Chrysler known steering damper issue

[Jeeperjamie]

Doesn't matter - two, or maybe three times, I have posted comments and pictures from engineers - and still - the stabilizer is the solution, and the more expensive the better.
The proof is out there all over the internet LOL

You hit it - BUMPSTEER - hitting some crevice, rock, something on the road or trail, etc. - that's what they are for.

My favorite is when people throw a dual stabilizer setup on, I just shake my head. My stock one was good enough on my JT and if I didn't have fox Shocks on now I'd still be running the factory stabilizer. I still say the fox stabilizer I'm running now has cause me to lose a little bit of turning radius.

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[Wicked Snow White]

I feel like I’m coming in late but am having the same issues in my 21 JT eco diesel. Started around 6k miles 2months ago and made an appointment. First time I came in they changed the dampener. Next day I had to drive down to Dallas and it “oscillated” more frequently. Second time (following week) my tierod needed replaced. 3rd time (one week after #2) a bolt on the part that was replaced wasn’t torqued down so they fixed it and sent me on my way. 4th time (two weeks after #3) they made sure everything was tight, drove it but couldn’t duplicate and had me come drive it with them and I couldn’t duplicate. The past week it has slowly gotten more frequent but I wanted to wait until I was sure it would happen when they were riding with me. Today after they were in the jeep and it shakes continuously they stated that they were going to change my dampener. You guys already did that, yeah but there is a SB and a bunch of the mopar dampeners were defective. I just drove it home and I could still feel some vibrations but no “oscillation” at highway speeds. I have a feeling it will happen again but honestly not sure where to go from here. Suggestions?

My wife has a 2021 High Altitude with the Eco Diesel and has the Death Wobble. The only TSB I see for 2021 models is the steering damper installed upside down. Her's is not. We took it to the dealer and they still say its the steering damper, but they are on backorder until March. Since she is also a Jeep Wave member, we reached out to Jeep Wave Customer care as well. Having no luck and very frustrated... Are you still having issues after they replaced your damper twice?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

"Death wobble" isnt' a steering damper issue. And there's no TSB about this. The OP got bad information, IMO. There's no "known" issue with this.
many dealers will indeed replace the part because they are at a loss to resolve it otherwise, but I've posted, I'd bet a dozen times, where suspension and steering experts say it's not the cause, it's a bandaid to cover causes and make one feel better about it. Technically speaking a stock Jeep that has good parts, NOTHING is loose and nothing is flexing, stock wheel backset and offset, stock height, you can run without the damper or stabilizer. It's to resolve bump-steer issues when you hit something big at some speed. Like a shock absorber, it's the dampen the oscillations and settle it down. If it starts wobbling and no object has been struck, nothing to get it started - no outside item or object, there's other problems.
They could put 10 on these and if there's an underlying issue at work, it isn't going to fix it.
I always ask first - is the vehicle stock - stock tires, stock wheels, and stock height? If not, what was changed - and start looking there for how the changed items impacted the geometry or tightness of things.

So even if they end up replacing that part - it's only covering up a larger problem.
Jeep can't help it when they can't get parts themselves. The whole industry is in trouble and likely won't get a lot better soon because our country has mandated that truck drivers who are not U.S. citizens must have all of their covid shots and boosters, meaning some won't be allowed in the county with their loads.



Info from the web:
Jeep death wobble" is basically a shimmy, and can affect any suspension with a continuous tie rod (which nearly all solid axles have) to connect the front wheels. He noted, "Shimmy is normally cause by aftermarket application of larger tires, lifts that change the front axle setting for toe, or caster and camber, or worn or damaged parts. An out of balance tire, a broken tire cord, a bent wheel, or worn shocks can be the cause. (loose parts also - like loose ball joints, loose tie rod or drag link, parts flexing due to a lift, etc.)



