Jeep Wrangler - TJ / LJ - Got Death Wobble? Change the Front Track Bar 

You're welcome. Glad it helped!

Glad it helped! Thanks for subscribing!!

Glad it helped!!

Glad you liked it!

OMG, thank you. I wish I knew that trick years ago.

Thanks, Glad you like the video! The track bar is the most common reason for death wobble. Its a wild ride when it happens. Glad my YJ doesn't need them :-). Hope that corrected your issue. Thanks for dropping in! Have a great day!

Glad you liked it

You are welcome. Hope it works for you!

+poboyspecial Thanks man! Your channel rocks as well!

Word has it that this is a very common problem for Jeeps, and if you have that shimmy in the wheel, then look at this first when problem spotting. Glad you did on this video.....

Glad you enjoyed it

You are welcome! Hope it helped!

Death wobble is not caused by this alone. Google this and read a lot of answers before buying any more parts. Could be as simple as a worn bushing.

I would start with a shakedown. See if you feel any weird play side to side. Obviously the wheel comes off the ground and is still tight.

You are welcome! Hope the video helps

Sounds like sway bay end links to me. Crawl under the Jeep and start grabbing and shaking things to see what makes sounds that shouldn't. Good luck!

+Gary King Yep .. use the poly bumps. Much easier on parts if suspension over hits the bump stops.

What leaf spring

Gary. Let me guess, you have a 98 to 01 jeep cherokee and it was sitting on its haunches? I did too. I put in a helper leaf to raise the body 3.5 inches. I got the left spring assembly off fine and rebuilt it on the bench. The right side...not so much. Fought with the front bushing bolt for too long before i just decided to lower the axle enough to install the new spring and locking straps on the vehicle. I can't believe the difference in the posture of the vehicle. I haven't even replaced the bump stops yet though I have them because the spring would have to completely recurve upward to make it deflect enough to touch the bump stop...not gonna happen without 5000 lbs in the back of the jeep... Do oyou ahve pro0blems with the death wobble too? My problem was amplified with the addition of the longer springs. Still haven't replaced the track bar, but did buy an adjiustable one since i did lengthen the distance between the mounting points by elevating the vehicle. I can't help but believe that the current tension on the track bar isn't in some way affecting the wobble since the front end wanted to be about 1.3 inches further to the right before i got the come along to pull the axle into the required position to make the stock track bar work.

Thanks for adding that to help everyone out!! Have a great day!!

Music Islife unless it’s lifted. In that case, center your steering, then shake the body back and forth. Measure to ensure axle is centered under body, and then adjust track bar length to accommodate.

+Gary King Rubber or urethane.Solid steel to harsh, could cause damage..

Start checking tie rod ends and ball joints as well. Often times when a track bar goes bad it will tear up other front parts as well. Good luck!

If a YJ has death wobble, then your leaf spring bushings are shot. Some people mistake loose tie rod ends or ball joints as death wobble as well. True legit death wobble is when the WHOLE front axle is moving. Not just loose steering parts. My YJ has no track bars, no sway bars and wore out shocks. It does slow speeds up to 80mph smooth as glass.

@@Poweraddicts Thank you for the reply, i'll gladly take your advice and change the leaf spring bushings first. i'll keep you updated

