Just changed ball Joints now death wobble is there.

Wethy

Wethy

Member
Good evening folks

Just finished swapping out worn out ball joints and took it for a test drive and i hit a couple bumps and got a serious case of DW.....

Other than the tie rod nothing else was removed during the process... what would have caused it....

I read through eddies thread about DW and other than tires being partially wore(due to wore out Ball joints,and theyre at the end of their life anyways) what could have caused it. The likely suspects seem good and tight. I checked torque on them everything seems okay.
 
Wethy said:
Good evening folks

Just finished swapping out worn out ball joints and took it for a test drive and i hit a couple bumps and got a serious case of DW.....

Other than the tie rod nothing else was removed during the process... what would have caused it....

I read through eddies thread about DW and other than tires being partially wore(due to wore out Ball joints,and theyre at the end of their life anyways) what could have caused it. The likely suspects seem good and tight. I checked torque on them everything seems okay.
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Alignment, tire balance, worn out trackbar or drag link.

Start with getting new tires on and balanced and align the front end.
 
cozdude said:
Alignment, tire balance, worn out trackbar or drag link.

Start with getting new tires on and balanced and align the front end.
Click to expand...
Ill rotate the tires front to back(as these are my winters and they wont be on much longer anyways) to see if that changes
Drag link is recent as i did a flip kit before moab in august. Also alignment is good. Same as before i did the ball joints

wayoflife said:
What cozdude said. If I could guess, you've got a worn out track bar bushing.
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I pulled the track bar out the steel sleeve look okay(not wallowed out) however there is axial play in the frame side.... should that happenor should it be fairly solid?


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Wethy said:
Ill rotate the tires front to back(as these are my winters and they wont be on much longer anyways) to see if that changes
Drag link is recent as i did a flip kit before moab in august. Also alignment is good. Same as before i did the ball joints

I pulled the track bar out the steel sleeve look okay(not wallowed out) however there is axial play in the frame side.... should that happenor should it be fairly solid?


View attachment 343076View attachment 343077View attachment 343078
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That’s a garbage bushing. I would replace it but get one for an 07-11. The 12+ bushings on the track bars are trash. I think all the oem replacements from crown and the like are the older style.


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OverlanderJK said:
That’s a garbage bushing. I would replace it but get one for an 07-11. The 12+ bushings on the track bars are trash. I think all the oem replacements from crown and the like are the older style.


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I vaguely remember reading that on the forum before. Lol and is that even possible if its not a takeoff from someone else? Also i gotta admit. I got 340,000Km out of it so i cant really complain ha ha
Crown is hard to get up here in canada unless i buy online but ill definitely look into it.

Im kind of shocked if thats the cause as there was zero DW before changing the ball joints. I can only assume worn out parts were compensating for other worn out parts if it is the culprit.
 
What Wayalife and OverlanderJK said.
If you replaced it with a OEM replacement it’s most likely the newer softer rubber. They do not last long at all.
 
The old style use a clevite bushing the new style have the plastic spherical bushing like the one you have. I think they changed it in 2010 or 11. My 2011 came with the newer style. Of course you could skip the mystery and just get a Synergy adjustable track bar and be done with it. [emoji16]


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A.J. said:
The old style use a clevite bushing the new style have the plastic spherical bushing like the one you have. I think they changed it in 2010 or 11. My 2011 came with the newer style. Of course you could skip the mystery and just get a Synergy adjustable track bar and be done with it. [emoji16]


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Haha i could but i have a flipped drag link and a raised TB bracket so i dont really need an adjustable one. Plus with the mileage i got out of my original one im debating just getting another if i can't get the crown one easily.
 
Wethy said:
Haha i could but i have a flipped drag link and a raised TB bracket so i dont really need an adjustable one. Plus with the mileage i got out of my original one im debating just getting another if i can't get the crown one easily.
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19yj94 and I pressed new ends in his original bar and it seemed really solid, I think they were Energy Suspension


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cozdude said:
Get the crown trackbar. The bushing is much more ridged
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Ill look into it. If Its not going to take forever to get due to shipping then i probably will. But i kind of need to get it done by tuesday as i gotta drive to work. So it might be a OEM one. Lol napa and parts stores up here dont carry crown like they use to. So im forced to get that stuff online. Even on amazon canada itll take 1 -2 weeks to get.... so having prime doesnt help lol
 
Abd im back. Track bar has been changed. Steering feels much more solid now. I went with OEM as thats what i could get fast. Ill deal with the bushing issues as it arises.


