[98dyna]

wobble

My daughter had a wobble start in her 07 Wrangler,stock jeep.Got burned by Firestone and the steering damper sale.Brought to me (30 year front end mechanic on cars to semi's).I put it on the alignment rack,lowered the caster from 7.0 degrees to 4.8 degrees,wobble gone.Of course I checked thr front end out and everything was tight.Jeep drives great and no wobble.I have written on other places in this forum and had others try the caster change after checking all the front end parts out.it does work if you can find a front end man that will think out of the box and try it.

 

[98dyna]

caster

You best look at a alignment spec book for 07 Jeeps.I just doubled checked on the Mitchell On Demand website and caster can go from 3.7 minimum to 8.0 degrees maximum depending on what model it is. Jeep uses high caster to force a model to drive straight and have steering wheel return. Jeep didn't have a major wobble problem years ago,it started when when Jeep put power steering and larger tires on their 4x4s. Now they created a handling problem and started to use caster with other angles to try and cure it. I have contacted the head alignment instructor for Hunter Engineering(alignment equipment designer and maker) Ron Freeman and we are putting a thread together for this forum. I hope that we can explain simply what caster wobble is and how it is caused. It is easier to cure if you understand how it is caused. You will also discover the largest Magnum steering damper WILL NOT cure Death Wobble, it will mask it until the damper gets worn. And worn parts in the front end just makes it worse,scarey worse. And again Jeep is not the only one that has this problem, when Chrysler bought Jeep they redesigned the Dodge pick-up and put a track bar on it. Guess what started to happen with Dodge pick-ups after that,worse after larger tires were put on it. I have driven a new 1990 Freightliner years ago at 50 mph and had death wobble start, the factory didn't tell me to put a steering damper on that. How about a Jeep that only has death wobble when he tows his fishing boat, figure that one out. There is alot more to Death Wobble than just caster but until now the threads I have been reading the most commn cure is throw a bunch of parts at it and pull your hair out. If they managed to cure it they don't know what they did or what caused it. Most of the alignment techs out there are doing the same thing for their customers, sell them parts and then blame Jeep for making a POS. Thanks for reading my rant.I hope I can send a informitive thread about caster soon.

 

[98dyna]

alignment specs

Seacomm-good spot.According to Hunter Jeep dropped caster specs in 2007 from 7.0 to 4.2 positive.Now,that doesn't explain why my daughters had 7.0 positive caster unless it has a late 2006 front axle.It also doesn't explain the difference between Hunter and Mitchell on specs,I will call tomorrow to check on that.Now,as far as caster adjustment goes on the lower control arm the foward hole has been stamped and shouldered for a cam bolt but the cam was never put in.In 1988-89 Chevy did the same thing only welded washers over the slots for the cams,we had to remove the welds and install caster cams to adjust.Napa is showing a cam kit part number although I just knocked the tabs out and slid the axle back to adjust.

 

[98dyna]

cams & caster

I found in my Napa catalog cams for the 98-06 Wrangler for caster adjustment,up to 3 degrees of change.This is getting more interesting because they don't show the 07 in the book but our kids is set up for cams but doesn't have them.I just knocked the tabs out and set it where I wanted while on the alignment rack.I started looking at different spec books and programs today,it seems to me someone jumped the gun in 07 and printed 06 specs figgering that they would be the same.Nope,they did reduce caster in 07 specs.Now,if the alignment shop doesn't notice that when a Jeep is aligned then a mistake is made by someone who thinks he is correct.I can't keep up with all the upgrades on alignment specs we get in a year.Dodge has a right pull problem in the 08-09 police Chargers,they want us now to point the rear diff to the right alittle to offset the pull when putting the hammer down.If you can't get cams give me a shout,Ill get them for you.

 

[98dyna]

adjustment

SeaComms-I was under a 2010 Rubicon with 16,000 miles yesterday and guess what I found,cams shoulders in the lower control arms.If a person were to pull the bolt they will find tabs in the control arm that weren't punched out.And if a person were to punch the tabs out caster could be adjusted with the stock bolts or adjustment cams if they were put in.Why did Jeep do this if they didn't know there was a caster problem with the factory Jeeps? Mercedes Benz for years hid the fact that the rear end of certain models had toe adjustment even though nobody had that info in their manuals.Things that make you wonder!!!!