Slappy32
New member
I got my 2014 JKU in May of last year. It's a Copperhead Sport with half doors and AT. I wanted to build it up myself and did tons of research. Research that was before I found Wayalife. That means it's all Meatalcloaked up and I have 37" Wrangler MT/R tires. At least I had the sense to get a ProRock 44 and a ProRock 60.
This story is about the tires. Since day one, it tracked true with no shimmy in the steering wheel. It really drove great until I rotated the tires when I installed a ProGrip brake kit. There was some shimmy in the steering wheel afterwards, but it wasn't bad so I let it go. Fast forward a few weeks later and while I'm out of town, my wife is driving Abe and calls me. She describes death wobble while she was driving with my daughter! When I get back home, I can replicate the DW at 50 mph, but it is intermittent. Sometimes it's fine with a little shimmy sometimes full on DW.
I get on Wayalife to help me diagnose the issue, and the track bar is tight on both ends, the steering box is tight and the ball joints are ProSteer and less than a year old. I take it into my local garage and have the tires rebalanced because of the shimmy. It doesn't fix the problem. I go back and re-read. Road Force Balance, hmm. Could it really make a difference? Luckily, a shop in Key Largo has the machine, but it's broken. After a week of staying under 45 mph, they call and say they have a brand new Hunter Road Force Balancer and to come on in.
It takes a few hours, as they remove the rims and index the tires in the optimal position, but I get the call to come pick Abe up. They tell me after running the machine that two of my tires are over 100 out (whatever that means (it's bad)) and were not able to be brought into true. The other two are fine and that's what they mounted on the front. No more shimmy and no more death wobble! Awesome! I still want to get under there and make sure the Metalcloak drag link ends aren't loose, but I'm happy the Jeep is safe to drive again.
I'm really unhappy with Goodyear, however, and my plan is to put the MT/R's up on Craigslist and replace them with Nitto Trail Grapplers. I'm a firm believer that the Wrangler MT/R Kevlar is garbage as has been mentioned many times on this site. My tires only have 9k miles on them. If I had found Wayalife sooner, I would have already had the Nittos. Mo money! Also, I see an EVO Double D Pro in my future.
My take away from all of this?
This site has great advice based on real world experience. Listen to what they say. If they don't like a method or a product, it's coming from real world situations. It is well organized and friendly (except for the OverlanderJK snark
:drinks and something else I can relate to: They are constantly in search of the best, wherever that road may lead. I used to think that they pushed whatever sponsors were affiliated with the site, but I now see it is the other way around. You won't be considered for sponsorship, unless you make a quality product.
Well done Eddie and friends on what you have built here!
Here's a pic of Abe in his current form.
This story is about the tires. Since day one, it tracked true with no shimmy in the steering wheel. It really drove great until I rotated the tires when I installed a ProGrip brake kit. There was some shimmy in the steering wheel afterwards, but it wasn't bad so I let it go. Fast forward a few weeks later and while I'm out of town, my wife is driving Abe and calls me. She describes death wobble while she was driving with my daughter! When I get back home, I can replicate the DW at 50 mph, but it is intermittent. Sometimes it's fine with a little shimmy sometimes full on DW.
I get on Wayalife to help me diagnose the issue, and the track bar is tight on both ends, the steering box is tight and the ball joints are ProSteer and less than a year old. I take it into my local garage and have the tires rebalanced because of the shimmy. It doesn't fix the problem. I go back and re-read. Road Force Balance, hmm. Could it really make a difference? Luckily, a shop in Key Largo has the machine, but it's broken. After a week of staying under 45 mph, they call and say they have a brand new Hunter Road Force Balancer and to come on in.
It takes a few hours, as they remove the rims and index the tires in the optimal position, but I get the call to come pick Abe up. They tell me after running the machine that two of my tires are over 100 out (whatever that means (it's bad)) and were not able to be brought into true. The other two are fine and that's what they mounted on the front. No more shimmy and no more death wobble! Awesome! I still want to get under there and make sure the Metalcloak drag link ends aren't loose, but I'm happy the Jeep is safe to drive again.
I'm really unhappy with Goodyear, however, and my plan is to put the MT/R's up on Craigslist and replace them with Nitto Trail Grapplers. I'm a firm believer that the Wrangler MT/R Kevlar is garbage as has been mentioned many times on this site. My tires only have 9k miles on them. If I had found Wayalife sooner, I would have already had the Nittos. Mo money! Also, I see an EVO Double D Pro in my future.
My take away from all of this?
This site has great advice based on real world experience. Listen to what they say. If they don't like a method or a product, it's coming from real world situations. It is well organized and friendly (except for the OverlanderJK snark
:drinks and something else I can relate to: They are constantly in search of the best, wherever that road may lead. I used to think that they pushed whatever sponsors were affiliated with the site, but I now see it is the other way around. You won't be considered for sponsorship, unless you make a quality product.Well done Eddie and friends on what you have built here!
Here's a pic of Abe in his current form.
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