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2022 gladiator death wobble

bleda2002

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Thanks for the comment and info, I was just under the impression like probably a lot of people that the adjustable control arms will correct everything needed. But now I see and understand it will correct caster but will not do anything for the geometry. I get that totally and can understand from the dr death wobble video how it’s taking away from the coil springs and not allowing them to do their job of soaking up the bumps. Instead it’s throwing the energy into the frame and floor board feel. It’s just frustrating knowing how well it’s drove for8-10k miles and all of a sudden it’s went bad all of a sudden. I had not a hint of it until it got cold and it seems it goes away on warm days. Like I said before it’s amazed me how well it’s handled and performed until now and it’s mind boggling to say the least. Thanks again ??
The drop brackets will help it ride better by fixing some of the arm angle but it won't fix dw. Your lift isn't that tall, something is loose or out of spec, you seem to have changed most of the usual suspects though so it's a bit of a head scratcher.
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Buckeye Jeeper

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I’m not really sure if geometry correction brackets is the solution here. It may be a solution, but that’s really just going to help mask whatever the issue actually is.

Our builds are somewhat similar. I have the 3.5 Overland+ diesel lift from Clayton, and run Yokohama G003 37’s on a -25 offset wheel. My steering is the Currie system Clayton offers on their website, with the addition of a Metalcloak track-bar reinforcement bracket. The Currie has a little play in it as you describe on your ends, both Currie and Clayton assured me it was normal. Steering stabilizer is the teraflex falcon adjustable. Besides a very very slight pull to the left I’ve never been able to figure out, my steering is like butter. (The pull to the left got better after I moved the wheels around the truck.)

No death wobble or any weird stuff from the steering, it’s rock solid. Clayton is known to be a rock solid option, and is a full kit, so there’s something loose or broke for sure, not result of a poor setup. What I’m getting at is the Clayton lift is designed well, it does not need the addition of geometry correction brackets.

Here’s a photo my most recent alignment that got everything dialed in very well, hope it helps some.

D06CCD84-A919-4E45-BAC8-1B42568098AE.webp


My bet is either alignment, the track bar, or something weird with the wheels. Maybe the difference between my wheels at -25 and yours at that little bit more offset is the straw that broke the camels back. I’d say find a Jeep buddy and swap wheels, see if the problem replicates. Simple enough thing to try just to rule it out.

Let me know if I can answer any questions about my setup, I’m happy to help ya ??
Thank you very much, it’s been frustrating with it handling so well up until now. The rod play was on the old ...well not old but the factory tie rod ends. That’s why I purchased the Apex 2.5 ton thinking it would fix it. I’ve had it aligned twice and have swapped wheels and tires off my wife’s wrangler rubicon. With hers and the factory 33’s it does the same thing. One thing I’ve noticed is I have measured from my sway bar brackets with a square up. Then measured to the frame on both sides in the same spots. And have measured from the side wall of my tires ( making sure I’m on the actual sidewall and not on a tread block) with a straight edge 4’ level and over to my fenders. Both ways of measuring I come up with my front axle 5/8” more to the drivers side of the truck. It’s been this way since install and has been fine. But the shop who’s done the alignments says their machine checks for cross sectional measurements and they can’t see it with their machine. But I also have on my rear passenger side some camber issues that they said would have to be from an improper bearing face from the factory as there’s no adjustment on the rear. And they also said it wouldn’t effect it. But then there’s also camber issues on the front passenger side that they can’t see what’s causing it. I’ll attach the alignment sheet from after the Apex steering was installed.

Jeep Gladiator 2022 gladiator death wobble 0697A92F-7019-49CC-8AA2-CC72FA3F5B7B
 
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Buckeye Jeeper

Buckeye Jeeper

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The drop brackets will help it ride better by fixing some of the arm angle but it won't fix dw. Your lift isn't that tall, something is loose or out of spec, you seem to have changed most of the usual suspects though so it's a bit of a head scratcher.
Absolutely !! It’s driving me insane. I’ve put more money and time into this than any other vehicle I’ve ever had. This was my dream truck and it’s quickly becoming the biggest headache lol. But I don’t wanna give up because I do love it.
 

