22 JT death wobble and replacing the factory steering damper

[Weldit]

Has anyone tried getting an alignment shop to put a few more degrees of caster in? Or is it even adjustable on a jeep? When my 4wd Excursion started acting like it was going to wobble. (Never did a full death wobble) More caster angle cured it completely.

I also read somewhere that other vehicles with straight front axles and larger tires benefited from more caster angle. The manufacturers put very little caster in because it aids in slow speed steering.

unfortunately a case of death wobble wears and loosens all the steering components very rapidly.

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[Lunentucker]

Has anyone tried getting an alignment shop to put a few more degrees of caster in? Or is it even adjustable on a jeep? When my 4wd Excursion started acting like it was going to death wobble. (Never did a full bad wobble) More caster angle cured it completely.

I also read somewhere that other vehicles with straight front axles and larger tires benefited from more caster angle. The manufacturers put very little caster in because it aids in slow speed steering.

unfortunately a case of death wobble wears and loosens all the steering components very rapidly.

It is not adjustable in the factory configuration. Some install the longer control arms from Mopar, which increase positive caster a fixed amount. It's a cheap and relatively easy solution.

Others install adjustable control arms or geometry correction brackets.
The adjustable arms offer incremental fine tuning, while the brackets provide usually three settings to increase caster on lifted vehicles.

Genuine Mopar Front Lower Control Arm - 68322798AA | All Mopar Parts

 

[Lunentucker]

unfortunately a case of death wobble wears and loosens all the steering components very rapidly.

This part you have backwards. Loose components cause poor handling and eventually death wobble, if not properly addressed.

Death Wobble, DW, Death Wobble, DW, Death Wobble, Shimmy, Wander, Drift, Bump Steer | Jeep Gladiator Forum - JeepGladiatorForum.com

 

[Weldit]

This part you have backwards. Loose components cause poor handling and eventually death wobble, if not properly addressed.

Death Wobble, DW, Death Wobble, DW, Death Wobble, Shimmy, Wander, Drift, Bump Steer | Jeep Gladiator Forum - JeepGladiatorForum.com

Totally agree. Loose components allow the wobble And death wobble accelerates that looseness or wear exponentially.

My Dad had a Scout II. That did it sometimes. He called it “shimmy”. Definitely from worn steering components.

 

[Jimko71]

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

You have a HA with 20 inch wheels and Bridgstone Duellers? If you do - have them check the tires. I had two bad tires that were out of round and would not balance. That caused my "wobble"

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This part you have backwards. Loose components cause poor handling and eventually death wobble, if not properly addressed.

Yes and no - you can have loose parts cause or contribute to - which in turn will shake the crap out of other parts and cause wear, or looseness in parts that were otherwise fine.
It's like an out of balance tire - loose parts don't cause that but not resolving a tire balance issue will soon ruin otherwise good parts.
Or a bad shock letting the tire bounce and cause cupping (and ball joint wear, etc.

DW can ruin otherwise good steering parts if not addressed.
On the other hand - worn steering parts can be a part of DW.

 

[Gizmo]

Any one local or willing to travel ( South Jersey ) who needs or wants the longer MOPAR lower control arms I have two sets that I removed to install Geo Brackets . Not shipping

 

[Lunentucker]

Any one local or willing to travel ( South Jersey )

That's asking a LOT

 

[Gizmo]

Should I pay people to take them . Im not in NYC . Im in the GOP part of Jersey its safe I can't even give a pair of TF rear geo brackets away either .

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Any one local or willing to travel ( South Jersey ) who needs or wants the longer MOPAR lower control arms I have two sets that I removed to install Geo Brackets . Not shipping

Too bad no shipping - I'd gladly pay shipping to get a pair.

 

[Gizmo]

Cost of shipping would damn near buy ya new ones at 30 some bucks apiece. Cost me 40 bucks to send 4 shock brackets I sold . Sh!ts gotten crazy

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Cost of shipping would damn near buy ya new ones at 30 some bucks apiece. Cost me 40 bucks to send 4 shock brackets I sold . Sh!ts gotten crazy

35.28 each x 2 = $70.56
(plus any shipping)
so 40 is a bargain.
But I understand there's still packaging and getting them to a place to ship from and so on so it's not just the cost of shipping in dollars.

 

[BlackBessy]

You have a HA with 20 inch wheels and Bridgstone Duellers? If you do - have them check the tires. I had two bad tires that were out of round and would not balance. That caused my "wobble"

HA w/ 20" & Duellers here, 25k miles at this point, and in the last few thousand miles the DW has gotten bad enough I've chatted with dealer and aim to drop it off potentially today (for a week I guess), and they give me the whole "probably a steering damper" excuse.

 

[Skubyballs]

Dropped my jeep at the dealer for them to diagnose the death wobble. They claim its the steering damper which doesnt exactly surprise me. Down side is they also said they cant get a new one in for 45 days. So I ordered a skyjacker hydro 7008 and had it in 3 days. Figured it was 2 bolts, what could go wrong!

What went wrong is the square neck bolt on the tie rod end of the damper wont fit the crush sleeve of the skyjacker. Looks like skyjacker assume a round neck bolt, the factory damper had a wider inside diameter for 3/4 the depth of the sleeve to fit the square neck.

Question I have, is the square neck bolt normal on the JT? from what I could find for part numbers and the years they apply to the bolt (06513445AA) is for 20-22 JT and 18-22 JL. But I cant find a single oem replacement damper that appears to work with that bolt. Trying to understand if *all* the supposed oem replacement dampers online are advertised incorrectly or if jeep maybe changed things due to parts supply issues and the square neck bolt isnt really standard?

I also have a support request in with skyjacker to see if maybe what they shipped my had the wrong parts in the box but figured I'd ask here to see what others have run across.

I had that death wobble on my 2020 gladiator. Scared the shit outta me doing about 65 on the freeway. Turned out my Core 4x4 adjustable front track bar had snapped inside. Had to put the factory track bar bar on. Death wobble gone. That “wobble” is no joke.

 

[Jimko71]

HA w/ 20" & Duellers here, 25k miles at this point, and in the last few thousand miles the DW has gotten bad enough I've chatted with dealer and aim to drop it off potentially today (for a week I guess), and they give me the whole "probably a steering damper" excuse.

I’d push them to make sure everything is torqued down to spec and have them check your tires.

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