Death wobble?
 

All,

Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
(frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.

The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
tires, which are in pretty good shape.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
caused this?
--
Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is to
fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

Re: Death wobble?
 

Michael White did pass the time by typing:
> All,
>
> Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
> doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
> of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
> (frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
> examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
> every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
> and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.
>
> The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
> two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
> inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
> re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
> old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
> and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
> are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
> tires, which are in pretty good shape.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
> caused this?

You gave it too much energy and the suspension couldn't handle it. Odds are
the shocks are not as stiff as they used to be.

Re: Death wobble?
 

Michael White did pass the time by typing:
> All,
>
> Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
> doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
> of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
> (frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
> examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
> every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
> and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.
>
> The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
> two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
> inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
> re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
> old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
> and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
> are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
> tires, which are in pretty good shape.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
> caused this?

You gave it too much energy and the suspension couldn't handle it. Odds are
the shocks are not as stiff as they used to be.

Re: Death wobble?
 

Michael White did pass the time by typing:
> All,
>
> Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
> doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
> of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
> (frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
> examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
> every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
> and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.
>
> The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
> two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
> inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
> re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
> old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
> and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
> are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
> tires, which are in pretty good shape.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
> caused this?

You gave it too much energy and the suspension couldn't handle it. Odds are
the shocks are not as stiff as they used to be.

Re: Death wobble?
 

Hi Michael,
Take your stabilizer shock absorber dampener off and shake it you
will hear the air in indicating it leaked and needs replacing. If you
have larger tires, you need larger shocks:
http://www.bds-suspension.com/steeringstabilizer.html
http://www.----------.com/temp/tireShimmy.mpg
God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
mailto:--------------------

Michael White wrote:
>
> All,
>
> Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
> doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
> of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
> (frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
> examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
> every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
> and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.
>
> The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
> two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
> inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
> re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
> old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
> and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
> are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
> tires, which are in pretty good shape.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
> caused this?
> --
> Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is to
> fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

Re: Death wobble?
 

Hi Michael,
Take your stabilizer shock absorber dampener off and shake it you
will hear the air in indicating it leaked and needs replacing. If you
have larger tires, you need larger shocks:
http://www.bds-suspension.com/steeringstabilizer.html
http://www.----------.com/temp/tireShimmy.mpg
God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
mailto:--------------------

Michael White wrote:
>
> All,
>
> Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
> doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
> of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
> (frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
> examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
> every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
> and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.
>
> The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
> two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
> inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
> re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
> old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
> and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
> are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
> tires, which are in pretty good shape.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
> caused this?
> --
> Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is to
> fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

Re: Death wobble?
 

Hi Michael,
Take your stabilizer shock absorber dampener off and shake it you
will hear the air in indicating it leaked and needs replacing. If you
have larger tires, you need larger shocks:
http://www.bds-suspension.com/steeringstabilizer.html
http://www.----------.com/temp/tireShimmy.mpg
God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
mailto:--------------------

Michael White wrote:
>
> All,
>
> Last night I was on the freeway when I hit a sizeable pothole on a curve
> doing about 60 MPH. Suddenly, my '82 Scrambler starts vibrating like one
> of the wheels is held on by a single poorly tightened lugnut. As I
> (frantically) slow down to pull over, the vibration suddenly stops. I
> examine everything front to rear, and today raised the Jeep and checked
> every tire. Everything's tight. I then drove the Jeep for over an hour,
> and the vibration didn't happen again, even after hitting the same pothole.
>
> The tie rods, steering knuckle bushings, and steering damper are all about
> two years old. The front wheel bearings are four years old, and I
> inspected, re-packed, and re-torqued them four months ago. I inspected and
> re-packed the rear wheel bearings last summer. The shocks are seven years
> old, but still look OK. The bushings on the leaf springs are polyurethane,
> and about six years old. The springs themselves look to be factory, and
> are getting sort of flat. I have no extra lift and I'm running stock-size
> tires, which are in pretty good shape.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Could the springs have
> caused this?
> --
> Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is to
> fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer