Shimmy and Caster

tobyw

Member
Battling a case of steering shimmy when I hit random bumps. Does not happen every time, even over the same bump(s). I've got 3" of lift up front, 2" in back, stock UCA's, adjustable LCA's set to 24-5/8", and the flat spot on the front of the pumpkin reads +1.8* while the flat spot on the upper ball joint reads +9*... Have I got too much caster dialed and that is causing the random shimmy? All hardware is torqued and there is no apparent slop or damage to any TRE's or anything else. Toe is 1/4", also. Appreciate any thoughts on where to go from here.
 

JTCO

Meme King
That's a lot of caster but it shouldn't be causing your shimmy. Are you 100% sure that your track bars bolts are fully torqued?

Is your drag link parallel with your track bar? You can snap a photo of the front end and then on a computer draw a line from pivot point to pivot point on each bar and compare the two. Kinda like the picture below on this JK. They should be as parallel as possible.

In this picture the blue lines were moved to represent where they should be if the drag link were flipped on top of the knuckle. This guy ultimately did flip his drag link and solved his problem.

IMG_20170109_143402 (1).jpg

Here's the whole thread if you want to read it:

https://wayalife.com/showthread.php/42462-Wrangler-JK-Steering
 

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wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
That is a lot of caster but if anything, it should help make your steering tighter. 1/4" of toe in is on the high side too but well within range of okay. Would it be fair to say you feel this mostly when it's cold out?
 

tobyw

Member
Well, now that you mention the weather, it is a new-ish issue and it's been in the 30's for several weeks now :thinking:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Well, now that you mention the weather, it is a new-ish issue and it's been in the 30's for several weeks now :thinking:

A lot of people have been seeing/feeling what you're feeling, including me and typically, it occurs in colder weather. There is one member on here who made a post about this and the dealership installed a new updated OE steering stabilizer.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
So Eddie you are seeing this with Jet Li in the colder weather?

I recently built a simple bracket flip for my steering stabilizer, but this was an issue prior to that as well although I'm wondering if the new stabilizer maybe isn't optimal?

Yup, seeing it too. Noticed it most after trashing my steering stablizer and removed it. Checked everything. Made sure everything was spot on. Changed out my track bar. Verified my ball joints and unit bearings were good. Installed a Rough Country steering stabilizer and it while it helped a bit, it was a far cry from reinstalling a new OE stabilizer. I should note there are people still running stock with this wheel wobble in colder temps as well. I can't say that I'm too happy about it or that a new stabilizer is Jeep's answer to it but I've been driving with for so long that I don't even think about it anymore.

BTW, for anyone reading this now, what I'm describing is NOT death wobble.
 

WiscoHR

Member
Yup, seeing it too. Noticed it most after trashing my steering stablizer and removed it. Checked everything. Made sure everything was spot on. Changed out my track bar. Verified my ball joints and unit bearings were good. Installed a Rough Country steering stabilizer and it while it helped a bit, it was a far cry from reinstalling a new OE stabilizer. I should note there are people still running stock with this wheel wobble in colder temps as well. I can't say that I'm too happy about it or that a new stabilizer is Jeep's answer to it but I've been driving with for so long that I don't even think about it anymore.

BTW, for anyone reading this now, what I'm describing is NOT death wobble.

My steering wheel shake got to where I new what bumps would make it happen before I hit them. It all started when it got cold. Dealership got me a new OE replacement stabilizer and it completely went away for about 2 weeks. It’s coming back again but definitely not as bad. As Eddie said it’s not death wobble! I’m thinking about changing out my draglink to a Synergy as the only spot I can find that might have a little play is the connection between the draglink and the pitman arm. I’m also on 37s. I think for people with smaller tires the new OE stabilizer might be all they need.


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TFD

New member
I’ve had this happen several times going about 65 mph and I’m still fully stock.
Planning on jumping up to 37s and 2.5 enforcer lift next month. I guess I should expect it to get worse. Will be interesting to see what finally fixes the problem.