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Absolutely !! It’s driving me insane. I’ve put more money and time into this than any other vehicle I’ve ever had. This was my dream truck and it’s quickly becoming the biggest headache lol. But I don’t wanna give up because I do love it.
Though I am not a fan of drop brackets like I said, it’s worth noting that I did just find this thread with another user in the comments with Clayton lift experiencing the same issue. Apparently drop brackets did solve it for him. I still think that’s just masking the real issue.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/control-arm-drop-brackets.62134/post-1026841

Did the give you the cross measurements? I don’t see them on your Print-out like I do on mine.
 

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Good luck in finding the actual issue. I had the same problem with my Gladiator around 20,000 miles. Had it looked at by 3 different shops and no one could find any issues with it. Nothing was loose or worn out, everything was torqued correctly. Even had the tires re-balanced and rotated, to no avail. Same as you, wife wouldn't drive it, kids hated riding in it (they used to love it). I knew it was going to be a problem that I was going to have to keep throwing money at so I ended up selling the Gladiator. It was a fun vehicle and I had some good adventures with it, but it was just frustrating to drive to work every day with it like that.
 

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First +1 on installing geometry correction brackets and +1 on adjusting the caster and +1 on adjusting the toe in. Neither of those could make the situation worse.

It sounds like you are running a "lower" tire pressure AND there have been recommendations to go even lower. Without turning this thread into a debate about tire pressures, the 31-32 you normally run (and the even lower pressures recommended) seem pretty low to me. Try running them at 37 and see if the problem still exists. While your tread test showed one thing, it may simply be that your tires don't like running at that pressure in that temperature. It's a no cost trial to air them up and test.

NOW, you know what they say about opinions? ...well here's mine:

If I've followed everything correctly, you've got ~8000+ miles with the 37's and the massive wheel offset (plus the original 5000 miles before they were added). Those big heavy wheel/tire combos act as quite a lever against your ball joints. It's been my experience as the current owner of 2 JKUR's (one on 33's, one on 35's) and 1 JTR (on 37's), that I have had bad ball joints that caused death wobble and all outward appearances were that they were fine when doing a visual inpsection, the tire wiggle test, etc. As soon as I changed them, the problem went away.

The stock ball joints on these rigs are basically plastic and aren't ideal for long life on a stock pavement princess much less for a rig set up like yours, or one that is wheeled aggressively (like my JKUR's), or one that is big and heavy (like my JTR set up for overlanding).

I'd recommend installing a good set of ball joints (I personally have had great success with Teraflex). It's something that I've done in my driveway in an afternoon, and there's a good chance it could solve your issue. And if it doesn't solve the issue, having proper ball joints will ensure they don't become your issue down the road.
 

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What I’m getting at is the Clayton lift is designed well, it does not need the addition of geometry correction brackets.
Totally disagree. Any lift over 2" should get those arms back to parallel with the ground. The guy in the video posted a ways back nailed it.
IMO, any lift that is over about 2" should come with brackets.
These lift sellers do what is needed to lift, need more, they'll be happy to sell you more. Price point is king.
You are dropping those CAs down into a position to swing rearward more wildly and changing how the forces are transmitted to the frame.

The drop brackets will help it ride better by fixing some of the arm angle but it won't fix dw.
More than ride - dropping the rears of the CAs put them back into a normal arc, more straight up and down than rearward and forward with each bump or drop.



With a tall lift every uneven spot pulls the axle back or pushes it forward, setting up some very abnormal events.
Geometry and math.
If you hit a low spot with the right side and a tall lift, that side of the axle drops and in the process, is pulled back. Since the arms are swinging in a different part of their arc, it wants to try to "twist" that end of the axle as well. All 4 arms need to swing in similar arcs - upper to lower and left to right.
The shorter arm of the two on either side will change more than the longer arm, and try to twist the axle. It's worse the farther out of parallel with the ground you are.
Dr. DW makes good points.

