Another Death Wobble

    Well i was wheeling and I hit a rock with what I thouhgt was my transfer skid, but might not have been. Now when I am in gear, i get a TERRIBLE wobble in the whole jeep. As soon as I put it in neutral (or put in clutch) it's gone... I'm thinking it's the drive shaft... Maybe I knocked it off balance? I checked and there is no rock rash on either drive shaft so I really have no clue.. Any ideas? I kinda need to fix this since I"m 2 hours away from Delaware and need to be back there tomorrow. Any help is appreciated.



    So the facts to make it easy:


    1. Wobbles only when in gear, much worse when accelerating
    2. Wobble will completely stop once clutch is put in or it's taken out of gear (regardless of how fast you are going)
    3. No hint of loss of power
    4. No rock rash on either shaft
    5. Is not mud caught up (and most likely not wheel/tire balance/alignment)
    6. Im desperate.

    is the wobble in the steering or through the body??


    if you are pushing in the clutch and it is going away it is not a driveline (driveshaft, transfercase, rear) issue. shafts are still spinning....


    were you in mud...could you have done something to your flywheel or clutch??


    sounds odd to me that i goes away when the clutch is pressed in

    Good question... The entire steering shaft is shaking (well the wheel is bouncing up and down pretty far) and the whole dashboard shakes... I wasn't in mud so I doubt it could be that. IT was just brush and rocks... only hit bad once but i'm pretty sure it was the tc skid.

    dont know what to tell ya...sounds like something clutch related...piece of brush get through the sheild?? is there a sheild?? i dont know....never had to get into that part of mine

    heres what i have so far... I don't htink it's anything like that... it might just be the tires are off balance... I was driving it and looking outside of it and the tires seem to wobble and i see that a ton of the weights have fallen off... There were a few off to begin with but I think my going on rocks and dirt caused more to fall off.. I tried working the spare into each position to see if it stops it but no luck with that. I am going to pray someone is open tomorrow (sunday) around here so I can get them looked at... too bad there is no NTB where I'm at now cause I have a year free balance and alignment. But if anyone can think of anything else it could be let me know... oh what made me think it wasn't the clutch is because I was testing different scenerios and it's not when I put in the clutch that it stops, its when im decelerating... its only when I put power to the driveshaft and accelerate that it will wobble... to give you an idea of the wobble, the steering wheel will oscillate a half an inch both up and down... that's how bad it is...


    oh and the rock that I hit hit the frame whre the lca attaches, so it wasn't anything caused by the rock. so it is 99% the tires... boy i hope so.

    but 1 question, would the tires stop wobbling if they are off balanced? Or would they wobble non stop? Im just curious if it makes sense that they stop when I decelerate but if i accelerate even a tiny bit they wobble.

    weights could def do that. my balance on my 35's is off just a little and is more noticeable around 45-50MPH if you lost weight it would make them wobble.but i dont understand how it would go away unless you are slowing to the speed below the balance speed (not spinning fast enough to matter


    if you know which wheel you lost the weight on..swap that wheel out.


    were you aired down?? maybe one of the tires spun on the rim a little???


    dont know much about them failing and symptoms...but could it be a ujoint??

    a bandaid fix that sometimes helps the wobble is to bump up the tire pressure slightly. i've seen some people that had crazy wobble at 28-29psi keep it in check by going up to close to 35psi. it's still safe in regards to the tire's max but just makes for more of a jarring ride. and if you can maybe put the spare on one side in front and the wheel that looks like it has lost the least amount of weights on the other side in front. unbalanced tires behave much better on the rear axle.
    good luck,
    chris

    rotate your tires. put the front on the back and back on the front. if the wobble moves its the rear tires. that will tell you its wheel related, maybe a bent rim ? or something in steering thats being forced by the drive train. hope this helps. blackflag

    Definetly switch tires front to back, if the fronts are off balance they won't do anything noticeable on the back. If not then pull the front driveshaft, it is probably the next likely candidate, if that doesn't work reinstall the front and pull the back driveshaft and check that. A driveshaft u-joint could be shot or even the centering ball.

