Care to help diagnose my death wobble?

[Chadnutz]

97k miles. Rubicon with 2" Mopar lift. 35x10.50 tires on factory wheels. Tires have 57k miles on them.

First time I got death wobble was around 79k miles. I had tires balanced and rotated and it went away. This time I tried the same path and it didn't fix it. It happens mostly with a hard shot to the left front at highway speeds. I'll have to slow down to around 50 mph to make it stop, which is quite annoying to me, and even more so to the people behind me that have no idea why I'm braking.

It both fronts take a shot it won't do it. I also don't know if most bumps are on the left or what because I don't recall taking a shot to the front right and getting DW.

Here's the kicker... I hit a deer a few weeks ago and I don't recall if DW was occurring before or after that. Deer did no damage that I can find. I can't be sure if it hit the bumper (which doesn't cover the tire), the RIGHT front tire, or both.

It still tracks well. I haven't seen any difference in that.

Any ideas?

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[Mtpisgah]

Have you replaced your ball joints? If not, start there.

 

[Chadnutz]

Is it normal to have to replace ball joints every 100k? I didn't do it on my F350 until probably 240k miles and 25 years...

 

[mtbjeeper]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Jeep ball joints! On my Jl I went thru several sets in 68,000 miles. Get a good set of aftermarket (teraflex, metalcloal, Yukon, etc.) and you will be in much better shape.

Things to try with relatively little cost:

1. Alignment
2. Make sure air pressure is the same at each corner and not too high (think basketball.
3. Have a shop or yourself re-torque the front suspension and steering. This is really important especially at your mileage.

If this doesn’t fix it here are some good next steps:

1. Replace the ball joints. A typical culprit.
2. Add a front track bar brace to strengthen the track bar.
3. Have the driver side front shock checked/replaced. If the valving is shot, undamped oscillations could set the axle into DW.
4. Replace the tires. A loose belt can trigger DW especially when its cold out.

DW is a bit of a black art but it is correctable. Finding the cause early and at little expense depends on what type of person you were in a previous life. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.

Unfortunately it took me a really long time

 

[Mtpisgah]

Is it normal to have to replace ball joints every 100k? I didn't do it on my F350 until probably 240k miles and 25 years...

I had to replace mine at 48,000, cured the problem. I went ahead and replaced them on my wife's JLR around 33,000 so she would have to experience it.

 

[drewcnit]

The few times, I've gotten DW in my vehicle it has been either - 1) the trackbar (main culprit, multiple times it was an issue) - the bolt at the axle was loose and needed torqued or 2) Draglink - pitman arm end joint was shot.
Have you done anything with your steering setup in those 97K miles? If not with a small lift and a little bit large tires, I'd start looking there first. Start with the retorque mentioned by @mtbjeeper.

 

[Zachanadandy]

The stock ball joints have plastic liners and aren't known for longevity. Be glad you got 100k out of them. Replace with aftermarket HD ball joints from spicer, teraflex, dynatrac, or metal cloak. None of those have plastic liners. At 100k any of your front suspension components could be worn, but ball joints are most likely. Also, tires with 57k on them have got to be getting close to needing replaced?

 

[Rusty PW]

Tires. How much tread is left on them? How are they worn?

Steering inspection. Start by having someone in the Jeep move the steering wheel left to right while you are under the front eyeballing each tie rod end and track bar ends. Look for movement. Also put your hand on the tie rod end to feel movement inside the joint.

Ball joints. Jack up each front wheel and put a bar long enough to get leverage under the tire. Have someone lift up and down on the bar while you look at the ball joints. Should be zero movement. Also put your hand on the ball joint to feel for movement.

 

[Chadnutz]

These are all great ideas. I am starting with tire inflation. I asked for 37 psi at discount, but my TPMS are creeping up to 41. I backed off to 36 and still had minor DW once, so I'll back off a little more. Tires probably have 6 mm of tread left on them still. They won't last much longer, but they are not dead yet.

I will put it on the lift and check torques next, but I'll have to look them all up.

I will report back.

 

[Fpolanco]

I just replaced my ball joints this weekend after 42k on 35s (55k total miles).

Up until now, I’ve had to rebalance the tires going up front after rotation. Tried a new steering kit.

Even on my JKU at about 60-80k miles, ball joints was the solution.

However, I concur with @mtbjeeper’s list. Check the front end first and make sure stuff is straight: not only aligned and torqued but also not bent.

Then worry about replacing stuff.

 

[ttn333]

I concur with everyone, check your nuts and bolts. That fixed my dw. It's time for new tires. That was my 2nd ride quality issue (weird rumble at low speed). It was uneven tire wear. Happens with aggressive tires.

 

[Lunentucker]

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...-wobble-shimmy-wander-drift-bump-steer.68302/

 

[Smatterchoo]

97k miles. Rubicon with 2" Mopar lift. 35x10.50 tires on factory wheels. Tires have 57k miles on them.

First time I got death wobble was around 79k miles. I had tires balanced and rotated and it went away. This time I tried the same path and it didn't fix it. It happens mostly with a hard shot to the left front at highway speeds. I'll have to slow down to around 50 mph to make it stop, which is quite annoying to me, and even more so to the people behind me that have no idea why I'm braking.

It both fronts take a shot it won't do it. I also don't know if most bumps are on the left or what because I don't recall taking a shot to the front right and getting DW.

Here's the kicker... I hit a deer a few weeks ago and I don't recall if DW was occurring before or after that. Deer did no damage that I can find. I can't be sure if it hit the bumper (which doesn't cover the tire), the RIGHT front tire, or both.

It still tracks well. I haven't seen any difference in that.

Any ideas?

I experience the D/W the day after I brought my 2022 Overland home with 11,000 miles on it. It happened at 75 mph and scared the crap outta me. Took to the dealer and it was the steering damper. Had it changed and no other issues at 20,000 miles.

 

[Chadnutz]

Replaced the ball joints with Dynatrac ones at 99,143 miles and no more death wobble. Thanks all!

 

[Smatterchoo]

Replaced the ball joints with Dynatrac ones at 99,143 miles and no more death wobble. Thanks all!

My Death Wobble was from the steering damper. Mine only had 11 000 miles on it and scared me to death doing 75 mph on the interstate. Glad yours resolved.

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