Deathwobble occuring has severely decreased however. Its still there.

At this point im assuming itis either:

tie rod..... its factory but still feels tight and alignment is good.


Or ball joints even though theyre brand new..... as thats the only thing thats changed....


Pitman arm TRE was changed when i did the flip so im not entirely sure.
 
Wethy said:
Abd im back. Track bar has been changed. Steering feels much more solid now. I went with OEM as thats what i could get fast. Ill deal with the bushing issues as it arises.


Deathwobble occuring has severely decreased however. Its still there.

At this point im assuming itis either:

tie rod..... its factory but still feels tight and alignment is good.


Or ball joints even though theyre brand new..... as thats the only thing thats changed....


Pitman arm TRE was changed when i did the flip so im not entirely sure.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna go with ball joints or unit bearings. But, before you change anything, check them.

1. From the axle, use a good floor jack to lift one of your tire off the ground. If you don't have a good floor jack, set your axle on a jack stand to hold it up securely in place.
2. From the side, place a long pry bar under the tire and have someone lift it up and down while you watch the lower ball joint for axial (up and down) movement. Any movement more than 0.050" is too much and would indicate that your ball joint is bad. Of course, if you can see this movement with your eyes, it's definitely bad.
3. Next, grab the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and try to rock it back and forth while you have someone watch the upper joint for any movement. Any radial (side-to-side) movement more than 0.060" is too much. Again, if you can see the movement with your eyes and without any dial indicator, it's probably bad as well.
 
wayoflife said:
I'm gonna go with ball joints or unit bearings. But, before you change anything, check them.

1. From the axle, use a good floor jack to lift one of your tire off the ground. If you don't have a good floor jack, set your axle on a jack stand to hold it up securely in place.
2. From the side, place a long pry bar under the tire and have someone lift it up and down while you watch the lower ball joint for axial (up and down) movement. Any movement more than 0.050" is too much and would indicate that your ball joint is bad. Of course, if you can see this movement with your eyes, it's definitely bad.
3. Next, grab the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and try to rock it back and forth while you have someone watch the upper joint for any movement. Any radial (side-to-side) movement more than 0.060" is too much. Again, if you can see the movement with your eyes and without any dial indicator, it's probably bad as well.
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This is my issue....

This came about as a result of installing brand new mopar ball joints; upper and lower. And i just installed a brand new passenger side bearing. And the drivers was changed before my moab trip in august. And the death wobble cMe about after installing the new parts this past weekend.
 
Bumpin my own thread for any other suggestions. I did take eddies suggestion and check the ball joints anyways and no movement at all compared to the ones thag were in there. It does however seem like the passenger side upper joint is not seated all the way down. The grease boot on the upper joint isnt touching the top of the knuckle. Could that cause it?
 
If you're not seeing movement, you should be okay. Are you currently running a steering stabilizer? Not saying that you should need one but it would help things out. Also, I would check your front shocks - cycle them by hand. I've had one instance in the past where one shock was blown or at least, not valving as well as the other and that caused DW for me.
 
wayoflife said:
If you're not seeing movement, you should be okay. Are you currently running a steering stabilizer? Not saying that you should need one but it would help things out. Also, I would check your front shocks - cycle them by hand. I've had one instance in the past where one shock was blown or at least, not valving as well as the other and that caused DW for me.
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Thanka for the input eddie. And only the factory one... and ill check the shocks but theyre also only a few months old. And theyre bilstien 5100s paired with evo 3" plush rides.

Castor seems to be within tolerance and their toed in somewhere between 1/16th and 1/8th and ive never had a problem.... at this point its either my tires are mangled but i did rotate them to see if that helped.


Or my tierod is done for and needs to be replaced.... at this point its the only original steering component. Other than pitman arm and steering box. Lol
 
It’s took me months to find out why I kept getting death wobble. I changed ball joints, I even had a new spare track bar and changed it. Torqued everything. And it was driving me nuts. It ended up being one of my tires. I had a brand new set of 37 Cooper Stt pros and one tire took a lot of weights to balance it and even though the tire shop said it was still balance it gave me death wobble anytime I rotated it to the front. I bet it’s it’s your tires.


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