So I got my lift on and now everything is falling apart.

[L33TJ33P]

So, Testerday I got my lift on. WOOHOO, Right. NO!!!!! Today, I seem to be getting Speed Wobbles. The steering starts to shake a little at 45mph then at 50, all hell breaks loose, I feel like my tires are going to wobble off or a rim will break and send me flipping. This gets MUCH worse when I hit the brake then at 40 it will just stop, as if nothing had happened. That is until, I hit 50 again. Someone Please help me.

To give you an Idea of what I did with the lift:

Take off the Tires
unbolt top of the front Shocks
Unbolt bottom of the rear shocks
Disconnected Front Swaybar disco's
Had my friend put preasure on the Rotor or Drum to give room to remove and replace the new springs.
used the Jeep Provided jack to raise the axle high enough to reconnect the shocks.
Bolted the shocks (Front/top, rear/bottom) back in place
extended and re-connected front disco's then greased them.
replaced wheels and tires.

Little more Info here. Lil'bit drove fine this morning. Was doing 80 on the interstate with no issues. At least 30 miles of this speed and no error. at the End of the journey I hit my brakes a little hard and I did feel, what felt like, a slight shift forward. This is not the normal feel of hitting the brakes. After that, I hit 50 and WOBBLE.

One more thing. I went to a movie and the Jeep stayed parked for a couple hours. After the Movie (Pirates of the Caribean) It did not seem to have the issues. but after parking a little while WOBBLE at 50 again. VERY WEIRD!!!

I have tightened and re-tightened all 4 wheels. I have even lifted them and tried to tighten them to make sure they were on correctly.

Did I not torque the Shocks down right? Do I have the rear springs upside down? What on earth could be causeing this? I don't think a normal 2" lift would do this do you??

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

TJ? HOw much lift? What size tires and rims?

Death Wobble (DW) is attributable to many things, we'll have to try a lot to narrow it down.

 

[jeepinstien]

Make sure all suspension componets are tight when the jeep is on the ground.

 

[L33TJ33P]

TJ
2" Lift
Factory ECCO 15x7 Wheels
225x75r15 GSA tires

The only thing that isn't factory is the JKS Dosconnects and the Springs.

 

[TwistedCU]

It sounds like the only change to your rig is bigger springs and lenghtened swaybar disconnects, that right? Is this a TJ,YJ,CJ?
Even 2" of lift can make changes that should be compensated for. You might want to consider loosening the two nuts under you transfer case skid plate (the ones that hold the rubber mounts, drive moderately easy around the block a couple of times, and then re-tighten them. This will allow your transfer case to adjust itself to the different driveline angle.
Another thing is a no-brainer - front-end alignment.
I don't know if these will help your problem or not, but they both should be done anyhow, and I'm a firm believer in fixing the cheapest first!
Good Luck!

 

[L33TJ33P]

The only thing that is new today is the Springs. I added the Disconnects about 5 or 6 months ago.

 

[far_right]

I had to.... =)

try a front end alignment

 

[LGR]

after i lifted my TJ i got these so called death wobble at 45-55. but ya keep going faster to around 60-70 the wobble stopped for me. after i got an alignment done works 10 times better then before. if ya didn't get that done i'd give it a shot.

 

[Snitty]

any modifications in the suspension can affect the steering and driveline... like TC said... check the center of the driveline, the bolt that holds it to the skidplate, allow it to move as needed... then check your Ujoints... make sure they are still good... then if you need the alignment, by all means, do it

 

[PASmokeater]

I agree with all of the above suggestions, howeverI would do the alignment FIRST. and see what that gives you. Any time you play with the suspension (even some hard core off roading) you should get the allignment checked out and brought in.
Once that is done, if you still have some vibe, it is most likely driveline vibe, and can be fixed by lowering the t-case. To chack this, do as twisted copper suggested.
I suspect that once you geet your allignment, most of the problems will be gone.




Rob 8)

 

[L33TJ33P]

Ok I will go get alligned tonight. SO glad I have a friend that works in a Tire shop. WOOHOO!!! maybe that is the issue. I hae never had an alignment problem that is so bad that it feels like the Lugs are loose. Only to where the Steering is a little off. Either way Allignment comes first tonight. and I will also tighten down the suspension stuffs.

 

[TwistedCU]

Extreme 4X4 show on TV last night

Adjusting the transfer case will take you five minutes. I would highly recommend it. Before adding my lift, I had my YJ lifted with shackles, and it had some vibration until I did as I posted earlier. Look under the transfer case skid pan and you should see the bolts I was talking about. Your problem is most likely due to the aligment, but this procedure will save your U-joints! :lol:

 

[L33TJ33P]

Will do that also. Thanks for the Input.

 

[L33TJ33P]

Well, the lift caused my Front tires to be "Pigeon Toed" which means the front tires were pointed towards each other. seeing as how the Tie-Rod makes a scissor action pulled them WAY outta line. Thank you all for the help. I had to demand that the tire place re-allign because they didn't know how a lift would cause an alignment issue but the computer showed different.

 

[Snitty]

my friends and i get free alignments all the time... we always find something wrong in what they do

 

[L33TJ33P]

Well, I figured out why "lil'bit" became pigeon toed. Neat little scissor action caused by the Tie-Rods.

The following drawing will explain more.

Hope this helps for anyone else that may have the issue in the future. least it will be here to explain to "Lift N00Bs" like me in the future.

 

[JE420EP]

funny noice from my 4.0

Have you checked all the ball joints and the front end stuff. Bad ball joints will make it drive like crap.

 

[L33TJ33P]

vaccum diagram needed for '81 CJ5 I6 258cid

Well, now I am running into another problem. the TJ still wobbles a good bit at 50 but as long as I am not doing a steady 50 mph then it isn't that noticable. It is REALLY bad when I try to stay at or around 50 mph.

Also, my Front Sway bar keeps shifting toward the Passanger side. It shifts untill the Disconnects will not let it anymore. I have returned the Swaybar back to it's Original position only to have it slide back to the side.

4WD is trying to sell me a new Steering Stabilizer for the problem and also new Shocks. I am wondering if I Over greased the Bushing that just behind the top of the front Rotor. Is there such a thing as "Over Greasing"???? Any Other suggestions will help.

Alignment has been done.
Doing the Drive shaft thing Today, Sunday.
checked all tires all weights seem to be in place.

Deffinantly comming from the Front. I have leaned out to look at my tires when the Wobble has been going on and it is Obvious that the Whole damn wheel it waving side to side and making the wobble happen. and the Steering wheel actually moves side to side in my hand. It has gotten better since the alignment. I at least don't feel like it is going to toss me off the road.

 

[TwistedCU]

How old are your tires? Are they worn uneven or "cupped"? If so, they may need rebalanced or replaced.

Just a thought.

 

[L33TJ33P]

Tires are only 10K old. But I will have that checked also.