Mr_Grimm13

Alright so I was driving home from work today and doing about 80 mph on the highway when I hit a rough part of the road and my front end started jumping around, at first I thought I broke a tie rod because it is what it felt like, I started to slow down and pull off the highway while the front end was still shaking violently and when I slowed down to about 50 mph it stopped and settled out. After this I drove the speed limit and hit bumps and didn't have any issues. Do any of you guys have any ideas as to what could have caused this issue? Thank you in advance for your help.

Black89

Here's the list of things that you need to look at:

Tie Rod Ends
Ball Joints both upper and lower
Front Hub bearings
Track bar
Upper and lower control arm bushings
Steering box/ Pitman Arm
Balance wheels

Any of these that are worn replace they can all lead to the wobble.

My ball joints are bad but if I run 1/2 tank or less I don't have issues. Full weight of a full tank will float them just enough to get it going crazzy at @ 55MPH.

Black89

Mr_Grimm13

I did see the front sway bar bushings are worn out pretty bad, will that cause this kind of wobble?

Black89

No, the sway bar only actually does anything when the vehicle turns a corner. Hence the name sway. When driving down the road in a straight line they are basically just sitting there doing nothing. I don't even run sway bars on mine. I took both them off. All they do is reduce body roll in turns.


Black89

JeepsAreForSpeed

How are the sway bar links' bushings? There is one sway bar link on each side vertically about 4 inches long or so.

JeepsAreForSpeed

The front end has a sway bar?

Black89

MR Grimm13 get a jack and get the front end off the ground. Have someone turn the steering back and forth while you watch the tie rods and the rest of the steering. Look for play. Then stick a bar through your wheels and lift. This will show either hub play or ball joint play. Also check the track bar to see if there are any signs of wear around the bolt hole on the axle mount and the joint mount on the left frame side.

Black89

Black89

They do when bone stock........some even had rears.........oh my.

Black89

JeepsAreForSpeed

Lol it was a serious question. My suspension is stock. I still have the rear one on. I didnt know the front end had one I thought it just had the track bar, drag link, and the sway bar links but then again I never really looked at it in detail. Nevermind I just looked I thought that was the track bar my bad haha.

Black89

All had fronts the rears not so much. The rear ones are so thin that in all reality they don't do much. I look at this way, these are 4x4's not road cars. So why limit flex? Get rid of the sway bars period.

Black89

JeepsAreForSpeed

Duh me I thought that was the track bar. Good point on the flex but I'll keep them on because I dont offroad much and I do alot of super fast driving.

Fester2572

Do this. Get up to highway speed, then jab your breaks and give it a quick turn ( like your trying to avoid something important that jumped out in front of you) When you are sliding along the road on your roof after having nailed the thing you were trying to avoid , have a think about why they put a swaybar in the front. They are there so the vehicle doesn't handle like a giant meatball on the road and why the rest of us use disconnects .

Mr_Grimm13

I will have to get the truck up in the air and see whats going on. I pulled on the tie rod and check the ends amd all seemed really tight. The ends of the sway bar where there are those vertical bars the bushing on those are shot.

Edit: It only happened once today on the way home and this is the first time it happened. The rest of the drive home (10+ miles) it turned and drove fine. I have noticed in the past that if I hit a rut in the road the Jeep will swing in the direction of the rut and I will have to pull it back. Nothing serious like this today.

Fester2572

A good steering dampner may help it from having a mind of its own when you hit a bump or pothole with one wheel. I had major death wobble a while ago and got a return to centre steering stabiliser as part of the fix. Made a huge difference .

Black89

If you do a ton of highway driving then yes they do work and are fine to have on your rig. I never hit the interstate with my rig so they aren't needed. And yes this is why they make disconnects. No need to be a dick about it. As far as steering stabilizers go they are not a cure for the wobble they are there to soften sharp blows in a sense to the steering from bumps and such. The wobble comes from the main front end parts being worn out. In most cases it's worn ball joints because it's the hardest part of the whole front end to test for wear and or visually see the slop. You can trust what I say, I was the lead suspension guy at a body shop for 15 years. I've worked on a lot of Jeeps in the past and most issues where worn ball joints.

Black89