Death Wobble is back....

[ajaj96]

Had death wobble last winter. My steering damper was replaced by the dealership back in March. Since then I've had no issues.....until today. 45° out, 72mph on I-95. I started to feel a little shimmy earlier this morning but tried to ignore it. But then, going over an overpass...BOOM. Death Wobble came back with a vengeance. It has already happened 3 times today. I took it to the dealership immediately and they have ANOTHER steering damper on order as well as a new track bar. This will be the 9th time I've had an issue with this truck in just over a year. At this point, take my car back. I want a Bronco.

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[Gulf_coasterHTX]

Had death wobble last winter. My steering damper was replaced by the dealership back in March. Since then I've had no issues.....until today. 45° out, 72mph on I-95. I started to feel a little shimmy earlier this morning but tried to ignore it. But then, going over an overpass...BOOM. Death Wobble came back with a vengeance. It has already happened 3 times today. I took it to the dealership immediately and they have ANOTHER steering damper on order as well as a new track bar. This will be the 9th time I've had an issue with this truck in just over a year. At this point, take my car back. I want a Bronco.

What’s your set up? Stock suspension / tires?

 

[ajaj96]

What’s your set up? Stock suspension / tires?

Yes, completely stock. I'm too afraid to do any suspension work with all the issues I've had lol

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Steering Stabilizer isn't your issue. You need to check your track bar, tie rod, sway bar links, and control arms for loose or worn parts, maybe your ball joints as well, they can wear out prematurely. A steering Stabilizer will mask other problems but is never the cause of death wobble. I can drive my jeep without one and not get death wobble, you got another issue going on

 

[ajaj96]

Steering Stabilizer isn't your issue. You need to check your track bar, tie rod, sway bar links, and control arms for loose or worn parts, maybe your ball joints as well, they can wear out prematurely. A steering Stabilizer will mask other problems but is never the cause of death wobble. I can drive my jeep without one and not get death wobble, you got another issue going on

Thank you for the advice. The dealership found it "reasonable" to order me a new track bar as well as a new steering stabilizer. This will be my 2nd one. I'm relatively new to solid axle vehicles so I don't really know what I'm looking for tbh when checking for worn parts. Is there somewhere you could recommend me looking so I can know what exactly to look for? Thank you.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Thank you for the advice. The dealership found it "reasonable" to order me a new track bar as well as a new steering stabilizer. This will be my 2nd one. I'm relatively new to solid axle vehicles so I don't really know what I'm looking for tbh when checking for worn parts. Is there somewhere you could recommend me looking so I can know what exactly to look for? Thank you.

You really need two people, one inside the vehicle turning the wheel while the other looks for something loose. The track bar shouldn't have any play at all, or be very minimal. Check the drag link, tie rod ends and ball joints. You can pretty much look at your ball joints ant tell if they are bad or not.

Here is a diagram I found online to a JL wrangler, the JT is setup pretty much identical to this. Check all spots that are labelled for anything loose or worn.

 

[ajaj96]

You really need two people, one inside the vehicle turning the wheel while the other looks for something loose. The track bar shouldn't have any play at all, or be very minimal. Check the drag link, tie rod ends and ball joints. You can pretty much look at your ball joints ant tell if they are bad or not.

Here is a diagram I found online to a JL wrangler, the JT is setup pretty much identical to this. Check all spots that are labelled for anything loose or worn.

Thank you very much for the help. I'll definitely take a look and see what I find.

 

[CMac]

And don’t think that a Bronco will be the fixer of your situation here: I would be completely stunned if it has no issues of its own.

 

[rubi14]

Steering Stabilizer isn't your issue. You need to check your track bar, tie rod, sway bar links, and control arms for loose or worn parts, maybe your ball joints as well, they can wear out prematurely. A steering Stabilizer will mask other problems but is never the cause of death wobble. I can drive my jeep without one and not get death wobble, you got another issue going on

I can say from a new JL I had I was going to replace the stabilizer with a fox unit. Bone stock Jeep with 40 miles, didnt have the right tool to get the new one on after I took the old one off, tried to drive the 2 miles from work to house. Without a stabilizer I had death wobble 4 or 5 times and had to drive 20 mph to avoid going in a ditch. In the old days I would always remove the stabilzer shock on a CJ to set it up right. A well set up CJ didn't need them, I promise you the new ones do!!!