On a properly designed and well maintained system, a damper's purpose is to mitigate the effects of bump steer and the sudden encounter of unexpected objects, such as hitting a rock in a trail at 50 miles per hour. On an improperly designed and/or poorly maintained system, a damper is used as a crutch to mask issues with suspension and tire errors.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

"Death wobble" isnt' a steering damper issue. And there's no TSB about this. The OP got bad information, IMO. There's no "known" issue with this.
many dealers will indeed replace the part because they are at a loss to resolve it otherwise, but I've posted, I'd bet a dozen times, where suspension and steering experts say it's not the cause, it's a bandaid to cover causes and make one feel better about it. Technically speaking a stock Jeep that has good parts, NOTHING is loose and nothing is flexing, stock wheel backset and offset, stock height, you can run without the damper or stabilizer. It's to resolve bump-steer issues when you hit something big at some speed. Like a shock absorber, it's the dampen the oscillations and settle it down. If it starts wobbling and no object has been struck, nothing to get it started - no outside item or object, there's other problems.
They could put 10 on these and if there's an underlying issue at work, it isn't going to fix it.
I always ask first - is the vehicle stock - stock tires, stock wheels, and stock height? If not, what was changed - and start looking there for how the changed items impacted the geometry or tightness of things.

So even if they end up replacing that part - it's only covering up a larger problem.
Jeep can't help it when they can't get parts themselves. The whole industry is in trouble and likely won't get a lot better soon because our country has mandated that truck drivers who are not U.S. citizens must have all of their covid shots and boosters, meaning some won't be allowed in the county with their loads.



Info from the web:
Jeep death wobble" is basically a shimmy, and can affect any suspension with a continuous tie rod (which nearly all solid axles have) to connect the front wheels. He noted, "Shimmy is normally cause by aftermarket application of larger tires, lifts that change the front axle setting for toe, or caster and camber, or worn or damaged parts. An out of balance tire, a broken tire cord, a bent wheel, or worn shocks can be the cause. (loose parts also - like loose ball joints, loose tie rod or drag link, parts flexing due to a lift, etc.)



On a properly designed and well maintained system, a damper's purpose is to mitigate the effects of bump steer and the sudden encounter of unexpected objects, such as hitting a rock in a trail at 50 miles per hour. On an improperly designed and/or poorly maintained system, a damper is used as a crutch to mask issues with suspension and tire errors.

I was going to go into it but I've grown tired of the continued threads that people post blaming a Steering Stabilizer for death wobble. I agree with everything in this post.

 

[Wicked Snow White]

"Death wobble" isnt' a steering damper issue. And there's no TSB about this. The OP got bad information, IMO. There's no "known" issue with this.
many dealers will indeed replace the part because they are at a loss to resolve it otherwise, but I've posted, I'd bet a dozen times, where suspension and steering experts say it's not the cause, it's a bandaid to cover causes and make one feel better about it. Technically speaking a stock Jeep that has good parts, NOTHING is loose and nothing is flexing, stock wheel backset and offset, stock height, you can run without the damper or stabilizer. It's to resolve bump-steer issues when you hit something big at some speed. Like a shock absorber, it's the dampen the oscillations and settle it down. If it starts wobbling and no object has been struck, nothing to get it started - no outside item or object, there's other problems.
They could put 10 on these and if there's an underlying issue at work, it isn't going to fix it.
I always ask first - is the vehicle stock - stock tires, stock wheels, and stock height? If not, what was changed - and start looking there for how the changed items impacted the geometry or tightness of things.

So even if they end up replacing that part - it's only covering up a larger problem.
Jeep can't help it when they can't get parts themselves. The whole industry is in trouble and likely won't get a lot better soon because our country has mandated that truck drivers who are not U.S. citizens must have all of their covid shots and boosters, meaning some won't be allowed in the county with their loads.



Info from the web:
Jeep death wobble" is basically a shimmy, and can affect any suspension with a continuous tie rod (which nearly all solid axles have) to connect the front wheels. He noted, "Shimmy is normally cause by aftermarket application of larger tires, lifts that change the front axle setting for toe, or caster and camber, or worn or damaged parts. An out of balance tire, a broken tire cord, a bent wheel, or worn shocks can be the cause. (loose parts also - like loose ball joints, loose tie rod or drag link, parts flexing due to a lift, etc.)



On a properly designed and well maintained system, a damper's purpose is to mitigate the effects of bump steer and the sudden encounter of unexpected objects, such as hitting a rock in a trail at 50 miles per hour. On an improperly designed and/or poorly maintained system, a damper is used as a crutch to mask issues with suspension and tire errors.

