random fish-tailing

t4rFL

t4rFL

Member
so for the past 2 weeks while riding on hard dirt roads doing 40 mph or higher it will randomly fish-tail. no idea why, its never done it before, feels like one of these times i'm going to roll. i tried putting it in 4hi for more control, but it still happened just not as bad. happened once when i broke hard too.

worn sway bar links? i my suspension feels and sounds very worn. makes a lot of noise, and going over bumps, its very soft and bouncy.
 
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Check your panhard bar (track bar for Jeep guys) for play. It centers the axle and if worn, can cause the rear axle to shimmy around.

Rear control arms/bushings would be another thing to check.

Use a pry bar to check this stuff for play.
 
X2 on the rear panhard bar. Put a wrench on every bolt on the rear panhard, upper and lower control arms. If you tighten them down and still have sway, replace the bushings with poly bushings. If its bad now wait till you hit 70 and get a cross wind gust. Made me a believer
 
Wow, sounds sketchy. If your suspension is obviously worn out, I would definitely start collecting parts to get that all freshened up. Suspension will make a WORLD of difference.
Other than shocks and springs, you have sway bar/end link bushings, rear upper and lower link bushings, panhard bushings, upper and lower ball joints up front, control arm bushings up front, steering rack bushings, and inner & outer tie rod ends. Of course, there are weird potential issues- like rear brakes sticking- as @A.Wilson experienced.
 
OP answered his own question in his post. It was like saying "my car don't start but the gas is empty, what can it be?"
 
JayRolla said:
OP answered his own question in his post. It was like saying "my car don't start but the gas is empty, what can it be?"
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not the same. my shocks and springs feel worn, that's all i was referring to. in my experience that doesn't cause it to sway.
 
Also, check air pressures in the tires. In general terms, you want the rear tires to be stiffer in deflection than the fronts (i.e. higher pressures).

The initial deflection of a tire is fairly closely correlated with the PSI, and even if it doesn't affect total grip as much, that first half second of transition from straight ahead to a turn can feel like a fish tail if the back end is looser than the front.

I guess a far simpler way to say it is make sure the back tires have the same or slightly higher pressures than the fronts.

I used to have a first gen Miata and you could get it to go from slight understeer to neutral to slight oversteer by varying the tire pressures by as little as 5 psi. Set the back tires lower than the fronts - great entertainment if you know what you're doing.
 
No, but with worn shocks/springs, the slightest divot on a dirt road will kick the rear end out.

I have 2 blown/leaky shocks and questionable control arm bushings in the rear and hit a crack in the road on an off ramp. I was doing about 45mph and thought I was gonna lose it, but since I was just coasting she straightened out.

Do you carry any cargo at all? Mine's empty. I don't even have a spare tire or armor. The rear is bouncy-bouncy.
 
SpidermanGeek said:
No, but with worn shocks/springs, the slightest divot on a dirt road will kick the rear end out.

I have 2 blown/leaky shocks and questionable control arm bushings in the rear and hit a crack in the road on an off ramp. I was doing about 45mph and thought I was gonna lose it, but since I was just coasting she straightened out.

Do you carry any cargo at all? Mine's empty. I don't even have a spare tire or armor. The rear is bouncy-bouncy.
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just odd that all of a sudden it started happening. i'll have to check it out.

rear tire carrier, hi-lift, and then maybe 80-150 lbs of gear.
 
Also (and I know this sounds dumb), but double check that you're sitting with equal Air PSI in your tires. I know that when one of my tires starts to go low, handling becomes very unpredictable.
 
t4rFL said:
not the same. my shocks and springs feel worn, that's all i was referring to. in my experience that doesn't cause it to sway.
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You might be surprised- I noticed much less sway when I replaced my stock shocks with 5100. The properly-working valving keeps the suspension movement much more controlled. Being more controlled- for me- absolutely resulted in less sway.
 
White Stripe said:
Does it do it over bumps only? All the time? Around corners?
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it's only happened to me while going straight and 40+ never slower....hard dirt/washboard roads.

i checked it out and one of the trackbar bolts was very loose, so i torqued it down and i hope that's all it was.
 
t4rFL said:
it's only happened to me while going straight and 40+ never slower....hard dirt/washboard roads.

i checked it out and one of the trackbar bolts was very loose, so i torqued it down and i hope that's all it was.
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I'm sure that will help a lot.
 
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