22 JT death wobble and replacing the factory steering damper

[scomoletti]

Unsurprisingly my local dealer has turned out to be useless. They are 100% convinced its the damper even after I replaced it. The service rep even argued the point with me when I tried to discuss it with them.

I'm going to tell them to order the factory damper still and I'll throw the original on before I take it back. While I'm pretty sure that wont fix it I have to go through the motions I suppose.

In the mean time I'd like to see if I can at least identify and possibly fix it myself. I've found plenty of online guides for what to look at, why, etc. But nothing which identifies the correct torque settings for the various components. It's been a while since I've done this kind of work and it seems Chiltons manuals dont exist anymore and Haynes doesnt have any for the JT. Anyone know is a 2020 JL is the same as a 22' JT? Or is there an online resource I can find the correct information from?

Thanks in advance.

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[Mr._Bill]

Unsurprisingly my local dealer has turned out to be useless. They are 100% convinced its the damper even after I replaced it. The service rep even argued the point with me when I tried to discuss it with them.

I'm going to tell them to order the factory damper still and I'll throw the original on before I take it back. While I'm pretty sure that wont fix it I have to go through the motions I suppose.

In the mean time I'd like to see if I can at least identify and possibly fix it myself. I've found plenty of online guides for what to look at, why, etc. But nothing which identifies the correct torque settings for the various components. It's been a while since I've done this kind of work and it seems Chiltons manuals dont exist anymore and Haynes doesnt have any for the JT. Anyone know is a 2020 JL is the same as a 22' JT? Or is there an online resource I can find the correct information from?

Thanks in advance.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...torque-values-all-of-them-in-one-place.67915/

 

[Gren71]

An easy fix is to check your own toe setting.

i reset the toe on my jt and my wife’s jlu and it corrected the wobble for us both

@scomoletti im in smyrna DE. If you need help shoot me a pm and we can meet up.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/?-2020-2023-jt-gladiator-torque-values-all-of-them-in-one-place.67915/

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

and

An easy fix is to check your own toe setting.

i reset the toe on my jt and my wife’s jlu and it corrected the wobble for us both

@scomoletti im in smyrna DE. If you need help shoot me a pm and we can meet up.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Two great places to start for clunks, rattles, DW, and looseness.

Proper torque matters. Too many lessor, even looser, "specs" floating around from vendors, kits and so on. I've found some of them looser than the correct factory specs - which are often torque plus xx degrees.
Toe - if too extreme for YOUR truck and it's suspension/steering can cause a back and forth motion, especially if wheels have been changed, tire size is radically different from stock and so on.

 

[scomoletti]

An easy fix is to check your own toe setting.

i reset the toe on my jt and my wife’s jlu and it corrected the wobble for us both

@scomoletti im in smyrna DE. If you need help shoot me a pm and we can meet up.

I had that thought. Visually it looks a little out to me but tires dont appear to be cupping at all. Only 6200 miles on it however and most of them were from before this issue started which was in the low 5k range.

I'm going to take a swing at it with the great info everyone has posted but I may hit you up on the offer to help later if I have no luck. I'm up in Wilmington so not too far a ride.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I had that thought. Visually it looks a little out to me but tires dont appear to be cupping at all. Only 6200 miles on it however and most of them were from before this issue started which was in the low 5k range.

I'm going to take a swing at it with the great info everyone has posted but I may hit you up on the offer to help later if I have no luck. I'm up in Wilmington so not too far a ride.

Toe won't cause cupping in most cases (*exception below) - shocks and balance issues cause cupping.

Toe causes feathering across the face of the tire, or *possible weird sawtooth patterns on the outer-most thread.

 

[AlGator4]

yikes!
okay so i see you live in Tennessee... how long will it take you to drive here and do this for me in Houston?! ?
(signed the person who is so far removed from being mechanically inclined that i actually paid to have my Sunrider installled! haha)

So I was driving from Orlando to TN and got the death wobble out of Chattanooga toward Nashville. Was able to get to Murfreesboro Jeep who knew exactly what the issue was. Unfortunately they only had the replacement damper and not the bolt with extended head. They sent me to Franklin Jeep who installed and had me on my way in a couple hours. This was a 2020 JEEP Gladiator Overland with 22k which has now been replaced with a 2022 JEEP Gladiator High Altitude which is at 3600 miles and having the death wobble.

 

[Lunentucker]

So I was driving from Orlando to TN and got the death wobble out of Chattanooga toward Nashville. Was able to get to Murfreesboro Jeep who knew exactly what the issue was. Unfortunately they only had the replacement damper and not the bolt with extended head. They sent me to Franklin Jeep who installed and had me on my way in a couple hours. This was a 2020 JEEP Gladiator Overland with 22k which has now been replaced with a 2022 JEEP Gladiator High Altitude which is at 3600 miles and having the death wobble.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they didn't fix the root cause of your death wobble.

 

[AlGator4]

So what's more likely with a Jeep at 3500 miles?

 

[Lunentucker]

So what's more likely with a Jeep at 3500 miles?

Improperly torqued components. Ball joints, drag link, Pitman arm nut, steering gearbox bolts.
These things are notorious for being delivered with something loose.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...w-mileage-stock-gladiator.67996/#post-1114454

 

[Lunentucker]

So what's more likely with a Jeep at 3500 miles?

Yours has probably had the core issue from day one, but you just gave the stabilizer enough of a workout to burn it out.

 

[Sbro2021]

That dampener is as functional and useful as nothing more than a shake weight to do anything for D-wobble….

In every way!!!!!
I just dropped almost 2k on mine,
Replaced all the steering with Fusion 2.5 T hardware, new track bar, had to weld up and fish plate the axle side track bar bracket hole cuz it was a hot dog down a hallway!
Took .018” of excess backlash out of the steering gear, sector brace, bought cam bolts for the lower control arms to take up that slack in the square holes axle side, had it aligned, tires rebalanced torqued it all 4 times over and cussed at it the entire time I worked on it about how much I appreciate what quality long lasting parts Chrysler provides in a 65k vehicle…?‍
Did mine at 41k when the wobbles started….
Tell your dealer they are idiots.

Oh and a heads up, the steering boxes are also on back order which should tell us all something…

 

[AlGator4]

I think you’re right on.

 

[Redfour5]

wow i have never heard of or experienced this to be honest...had a wrangler for 10 years and now have a gladiator...hoping the 2023's have eradicated this issue?

sounds terrifying!

Not on mine. Had it happen on the way home from the dealer... And back it goes...

 

[mrmo]

measure hole in sleeve. go to box store and get a grade 5 or better nolt of that diameter (or close as possible) and at least 1.250" wider than the bushing end. Doesnt have to be metric. Get a matching nylok nut to match, youre done. Cost under $5. The reasonthere is a square fqctory bolt is because they use a "headless" bolt like a carraige bolt that cant be tightened w/o a square holding shank. Advise to put your new bolt in upside down to protect the threaded end somewhat

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