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tobyw

Member
Yes good clarification guys, definitely NOT death wobble... This is just a back-and-forth shimmy in the wheel for a couple of seconds, and then it settles back out.

Interesting about the colder weather... I wonder if it's got something to do with tolerance stacking and things contracting due to the cold weather? That would require some fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine tuning if that were the case :icon_crazy:
 

Duke

New member
Just had the stealership replace the Steering stabilizer on my Rubi to the new updated one and for now the steering wobble (NOT death wobble) is fixed. Still have the wondering on the road at highway speeds so maybe taking it back in for that. I'm considering installing the Dynatrac 2" lift since some have said that the highway handling was much improved and the looks are great too.

Duke
 

ckor

New member
Any updates on the shimmy. I had it, put on the Teraflex adjustable steering stabilizer, steersmarts drag link and trac bar (had them on my JK previously and liked them), drove great, teraflex stabilizer broke (twice, not happy about that) replaced it with the metalcloak one I had laying around from their relocation kit, shimmy is back when hitting bumps. Only thing that I can think of left to replace is the tie rod. Any other ideas? Tires were also road force balanced. Had 37" Cooper ST Maxx on stock whells and didn't have the issues. It seems to have started when I installed the beadlocks and Pros.
Metalcloak 3 1/2" lift
Dirty Life beadlocks
37 x 13.5 x 17 Cooper STT Pros
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Any updates on the shimmy. I had it, put on the Teraflex adjustable steering stabilizer, steersmarts drag link and trac bar (had them on my JK previously and liked them), drove great, teraflex stabilizer broke (twice, not happy about that) replaced it with the metalcloak one I had laying around from their relocation kit, shimmy is back when hitting bumps. Only thing that I can think of left to replace is the tie rod. Any other ideas? Tires were also road force balanced. Had 37" Cooper ST Maxx on stock whells and didn't have the issues. It seems to have started when I installed the beadlocks and Pros.
Metalcloak 3 1/2" lift
Dirty Life beadlocks
37 x 13.5 x 17 Cooper STT Pros

I've tested and personally run a myriad of TeraFlex products and have found the quality control to be sub par. Needless to say, not surprised to hear you've been having problems with the stabilizer that you bought. Personally, I would recommend that you reinstall your OE stabilizer as that would be a BETTER option. From there, what I can tell you is that I've tested a couple different track bars and found the one made by Rancho helped to bring things under control quite a bit. But, before you spend anymore money on anything, I would highly recommend that you check all your joints using the following video as a guide.


Double check your toe-in setting as that can make a difference too.
 

olram30

Not That Kind of Engineer
Any updates on the shimmy. I had it, put on the Teraflex adjustable steering stabilizer, steersmarts drag link and trac bar (had them on my JK previously and liked them), drove great, teraflex stabilizer broke (twice, not happy about that) replaced it with the metalcloak one I had laying around from their relocation kit, shimmy is back when hitting bumps. Only thing that I can think of left to replace is the tie rod. Any other ideas? Tires were also road force balanced. Had 37" Cooper ST Maxx on stock whells and didn't have the issues. It seems to have started when I installed the beadlocks and Pros.
Metalcloak 3 1/2" lift
Dirty Life beadlocks
37 x 13.5 x 17 Cooper STT Pros
Does this feel like bump steer or an actual wobble?

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ckor

New member
Thanks for the quick response Eddie, much appreciated. I'll take a look at the OEM stabilizer, not sure if I threw it out when I replaced it early on (dented it). If I have it I'll throw it back on. Do you think there might be an issue with the relocation kits as well?
 

Hey y’all. I just had a shop add the control arms from the mopar 2” lift to my 2” budget boost on 33s. I’m getting a shake on the highway above 70, like an out of balance tire that wasn’t there before. I’m 99% sure they didn’t torque the arms on the ground, but on the lift. Could bound (and over-torqued) control arms cause this, or maybe the added caster is showing another issue like out of balance tires or the toe is off?
 

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