent
Wheels are airred up at 30 lbs.
Stock Steering Stabilizer (dented from this week's trip)
Track Bar bolt was loose upon inspection and was retightened
Still have movement in the trackbar
Bolts on both sides of trackbar are tight
Death wobble starts after hitting uneven pavement, pot holes, etc.

Any responses are much appreciated.

 

What track bar are you running? I have the teraflex 3'' on my 2-door and ran the JKS track bar for a few months with no problems, then after an 800 mile road trip developed a slight shimmy for a week, then full on death wobble. Turns out the JKS track bar was bending and flexing (deflecting) 3/4 inch when turning the wheel. I replaced it with a forged teraflex track bar and wheel shimmy and death wobble was gone. Since you didn't have this problem before your track bar may have weakened. Have a friend turn the wheel back and forth a few degrees repeatedly while you look at your front end components and check for any abnormal flexing. Your track bar bushings may also be bad so check for movement there.

Additionally, after I installed the forged track bar the shimmy/death wobble was gone but it drove a lil rough so I decided to go all out and installed the teraflex drop track bar bracket and drag link flip... it drives cherry now.

 

I'm not sure whether the trackbar is stock or teraflex. If it came with the 4" Short arm kit it's teraflex. If it didn't it's stock. I'll check what you suggested tomorrow and see what I find.

 

Bet you did something to the tire balance.

 

I thought tire balance may be an issue so I moved the rear tires to the front and the front to the rear. Same issue upon swapping.

 

it could be the shocks you may have blown one. on my jeep the two front shocks are bad and i have the death wobbles when i get to about 45mph. also look at the tierod see if it is damaged even a little bend will throw it off.

 

Did you check the welds on the track bar bracket to the axle? Mine tore completely off twice. Had the same results that you describe except more severe. Just wondering if your welds have come off partially.

 

The welds appear to be fine. could the crush nuts be an issue? If so, how do I determine if they are bad? I also have up and down play in my tie rod. Is that normal?

 

I know this may be obvious but make sure the trackbar bolts aren't loose. If they are you can expect DW.

 

Do you have any mud built up on the inside of the wheel, that will throw off the balance and case a vibration. I dove off the ice last winter, and on to the highway and thought the tires were coming off. Pulled over to find out the wheels were packed with snow, the same can happen with mud.