Wheels matter - you change that scrub radius and you introduce what you need to get DW.
Especially with toe being off. Wheels are dragged back as far as they'll go, and want to bounce back to straight forcing the other wheel back and then it wants to bounce back to straight, and you have yourself an oscillation - DW. If toe is out or neutral, the natural forces want to shove the wheels back out farther. The wheels sticking way out magnify those forces dramatically. Left wheel gets dragged back by crazy scrub radius and no toe in, and then it corrects, dragged back, corrects........ it's been explained by suspension engineers for decades.

Lifts do other things, too - like make the angle on the drag link and track bar more severe, leading to them being allowed to flex and give more, acting like springs. (so use much heavier parts and try to correct the angles as much as possible)

Jeep Gladiator 2022 gladiator death wobble 1673797320727

Depending on the Jeep or other vehicle, you may be flexing the drag link, and any slop at all makes things worse.

The problem is that sometimes people throw parts at Jeeps because they want the cool, wow factor (or to actually do something with it) and don't understand the impact, the result of each change. Certain changes made in combination with each other make it worse where by themselves an individual change may work.

This one is a bad combination of multiple changes.
 

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Have you thought about the bushings in the arms themselves are allowing excessive play? You wouldnt be the first person I've heard have one of the rubber bushings go bad early.

Also as mentioned above, try turning in the tie rod 1 full rotation. If you were at 0 before that should get you about right for toe in and maybe measure yourself. Alignment machines are very precise but are still only as good as the person doing it. Jeeps are pretty sensitive to toe in/out so double checking it can't hurt.
 

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Totally disagree. Any lift over 2" should get those arms back to parallel with the ground. The guy in the video posted a ways back nailed it.
IMO, any lift that is over about 2" should come with brackets.
These lift sellers do what is needed to lift, need more, they'll be happy to sell you more. Price point is king.
You are dropping those CAs down into a position to swing rearward more wildly and changing how the forces are transmitted to the frame.



More than ride - dropping the rears of the CAs put them back into a normal arc, more straight up and down than rearward and forward with each bump or drop.



With a tall lift every uneven spot pulls the axle back or pushes it forward, setting up some very abnormal events.
Geometry and math.
If you hit a low spot with the right side and a tall lift, that side of the axle drops and in the process, is pulled back. Since the arms are swinging in a different part of their arc, it wants to try to "twist" that end of the axle as well. All 4 arms need to swing in similar arcs - upper to lower and left to right.
The shorter arm of the two on either side will change more than the longer arm, and try to twist the axle. It's worse the farther out of parallel with the ground you are.
Dr. DW makes good points.

Wheels matter - you change that scrub radius and you introduce what you need to get DW.
Especially with toe being off. Wheels are dragged back as far as they'll go, and want to bounce back to straight forcing the other wheel back and then it wants to bounce back to straight, and you have yourself an oscillation - DW. If toe is out or neutral, the natural forces want to shove the wheels back out farther. The wheels sticking way out magnify those forces dramatically. Left wheel gets dragged back by crazy scrub radius and no toe in, and then it corrects, dragged back, corrects........ it's been explained by suspension engineers for decades.

Lifts do other things, too - like make the angle on the drag link and track bar more severe, leading to them being allowed to flex and give more, acting like springs. (so use much heavier parts and try to correct the angles as much as possible)

1673797320727.png

Depending on the Jeep or other vehicle, you may be flexing the drag link, and any slop at all makes things worse.

The problem is that sometimes people throw parts at Jeeps because they want the cool, wow factor (or to actually do something with it) and don't understand the impact, the result of each change. Certain changes made in combination with each other make it worse where by themselves an individual change may work.

