01 XJ question

  • A few months ago I purchased a Rustys long arm kit. Once I received the kit my family received news my wife has pancreatic cancer.
    So instead of installing the lift myself (which honestly I wasnt that comfortable with anyway but I was going to give it a try) and now with this news I decided to take it to an "offroad shop" all the reviews I saw were positive so I dropped it off in Oct with the lift kit.
    I finally picked it up this week and its all jacked up. Driving home from the shop it had death wobble a few times. It would happen over 60mph when I hit a bump. And would not stop until i got below 35. If I say under 55 it rode fine.
    I knew just by looking at it things were wrong at the shop but after 3 months I just wanted it out of there.
    Every bolt in the suspension was loose. Jam nuts on long arms were not tight, track bar bolts were loose, the bolts that held long arms to the axle were loose. The angles on the contol arms look off. It looked like they test fitted everything with the intention of going back and tightening everything up and just forgot.
    During the 90 mile drive home i lost 3 lug nuts off the front tires and 2 more were almost off.
    Nothing was installed correctly. Even simple things like swaybar quick disconnects were installed wrong and were different lengths.
    They installed a sye and now it wont go into 4low i assme the linkage needs adjusted but I havent even looked at it yet.
    When they trimmed the inner fender well they cut the washer fluid bottle some how it had a steady leak until it ran dry.


    That doesn't even include the fact they used it as a shop vehicle and left me absolutely no gas. The jeep started sputtering as i pulled into the gas station that was less than a 1/2 mile away. I found receipts and papers from napa dated after i drooped it off and for parts i didnt need in the back.


    So long story short i went through and fixed what I believe to be incorrectly installed and tighten everything down.


    My question is short of going 65 mph and hitting bumps is there a way to check and make sure I cured the death wobble issues? Id prefer to try and cause it so I know if its fixed or not.


    I attached photos of how I got it from the shop


    Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

  • Wow! That's incredible. Who are these guys? You've spotted any number of possible causes for death wobble, but there really isn't any way of testing for it other than on the road (that second photo looks like one of the control arms sheared off!). See if John Altieri ("altierior") checks in--he's our resident XJ expert.


    Sorry to hear about your wife--I hope she's doing better.

  • The sway bar link is definitely wrong. Move that to the inside. That upper control arm bushing looks like it’s coming out and it almost looks like the upper arm may be twisted in the wrong direction or upside down. That bushing could be a big part of your issue if it’s not seated or worn out. The joints on the lower arms are probably ok as long as the other end is twisted in the Sam direction. Your lugnuts coming off probably didn’t help the situation either. I’d correct those things and tighten everything down and go from there. Also make sure your tires are well balanced and you don’t have crazy amounts of air pressure.

    2000 Sahara, All custom...
    2000 Cherokee Police package, Beater....


    I may be slowest and the stupidest

  • The sway bar link is definitely wrong. Move that to the inside. That upper control arm bushing looks like it’s coming out and it almost looks like the upper arm may be twisted in the wrong direction or upside down. That bushing could be a big part of your issue if it’s not seated or worn out. The joints on the lower arms are probably ok as long as the other end is twisted in the Sam direction. Your lugnuts coming off probably didn’t help the situation either. I’d correct those things and tighten everything down and go from there. Also make sure your tires are well balanced and you don’t have crazy amounts of air pressure.

    Yeah, I flipped the Sway Bar link and tried to get them a straight as possible. I've put in all new lugnuts other than the one they stripped and I'm waiting for a rounded bolt extractor to show up from amazon. I didn't have one that big. Everything is now tight I'm just worried they didn't set the lengths correctly. I drove it today got it up to 70 with no issues but I also made it 30 mins from their shop at 65 and 70 with no issue until it happened. So I guess Il just keep driving it for a while trying to see if it happens again.
    I'm talking to the owner now about compensation and fixing the mess they made.

  • u need a $200 alignment. Were in the state r u? There r 2 good shops in wilm that can set up the front end properly. They need to not only check the toe and steering wheel but axle track and if the front axle is angled. Chances r the loose lugs were the cause of the dw. If everything is now tight it should be driveable.


    Fyi most shops will only cut the factory brackets and not clean them off the frame. It takes a fair amount of time and its a way of cutting the install costs.

  • u need a $200 alignment. Were in the state r u? There r 2 good shops in wilm that can set up the front end properly. They need to not only check the toe and steering wheel but axle track and if the front axle is angled. Chances r the loose lugs were the cause of the dw. If everything is now tight it should be driveable.


    Fyi most shops will only cut the factory brackets and not clean them off the frame. It takes a fair amount of time and its a way of cutting the install costs.

    where are these shops Ill drive to Wilmington to make sure it's correct. It's driveable again I had it out today on the highway with no issues.


    I wasn't too worried about the control arms being cut off

  • my go to shops r Brian and Jims or Bear Alignment.


    http://brian-services.edan.io/


    https://www.bearalignmentde.com/

  • Spoke to the owner yesterday evening. He was very apologetic and He is coming to pick up the jeep at my house. They are going to go back over everything replace and fix it all. Throw on a new set of tires of my choice have it all aligned and ready to go. Throwing in and installing a new winch and then bring it back to me. If im not satisfied they will issue a full refund and pay a new shop I choose to make it right.

  • They still need to be called out. They r not doing anything they shouldnt have not done the first time.

  • They still need to be called out. They r not doing anything they shouldnt have not done the first time.

    It's called Dirt Nerds in Virginia just outside DC. The funny thing is one of the reasons I choose them was they could get the jeep in the next week (Last week of Sept) Everyplace else I called was booked until late Oct early NOV. So I thought I could get my jeep done and back in the fall so I could do some wheeling with my wife before the chemo got her too sick. Didn't work out too well. Should have just done it myself I couldn't have done any worse lol.

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