 

[Jeeperjamie]

I can say from a new JL I had I was going to replace the stabilizer with a fox unit. Bone stock Jeep with 40 miles, didnt have the right tool to get the new one on after I took the old one off, tried to drive the 2 miles from work to house. Without a stabilizer I had death wobble 4 or 5 times and had to drive 20 mph to avoid going in a ditch. In the old days I would always remove the stabilzer shock on a CJ to set it up right. A well set up CJ didn't need them, I promise you the new ones do!!!

I had mine off for two days after I installed my lift and didn't get any Death wobble at all, drove probably 110 miles total, on the interstate at 75mph and over bumps. I could do the samething in my JKU. A properly setup one you don't need one. It doesn't cause death wobble. A steering Stabilizer is just like your shocks, but a shock for the steering. It just takes roads noise and feel out of the steering, it will not prevent or cause DW, with or without. If you got DW it's because of something else. I always remove mine to dial my lift in and make sure I got everything setup as perfect as I can, a tricked I learned from some old school wheelers. A steering stabilizer will make the steering better of course because it takes the feel of the road out, be no different than riding around of crappy shocks. That's facts.

 

[LostWoods]

I can say from a new JL I had I was going to replace the stabilizer with a fox unit. Bone stock Jeep with 40 miles, didnt have the right tool to get the new one on after I took the old one off, tried to drive the 2 miles from work to house. Without a stabilizer I had death wobble 4 or 5 times and had to drive 20 mph to avoid going in a ditch. In the old days I would always remove the stabilzer shock on a CJ to set it up right. A well set up CJ didn't need them, I promise you the new ones do!!!

Then you have other issues because @Jeeperjamie is right... stabilizers cannot be the root cause of death wobble. If you have a very (emphasis on very) slight issue somewhere and a stiff stabilizer, it can dampen the play enough that you probably won't see it. But no matter what damper you have, the root cause has to be bad caster or something loose or worn in the steering.

In the case of new Jeeps, I suspect there's something with the steering box that might be causing issues which is why the TSB specifies on customer complaint without any tech verification. I spent a fair bit of time turning wrenches at a Jeep dealership and I don't think I saw that but once or twice.

 

[ajaj96]

All of this input has been very helpful. I do however find it very strange that it is only happening in colder weather. I never have any issues when it's warm out.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

All of this input has been very helpful. I do however find it very strange that it is only happening in colder weather. I never have any issues when it's warm out.

The weather would have nothing to do with it. It's more than likely just a coincidence that it's happening in colder weather. I would check your steering damper and the track bar that they they remove, ask for the used parts back, to see if they are actually wore out or not. If they are good then you have other issues, like maybe a bad steering box. A lot cheaper for them to keep replacing a steering stabilizer and track bar than go the Steering box route. Stabilizer and Trackbar are less than $100 for the dealership to buy together and only take about 20 minutes to install.

 

[ajaj96]

The weather would have nothing to do with it. It's more than likely just a coincidence that it's happening in colder weather. I would check your steering damper and the track bar that they they remove, ask for the used parts back, to see if they are actually wore out or not. If they are good then you have other issues, like maybe a bad steering box. A lot cheaper for them to keep replacing a steering stabilizer and track bar than go the Steering box route. Stabilizer and Trackbar are less than $100 for the dealership to buy together and only take about 20 minutes to install.

Trust me dude it's completely weather related. The ride of my jeep completely changed in the cold as well. It gets much bouncier and Death Wobble only occurs when it's below 45°. I've been able to replicate it at least 20 times over the past year and it's only in the cold weather.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Trust me dude it's completely weather related. The ride of my jeep completely changed in the cold as well. It gets much bouncier and Death Wobble only occurs when it's below 45°. I've been able to replicate it at least 20 times over the past year and it's only in the cold weather.

Well maybe I guess, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense and have never heard of or saw it being weather related. It would make more sense for it to happen when it's hot rather than cold because of the heat and friction being greater and causing things to be more loose. But I guess there's a first time.

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