towing safely with known death wobble?

[nixit]

What shape are your tires in? Even wear? Have they been rotated lately? How many weights on your front wheels?

tires look pretty good, even wear, I get them rotated and balanced (up to 70mph) with every oil change (lifetime balance/rotation . I also get the front end aligned yearly. I will need to check on the weights, as I'm not sure.

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[nixit]

Man 22k miles?

Take it to the shop, sucks to having to pay to solve this but better than the issue continuing.

Keep us posted after they check it out.

yea, less than 4 years old, and at 20k when I first noticed the death wobble (on this vehicle). thanksgiving day, while driving to dinner.

this is the 2nd out of my last 3 jeeps to have the death wobble, and like last time, the dealership laughed at the term death wobble and I had to explain what it was since they had no clue.

I will check out a 4x4 shop today to see what they say.

thanx for all the help guys!

 

[Janster]

it is a steering stabilizer, I can't remember what it's called, and I'm trying to find my notes. I reached back out to my case officer asking what it is. from what they say, the part is on backorder until at least august 21, 2024. the local jeep service center also "claims" it will fix the issue.

why does this happen on many jeep vehicles?

As everyone else has said.... don't tow until you get it fixed completely.

***True death wobble isn’t caused from a bad steering stabilizer. You’ve got something else going on OR it’s not true death wobble. If you've experienced true 'death wobble' - You wouldn't be here asking us if you can tow with it (no brainer). ? Pulling the fabric out of your butt cheeks comes to mind..... ?

I would highly recommend taking it to a 4x4 offroad shop - who should know how to diagnose it.
Your dealership isn't experienced enough to troubleshoot. They're just following a checklist of things to replace (and making $$ doing it).

 

[ShadowsPapa]

yea, less than 4 years old, and at 20k when I first noticed the death wobble (on this vehicle). thanksgiving day, while driving to dinner.

this is the 2nd out of my last 3 jeeps to have the death wobble, and like last time, the dealership laughed at the term death wobble and I had to explain what it was since they had no clue.

I will check out a 4x4 shop today to see what they say.

thanx for all the help guys!

I need to go to my shop and find a nice piece of oak or walnut to knock on ....never had it on a Jeep I've owned but had bad wobble/terrible shimmy on a Ford truck (it wasn't true DW).

 

[DaddyWags]

Crossing my fingers as I say this. But I haven't experienced the DW yet either. Granted, I've only owned my "22 Mojave for 2 years and have a little over 25K miles on it. I do tow quite a bit with it. I wouldn't be surprised if some DW is caused by driving habits. When I'm driving, towing or not, I almost come to a crawl when going over RR tracks. I avoid potholes and major bumps as much as possible. I have taken it off road, however, I always take my time. The solid axles make your suspension very sensitive, if that makes sense. I rotate the tires every 5K miles. When I move the front tires to the rear, I will crisscross them. That being said, everyone else is correct. Get it fixed before you tow. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[pcrawfordpt]

Have you checked to make sure everything up front is torqued to spec? Track bar at the frame is usually the main culprit. If it’s been going on a while, the hole for the track bar bolt at the frame can get wallowed out. I f so, you can replace with a slightly larger 7/16 grade 8 bolt and nut for a few dollars. Loose ball joints (from the factory) have also been an issue. You need to remove the cotter pins and check torque. If you don’t have the tools, it’s an investment worth while as you will get to know a lot more about your Jeep in the process.

 

[AXISJT]

Good luck I have spent over 6 grand trying to fix my death wobble issues and I still have a shake. It's infuriating

 

[nixit]

took it to the 4x4 specialists about 15 minutes away, as I'm about to pull into their parking lot, I notice on their street sign under their name they have "Got death wobble?"

from what they say, they can fix it, and the best and worst case would be $1200-$4000.

not sure if this sounds accurate, but I made an appt for them to at least look at it to see what the actual cost would be.

I can't believe jeep passes off the (class action suit) steering damper aspirin as the solution.

thanx for all the advice and info, I'll keep you posted.

cheers.

 

[Jefe1018]

took it to the 4x4 specialists about 15 minutes away, as I'm about to pull into their parking lot, I notice on their street sign under their name they have "Got death wobble?"

from what they say, they can fix it, and the best and worst case would be $1200-$4000.

not sure if this sounds accurate, but I made an appt for them to at least look at it to see what the actual cost would be.

I can't believe jeep passes off the (class action suit) steering damper aspirin as the solution.

thanx for all the advice and info, I'll keep you posted.

cheers.