@@David-ws7rq you can eliminate your death wobble by correcting your toe, I like to call it tracking. Any toe in is the root of deathwobble, putting a side load on your tire, causing it to flex and be loaded. If theres and imbalance or out of round in your wheel, or you just hit a bump, your loaded tires can start oscillating. A loose track bar doesn't cause this, but let's it happen easier. That's why it goes away for some people and it don't for others. Tracking is very touchy for some wheel combos, if I turn my tierod a half turn in either direction on my truck, I get horrible deathwobble. But where I have it set now it drives perfect. I have very old, cut for mud tires and heavy beadlocks, that will deathwobble when side loaded. The crown of the road has a huge affect on your tire tracking, making your tires foot print, on the inside of the tires. If your toe is set at zero, on a crowned road, your tires will track in. If you could put your tire on the ground, by itself, loaded foot print , like it was on the truck, and pushed it, it would go in a circle. Manufacturers dont compensate for the crown of the road when setting specs, especially for larger footprinted tires, that matter. The road crown changes constantly so obviously, they couldn't set the camber and be done. That being said, your tracking constantly changes with the crown of the road. You have to try to find the middle ground, which I guarantee will be slightly toed out. I set mine up on a very crowned road, by my house. Like I said, my old 40s will deathwobble with any side load. I started slightly in, and tested. Terrible death wobble I moved it out a half turn at a time, and kept trying it, until the dw stopped. It drove perfect, but just for the heck of it I went another turn out. Dw was back, so I turned it back in a half and locked it down. Hasn't deathwobbled since I'd be willing to bet, these new vehicles you see with deathwobble are toed in, with sticky tires. Obviously factory specs are too sloppy, especially for larger footprinted tires and they don't compensate for road crown.

Often times after installing a lift a longer (or adjustable length) Track bar should be used. The suspension lift obviously raises the body vertically. With a stock length track bar and the added vertical height it tends to pull the axles to the side a bit. The more lift the more axle misalignment. So, adding the longer track bars allows the axle to realign where it needs to be.

What year is it?

Good luck with that!! Hope it works out for you. Have a great day!

I don't check it. When its not working, I replace it with stuff that doesn't fail. That vacuum locking system installed in the YJs are junk from the factory. Here is your best option: amzn.to/2vVqXMI

Curious, did it work?

No.. problem is is there

+Gary King I've got the leaves. I'm going on a motorcycle trip in a couple of weeks. Work will be sending me out of town soon, they just havent given me a date yet. So honestly, possibly a month out at least.I really wanna get that one done because my leaves need help! I have about 3/4" of suspension travel. My little YJ rides rough!

Sounds to me the rear track bar is bad allowing the rear end to move around.

Sometimes if the faulty track bar is left installed too long, it can damage the tie rod ends as well. Causing a slight shimmy but no where as bad as the track bar does.

You're welcome! No, I'm not military. I've got 2 sons who are in the Airforce. Glad you liked the video! Hope it helped! Have a great day!

That was damn nice of you to leave that advice!

+Gary King Loosen the long bolt through the engine mount and frame mount. Put a thick piece of plywood under the oil pan and ever so lightly lift the engine enough to take the weight off the bolt. pull the bolt and remove the other bolt to remove the mount. Install the new mount in reverse order. That long bolt can be a booger going back in a t times.. Just line up the holes and gently tap the bolt with a hammer to persuade it through. Tighten up the bolts and you are done. Do one mount at a time to prevent the engine from shifting. Its not hard, just take your time.

+isaac salinas It will only mask the problem, i killed my aftermarket large steering stabilizer due to my front end vibrations. Track bar is the #1 source for wobble. If your track bar is worn odds are, tie rods are done as well. Wobble is usually a combination of worn out parts.

Start checking for worn out parts such as tie rod ends, drag link and track bar.

A Jeep is no different than any other used vehicle, you have to replace wear / tear items. Wranglers are actually really solid rides that can take more abuse than most other vehicles on the road. My dads 2006 TJ has over 300, 000 miles on it and runs as good as the day it rolled off the lot, it uses no oil at all ... its solid. So, Its your Jeep ... enjoy it!! :-)

Bone stock, except for it having a Rampage frameless top.

Ball joints will do that.

If the Jeep is stock heights, adjust the track bar to the same length as the original. After the 2" lift, take the Jeep to an alignment shop and let them adjust your track bar to ensure your front and rear axle are tracking the same.

JP, the real answer is to check the alignment of the axle under the body by using a common chassis mounting point and comparing the offset of the axle in either direction. You can use a plumb bob hanging from a common point on the frame to asses whether your axle is aligned properly. then with a cinch strap, you can pull the frame and body into the proper relationship (alignment). Once you have eliminated the lopsidedness of the stance, you adjust the track bar so it is a tight fit to the static position of the aligned axle and the body mounting point and bolt it in. As others have said, once you have replaced the track bar, you have to check other components to ensure no play in them (tie rods, ball joints, etc) one at a time.

