I have a 2005 LJ with 76k miles. It had a (crap) 2-3" lift when I bought it about 4 years ago. ~3 years ago I replaced the (crap) control arms with stock arms, springs with BDS +2" and Rancho 5000 shocks. It had Ravine wheels (15x8, 5.5") and 32x11.5 AT51s. All was good.
Last October, I gave those wheels & tires to my son for his 2000 TJ to replace 33x12.5s on some 15" wheels with a lot less backspacing - I'd guess at least 2" less. That change (along with a driveway alignment) cured his death wobble.
At the same time, I switched my LJ to 235x85R16 (~31.7x9.3) Falkens () on Icon wheels (16x7, 5.5"). All was good. The steering was maybe a tad quicker or "dart-ier", but I had no concerns.
Fast forward to the spring. Around March/April, as the weather was warming up here, I hit a series of bumps (over which I had driven many times) and the front-end shuddered violently & rythmically. I slowed quickly & it stopped. I assume this is death wobble - though it feels more shakey up-n-down than wobbly to me. It didn't happen again for a few weeks. It became more frequent, but only happened around 45-50mph. In another month or two, it became more frequent (though always triggered by a bump on the road). Eventually, it happened on the freeway, which was rather terrifying. We measured toe-in in the driveway and found it to be ~3/8". Set it to under 1/8" and it reduce the frequency a little, but surely not cured.
My knowledge of steering/suspensions is admittedly pretty limited, but I've read a lot here over the years...so thanks! I think the general consensus is that when all parts are working & adjusted correctly, 2" lift does not cause this and my 3 years without issues agrees with that. Which implies that something else has deteriorated.
My plan is:
pic for no particular reason ...
Last October, I gave those wheels & tires to my son for his 2000 TJ to replace 33x12.5s on some 15" wheels with a lot less backspacing - I'd guess at least 2" less. That change (along with a driveway alignment) cured his death wobble.
At the same time, I switched my LJ to 235x85R16 (~31.7x9.3) Falkens () on Icon wheels (16x7, 5.5"). All was good. The steering was maybe a tad quicker or "dart-ier", but I had no concerns.
Fast forward to the spring. Around March/April, as the weather was warming up here, I hit a series of bumps (over which I had driven many times) and the front-end shuddered violently & rythmically. I slowed quickly & it stopped. I assume this is death wobble - though it feels more shakey up-n-down than wobbly to me. It didn't happen again for a few weeks. It became more frequent, but only happened around 45-50mph. In another month or two, it became more frequent (though always triggered by a bump on the road). Eventually, it happened on the freeway, which was rather terrifying. We measured toe-in in the driveway and found it to be ~3/8". Set it to under 1/8" and it reduce the frequency a little, but surely not cured.
My knowledge of steering/suspensions is admittedly pretty limited, but I've read a lot here over the years...so thanks! I think the general consensus is that when all parts are working & adjusted correctly, 2" lift does not cause this and my 3 years without issues agrees with that. Which implies that something else has deteriorated.
My plan is:
- Take to my tire shop to set toe-in correctly. I am not confident that we got it exactly where it should be. That shop is at least reasonably competant at checking the steering/suspension, as they correctly diagnosed a bad drag-link joint on my 97 TJ when I asked them to align it.
- Take to my regular mechanic to fully checkout all the steering & suspension components. He has served me well over the years and has proved himself trustworthy ... which is more than I can say about the local 4x4 shop
pic for no particular reason ...