This one is a bad combination of multiple changes.
/THREAD right here

In addition negative offset with 37’s was DW waiting to happen IMO. Also, to the OP, I wouldn’t focus on the truck being “new” since you essentially redesigned the suspension entirely. I would start with a +offset wheel and CA drop brackets, then go from there. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

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/THREAD right here

In addition negative offset with 37’s was DW waiting to happen IMO. Also, to the OP, I wouldn’t focus on the truck being “new” since you essentially redesigned the suspension entirely. I would start with a +offset wheel and CA drop brackets, then go from there. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's my theory. He was closer to DW then he realized. Then when the cold temps hit and rubber stiffened and metal contacted, he crossed the line.
I can't imagine putting that much off center out from the hubs. My Mojave comes with +37 on 7.5" rims and with the 2" AEV lift plus the 1.5" on the Mojave from factory, I could easily run 37's as is and probably 40's with zero offset.
 

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That's my theory. He was closer to DW then he realized. Then when the cold temps hit and rubber stiffened and metal contacted, he crossed the line.
I can't imagine putting that much off center out from the hubs. My Mojave comes with +37 on 7.5" rims and with the 2" AEV lift plus the 1.5" on the Mojave from factory, I could easily run 37's as is and probably 40's with zero offset.
Yea this wheel offset calculator was my “go to” when purchasing wheels, because i wanted my new offset/tire width close to stock as possible. It looks like +22 will get OP closest to stock. -17 looks dangerous.

Jeep Gladiator 2022 gladiator death wobble 796218F4-8B87-4DBF-907E-8D1B9D2ABEDD


Jeep Gladiator 2022 gladiator death wobble D40859B3-2B57-4BFD-A25E-4D6EEAB8A379
 

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If you do some math as pointed out without using that word in those posts just above, you can get close to keeping the stock numbers when you change tire diameter and wheels.
I know people hate engineers and every person who has ever visited the web is either an engineer or can do a lot better than any auto maker's engineers ever dreamed, but if that were true....... there'd be half as many threads with suspension and steering issues.
You toss in bad toe numbers, crazy wheel numbers, taller tires and now you are asking those parts to all work together as well as the stock parts did in their original positions.
Can't happen.
You get wild with wheel changes and you get crazy scrub radius numbers, go huge tires and not compensate with different wheels - same thing. And then add the forces trying to pry that tire backwards as you move forward, allow them to do so with not enough toe and you have issues.
Think of the ball joints on these as making up a king pin. Draw a line through the centers of the ball joints and you have the same thing as a king pin. Draw a line through the centers down to the road surface. Move the centers of the tires out farther from that line and you increase the forces trying to pry those tires back. You are driving or pushing the tires forward using the king pin line.
Imagine yourself holding a pipe that's 3 feet long. On the other end of the pipe is the tire. You are walking along with that tire beside you and you are pushing it along using that pipe making it roll along side you.
Now double the length of that pipe and put the tire another 3 feet away from you - 6 feet out.
It's gonna be a lot harder to keep that tire right next to you as you try to roll it along. It's got leverage against you now and tries to fall back. Either you lose the strength or the pipe bends back with the force. Now it's a spring...........the tire will jump forward and fall back and so on.

Same thing happens when you move the tires away from the ball joints. Road forces will make them try to swing back. Start with 0 toe and normal forces if it was stock would see it toe out a bit. If you move the wheel farther out - the forces are amplified as there's more leverage pulling that tire back.
So it's a stack-up of trouble. Each thing alone may not cause major issues (they'd still not be right, but you'd maybe get by) but add it all up.
 
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They have them at dead 0
According to [Banned Site] and the owner of dynatrak they should be toed in 1/8 of an inch. Once your going down the road they actually start pulling apart. So you want them in a little so they pull straight.
 
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Understood and I’m sure it will be harder on the wheel bearings inevitably. The whole goal was on trails to help keep things off of the body when and if. But so far it’s been on only one trail and I’m having a rough time even driving it back and forth to work.
 
 







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