    [quote="MellowYellow"]is the wobble in the steering or through the body??


    if you are pushing in the clutch and it is going away it is not a driveline (driveshaft, transfercase, rear) issue. shafts are still spinning....[/quote


    Not true, if you press in the clutch there is no more stress on the driveshaft and vibes will stop,


    Chim Chum do you have an SYE on that 4" lift?


    Also i found if mud gets stuck on the inside of the rim it can really throw the tires off balance, happened to me before and i couldnt figure it out.


    Also, check your controll arm bushings, i replaced mine and the death woble went away, then i went long arm and it completely disapeered.

    No sye, just lowered TC... i have come to the conclusion that it has to be the clutch. it seems like the clutch is slipping in and out. Its definately something in the tranny. i'm gona have it looked at tomorrow.

    could be pilot bearing/bushing, just happened to my buddys YJ, same symtoms

    assuming that it is my clutch - i went to Jeep to see how much it was to replace it and they told me around $900... so, needless to say I'm not looking to spend that much to have it fixed. I was wondering if anyone would know enought about this that they could help me out. Because if it is just a bearing/bushing, that would be much cheaper to replace than to replace the whole cllutch. Also, where would I go around Newark to get a cheap diagnostic of it? I know jeep will charge like $70 just to tell me they don't know the problem (it's happened many times to me already).

    If you need tips or something some evening, I can give ya some help with the clutch if you are replacing it. I have my transmission/transfer case out right now so I can put in a new clutch. With work I only have some time in the evenings and weekends, so my clutch process will take a few days/weeks probably

    Ok, Im now in belief that it is NOT my clutch... here is what I have to say, and please see if you can help me possibly locate where it might be coming from so I can check it out..


    1. Tires were balanced/aligned, did not fix problem
    2. With clutch in, there are NO vibrations
    3. Vibrations are Speed specific (don't start until about 15-20 MPH, so if it were the clutch, shouldn't it also be happening in 1st and beginning of 2nd gear? And also, if the clutch were truely failing, should I have slipping as my first symptom? At no time can I hit the gas and the RPMs go up but speed does not.)
    4. The vibrations are extreme when accelerating, and minor, but still exist when decelerating, in gear. (this makes me think its the drive shaft because it might be vibrating very little when no torque is applied to it when the clutch is in or no gas is applied, regardless of wether it's rotating)
    5. They vibrate faster as my speed increases.



    If i can get a general idea of where this might be, I can work on it. My guess is one of my shafts is off balance from knocking a weight off... but I'm not sure.


    ANy help?


    I love you guys.


    Jeffrey D Ferraro :laughing:


    make sure that ur control arms are torgued to spec and as well as the trac bar
    i just went thru the same thing thing and it was a worn out trac bar
    tho it is weird that when u push in on the clutch it goes away
    that i didnt have to deal with
    mine did it when i hit 45mph
    at that point all i could do was slam on the brakes and dive for the shoulder
    at one point it shook so hard that it belw apart a p/s pump hose
    hth

    That's MR. Captain Beach , to you

    Edited once, last by ().

    Quote

    make sure that ur control arms are torgued to spec and as well as the trac bar
    i just went thru the same thing thing and it was a worn out trac bar


    but would the vibrations really stop when I put the clutch in? Wouldn't they be constant? I will check it out but it doesn't seem likely to me...


    thanks though :)


    Pull the driveshafts one at a time and see if it stops. That will quickly isolate/eliminate them as the problem.

    ok well here is an update . . . andrew (jeeprubicon) sold me his stock skid plate and that managed to "lessen" the wobble because when i hit the rock, i torqued my skid to the side a bit putting everything off line. However, this only helped, not solved the problem. Can anyone think of something knowing this?

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