60 ft pounds

Nope .. gotta change the bar if you have the wobble. The rubber boot simply holds the grease in. If the joints are loose allowing the front end to move, replacing just the rubber boots isn't gonna help. While you are replacing the track bar, be sure to check the other front end parts. The track bar allowing the front axle to shift around can wear the other steering parts as well. Thanks and good luck! Have a great day!!

PA i think he is talking about replacing just the bushings. I would think that if you have added lift to the body, there is no alternative to installing a new, longer track bar (adjustable versions with heavy locking bolt design are best).

Yes, you want it tight. I didn't tighten it to a specific torque, I just cranked down on it, not tight enough to strip the threads, then turned it a bit more till the castle nut lined up for the cotter key to go through. Some of the auto parts stores can tell you the specific torque if you call them. Good luck and have a great day!

Awesome bro, thanks. That's what I did. It took the wobble out for the most part, but I think i have an issue with the front drive shaft too.

You welcome man!! Check the tie rod ends and stuff as well. Often times a loose track bar will wear out the other suspension parts as well due to the excessive movement of the front differential. Oh .. to potentially save you some money. Some people will say that the steering dampener shocks (the shocks that are horizontal bolted to the steering and diff) will take out the shake ... aaa wrong. Those are for helping with bump steer. Has no effect on "death wobble".

Hey PA, do you get noise in your front diff after raising the front end? If so, you would benefit from changing the drive system, but that isn't what is causing your wobble unless you have raised you front end in excess of 3.5 inches. If so, the variation in speed as the u joints rotate will eventually wear out the u joint as well as potentially damage seals on front diff. The only solution for this is to install a TRUE CV jointed drive shaft - not a cheap fix but doable.

I'd have the balance on the tires checked first. That's about the sweet spot where "imbalanced" tires will vibrate,

Tie rods or ball joints. Or .. both just depends on how wore out the rig is.

Sorry for the slow reply, RU-vid didn't notify me of your question. I just happened to notice it while in this video. With that much lift, adjustable no doubt. Good luck! Have a great day!

If you have done all that. Put the rear of the jeep up with jack stands under the axle. Wheels and brake disc/drum removed. Push and pull on your axle shafts to check for excessive axle movement. Anything more, you will have to take it to someone to look at it. Without me physically looking and checking it, there is no way for me to know exactly what is going on.

Another thing. Check where the track bar bolts to the rear diff and body. I have known of the flimsy metal cracking and flexing.

A bad track bar can cause other parts to wear quicker than it should. Start checking for more loose parts.

There could be other reasons, this is true.

No need for a rack. Just use wheel chocks front and rear of a tire to prevent it from rolling. You can get wheel chocks at most any auto parts store or Harbor Freight. Or, you can use bricks (not large cinder blocks), 2x4s, or anything that the tire will not roll over. For a novice, buy legit wheel chocks, they are much more safe. As for the Zerk fitting, it is just slightly snug. It only needs to be tight enough not to leak grease around the threads. Hope that helps.

@@Poweraddicts thank you!!! I've basically ordered all the parts suggested in several video's. Everything is spot on. I'm now the proud owner of a crap ton of new tools 😍😍😍. My dad would be proud! You should do a quick video explaining the conversion from inch pounds to foot pounds. I'm referring several women, (not Karen's) to your page. Very informative! They need to know how to fix their rigs!

@@tawnyagarrison8311 That is a good idea for the metric conversion video. I'll put that on my videos to do list. Thanks for referring my videos! Hope you enjoy your Jeep!! Have a great day!

Here ya go: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u3u7Du-LOj4.html

yep!!

you can see it better if you look at the axle in the background. (axle is not supposed to move back and forth at all)

Dang good idea!! I'll do that in one of my upcoming videos 😂👍