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Here's what caused *my* Death Wobble

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  valgalbraith 
#1 ·
After years of reading the forums I was amazed on how many people discussed "death wobble." I was always glad it never occurred to me until a few weeks ago when it happened for the first time. "Holy *&#@!" comes to mind. It occured when I ran over a deep expansion joint on the highway at about 50mph. Thanks to many threads from some knowledgeable people here I was able to easily pin-point what was causing my "DW" and I didn't have to "throw parts at the problem" either.

Short version: I had my wife moving the steering wheel lock to lock and watched and safely felt for any movement, sounds, knocks, etc. What I found was pulse through drag link. This led to finding the Track Bar grease joint and the Pitman-Tire Rod End were moving up and down. Immediately I know this was a problem and it could cause my DW. Afterwards I inspected for other pieces to the steering/suspension that might be worn and nothing else.

I replaced the following parts with Moog ("Problem Solver") from Rock Auto. Great prices and had the parts the next day. Easy to remove and install and the DW hasn't returned. Not only that, the front end feels solid again.

Cell phone videos of the suspected parts.

Track Bar:


Tie Rod End to Pitman Arm


Moog replacement part numbers:
Track Bar: MOOG DS1235
Tie Rod End (to Pitman Arm): MOOG ES3096L

Cost of repair: $125

Thanks JF members.
 
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#3 ·
Great info bro, glad you got your problem solved. One question however, are the Moog replacements solid, like the ZJ mod would be?...
They are stout pieces. I believe the track bar alone is 10+ lbs. The "ZJ mod" is a tie rod upgrade. I only replaced the track bar and the tie rode end for the pitman arm.
 
#4 ·
Awesome. You actually searched, read up, listened, took the advice of where to start, documented the noticeable play in the joints, purchased and installed the parts in the amount of time it takes the ignorant ones to dispute what blaine suggested.
:D
 
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