About 40% of the time when I hit a bump while driving I can feel a shimmy in the steering wheel. It feels like the beginning of the death wobble. I know this because I used to have said DW and for the most part have eradicated it, this shimmy is the only remnants. I believe the culprit to be the trackbar on the axle side. If someone with more experience than I could take a look at the video below and let me know if it too much movement, it would be much appreciated.

https://youtu.be/Bbho8Wg0z5c


Thanks!

Cory

You're right. There should be no movement in the track bar end. Check the track bar bushing, but also check the mounting hole for wallowing out.

 

Thanks Water Dog, I had a feeling. I'm fairly confident that the hole is ok because I don't see any movement in the bolt. Also I had visually checked both the hole and the bushing last weekend and didn't notice anything off, obviously I missed something. Looks like I'm replacing the bushing...

 

I've ordered new bushings but I'm surprised that they went bad so soon. As I stated earlier I was fighting the DW for a little while and during that time experienced it probably 4-5 times. Could those few times have worn out my bushings enough to cause that type of movement?

 

I took my trackbar off and checked everything out. Sadly I found that my hole has been wallowed out. I don't know how to weld and don't have any friends who weld so at this point I would say I have two options: Drill out the hole and the trackbar to a larger diameter to account for the wallowing and buy a new bolt, or Drill a new hole the correct size next to the original hole. Any opinions?

 

Take it to a welding shop, they won't charge to weld a piece of scrap steel with a fresh hole drilled into it over the front of that bracket. That's a better fix.

Also, do you have a dropped Pitman arm installed? A dropped Pitman arm will cause the steering to be forced left/right as you drive over bumps/dips in the road.

 

Nope, no dropped pitman arm. The jeep was stock when I bought it and I did not install one.

The other reason I didn't want to weld anything is because it's actually the back hole that is wallowed out. The front hole is fine. I guess I will look around for a welding shop to see what I can do.

It's not so much a bump steer feeling, it literally feels like my front axle is moving side to side under my jeep. As I said above it feels like the beginning of death wobble but I've been able to upgrade everything else so the wobble never materializes.

 

I don't know if this is in any way related, but I was having some real steering issues lately and checked the front anti sway bar bushings and they were horribly worn to the point the anti sway bar didn't even make contact with the bushings. Replaced these with new rubber bushings and it feels drives and steers much more predictably. The steering before did not inspire much confidence and seemed to dart all over the place.

 

Thank you! Yeah, I noticed a little bit of "darting" as well, never even considered them. I will check those and see if they are in need of replacement as well.

 

On a related note, I am most likely in need of a new steering dampener but was holding off on replacing since I've read a TON about how it will not fix the DW. I've completely rid my jeep of the DW so would replacing that improve my jeeps road manners?

 

only if your current one is faulty. if it is still functional, you wont notice any difference

 

Does anyone have answers to my following questions:

1) How to I fix my axle side trackbar mount when the wallowed hole in in the back?

2) How to tell if my steering dampener is shot?

 

Does anyone have answers to my following questions: 1) How to I fix my axle side trackbar mount when the wallowed hole in in the back? 2) How to tell if my steering dampener is shot?

Not the end all be all as there's always another way. That said:

1. I'd probably cut a plate to fit on the front side of the wallowed rear mount (so in between the two factory mount plates leaving the rear accessible for the flag nut or whatever you use) with the proper sized hole located where it should be (use cardboard to make a template) and weld it in.

2. I'd unbolt it, the cycle it by hand to see if I had hydraulic resistance each direction.

Hope that is of some use, or that someone with a better idea/solution posts what you need.

 

Bump

 

I just replaced my steering dampener; old one still had resistance, but heck, since I had the old one off, I put a new one on, not that expensive, plus it looks better!. Don't know "how much resistance" is enough, guess it should take a little effort, not slide easily.??

Joe

 

Dead shocks on the front of mine cause it to dart after road bumps etc. May want to check those if you havent.

 

When you say "dead" you mean worn out, correct? I don't believe that is the issue, I have 3 year old OME shocks on it. Will still check them out though, thank you!

 

yes..when i mean dead i mean worn out..ha. the PO of my jeep had skyjackers on it. It was darty on our Louisiana roads. I changed to bilstein 5150 and it made a huge difference. when i too the skyjackers shocks off and compressed them they had no rebound at all...d.e.a.d!!

 

DAMN! That's horrible. Glad you solved your issue! I am hoping that between fixing the TB mount and possibly replacing the steering dampener my on road manners will improve.

 

A steering damper is not designed for curing or reducing a front-end shimmy or Death Wobble. It's sole job is to absorb shock from bumps and dips in the road.

 

No worries about that, I've read enough of your posts to know it won't fix my shimmy. That's why I made sure I was rid my DW before I even thought about replacing it. Next step is to resolve the wallowed out TB mount hole on the axle, which should fix my shimmy. If it drives alright after that then, and only then, will I replace it just to improve it's on road manners.