The $1,200-$4,000 is replacing components, yours likely aren't all worn out. You might have one or two that are bad and they'll likely recommend (upsell) you upgrade other components as well.

 

[NVjeff]

Have you checked to make sure everything up front is torqued to spec? Track bar at the frame is usually the main culprit. If it’s been going on a while, the hole for the track bar bolt at the frame can get wallowed out. I f so, you can replace with a slightly larger 7/16 grade 8 bolt and nut for a few dollars. Loose ball joints (from the factory) have also been an issue. You need to remove the cotter pins and check torque. If you don’t have the tools, it’s an investment worth while as you will get to know a lot more about your Jeep in the process.

My JK had it, it turned out to be the track bar bolt hole at the frame that was wallowed out.
I found an after market bracket that reinforced that area and I tightened it a bit beyond spec., since spec. came loose and wallowed out the hole.

 

[pcrawfordpt]

My JK had it, it turned out to be the track bar bolt hole at the frame that was wallowed out.
I found an after market bracket that reinforced that area and I tightened it a bit beyond spec., since spec. came loose and wallowed out the hole.

The Steer Smarts Sector Shaft/Track Bar Brace is a good option for the JT/JL.

 

[pcrawfordpt]

took it to the 4x4 specialists about 15 minutes away, as I'm about to pull into their parking lot, I notice on their street sign under their name they have "Got death wobble?"

from what they say, they can fix it, and the best and worst case would be $1200-$4000.

not sure if this sounds accurate, but I made an appt for them to at least look at it to see what the actual cost would be.

I can't believe jeep passes off the (class action suit) steering damper aspirin as the solution.

thanx for all the advice and info, I'll keep you posted.

cheers.

Personally, I would invest in some tools for a few hundred and just go over everything checking torque specs and re-test. Also check for play in the ball joints (YouTube videos how to do this) if properly torqued they may have failed. This would be covered under warranty. If you still have it, look for failed components, again the wallowed out track bar frame hole is common. Put a 7/16 bolt in there, or upgrade to Steer Smarts Sector Soft/Track Bar support for $275, and retest. For a stock JT and 20K, you shouldn't have anything failing. You will learn a ton doing it yourself, and likely get it fixed for under $500.

 

[NVjeff]

The Steer Smarts Sector Shaft/Track Bar Brace is a good option for the JT/JL.

Thanks, I book marked that should I need one in the future.

 

[Mash5]

I'm on my 5th jeep, and each of them has had rounds of DW one or more times. The steering damper gets a lot of hate because the dealer always thinks that will fix it without thoroughly inspecting the other elements of the axle locating system. However, contrary to what many will tell you, a worn damper can initiate DW. It is an integral part of the system and it needs to be doing its job. The OE damper on these is kind of minimal for the job it is tasked with when it is fresh out of the box. My truck is heavy, and I drive it hard off-road, and I was not getting 10k out of them. The dealer kept swapping them while it was under warranty. I think I paid $ 170 for a simple Fox 2.5 damper, and it is just a much better piece of kit in all respects. It has about 20k on it now.

That said, it is unlikely that a new damper will fix your problem. As others have said, you need to check the entire front end. There are about 15 joints in the front end, and any one of them can be the cause, or it can be a combination of wear across multiple parts. Proper diagnosis is not generally all that hard. Get a helper to move the steering wheel back and forth for you, and just get under there and put your hands on each joint to feel for play. For some reason, my jeep burns up the joint at Pitman arm. So you can start there. It is easy to reach. The pan hard bar is the other one that is a common failure. The control arms on my jeep are still in reasonable shaper after 55k miles, so those seem to last better, but they can contribute.

None of these parts are hard to get or very hard to change out in your driveway (or on the trail). I can't see paying a shop that kind of money... not to say they are ripping you off, but I'd be curious to see what they were going to do for that much. It seems like that top-end quote should cover all new arms, drag link, pan hard, and an alignment.

 

[nixit]

Have you checked to make sure everything up front is torqued to spec? Track bar at the frame is usually the main culprit. If it’s been going on a while, the hole for the track bar bolt at the frame can get wallowed out. I f so, you can replace with a slightly larger 7/16 grade 8 bolt and nut for a few dollars. Loose ball joints (from the factory) have also been an issue. You need to remove the cotter pins and check torque. If you don’t have the tools, it’s an investment worth while as you will get to know a lot more about your Jeep in the process.

if I knew how to check things to spec I would, I'm not a car guy. where's my nephew when you need him.

edit: corrected spelling grammar on new -> knew

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