In my case my wife's 2021 High Altitude is completely stock, never been offroad. The death wobble happens at highway speeds simply by hitting small bumps, like when going over an overpass.... That is a design issue issue, or a batch of bad stabilizers. As far as defending Jeep over supply issues, I don't buy it. It is unsafe to drive at highway speeds. With that said, Jeep needs to supply new replacement dampers without delay.... I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade. If we have an issue with a new aircraft and say Boeing is on backorder, they don't say sorry about your luck. If it's grounding an aircraft, they will rob from a production aircraft. That is not the case with Jeep, they are putting profit before safety.... We are talking about a vehicle that is less than a year old and has only 12,000 miles... Yet, they are saying we can't get you the part until March... That is BS... They could rob from their production supply if they really cared about their customers and the safety of their vehicles.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That is a design issue issue, or a batch of bad stabilizers.

Again, stabilizers are not the fix or solution. They hide the problem, the cause is still there.

They could rob from their production supply if they really cared about their customers and the safety of their vehicles.

We've been down this road before - multiple times. That simply is not possible, can't be done that way. Rather than go over the whole bit about that again, maybe someone will post links to the other discussion that brought it up months ago. There's just no way to "rob parts" from anything, not new vehicles, and not production. And for all we know they are having trouble buying those parts just to meet production demand.
Comparing trucks mass produced to aircraft? Seriously? Very different situations. Boeing isn't making thousands of vehicles a week. Wranglers alone the production a couple of years ago was over 12,000 a month. Does Boeing do that? Aircraft is totally different - millions of dollars at stake for the business or entity using that aircraft, compared to one person, one vehicle costing $50,000? I've been in automotive since the 70s, my father a UAW member in a factory (not automotive but I knew the drill way back), I know how these plants work and they can't grab a part out of inventory in the factory and ship it out. (I have some of the documents that the suppliers to a car company put out in the 70s and even then, it was "just in time" supply.

Again, the stabilizer isn't a fix anyway. It's a bandaid and the reason for the problem is still there - if it's loose parts, improper torque, that sort of thing, it will still be there but now even more dangerous because it's masked instead of fixed.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I was going to go into it but I've grown tired of the continued threads that people post blaming a Steering Stabilizer for death wobble. I agree with everything in this post.

Seems no one else believes any of it - and we're back to taking parts out of production to fix a vehicle. (and a part that isn't actually a fix anyway) We've been down that topic as well - ain't gonna happen for very good reason.

 

[Wicked Snow White]

Again, stabilizers are not the fix or solution. They hide the problem, the cause is still there.




We've been down this road before - multiple times. That simply is not possible, can't be done that way. Rather than go over the whole bit about that again, maybe someone will post links to the other discussion that brought it up months ago. There's just no way to "rob parts" from anything, not new vehicles, and not production. And for all we know they are having trouble buying those parts just to meet production demand.
Comparing trucks mass produced to aircraft? Seriously? Very different situations. Boeing isn't making thousands of vehicles a week. Wranglers alone the production a couple of years ago was over 12,000 a month. Does Boeing do that? Aircraft is totally different - millions of dollars at stake for the business or entity using that aircraft, compared to one person, one vehicle costing $50,000? I've been in automotive since the 70s, my father a UAW member in a factory (not automotive but I knew the drill way back), I know how these plants work and they can't grab a part out of inventory in the factory and ship it out. (I have some of the documents that the suppliers to a car company put out in the 70s and even then, it was "just in time" supply.

Again, the stabilizer isn't a fix anyway. It's a bandaid and the reason for the problem is still there - if it's loose parts, improper torque, that sort of thing, it will still be there but now even more dangerous because it's masked instead of fixed.

OK, I'll concede that it's not an apple to apple comparison. However, the problem is still Jeep and how poorly they are handling the situation. I also agree the stabilizer is not the fix; however, without a fix I'll take the bandaid over nothing. In the meantime, until Jeep gets off their ass, I have a $60K vehicle that can't be driven on the hwy safely.

 

[Jaxmax]

Wicked Snow White, did dealer check everything on the front steering , tierods, steering box pitman arm nut, retorque bolts. I had death wobble on my company F-250 bad ,real bad. Just a bump on the road set it off, hitting brakes made it worse , best to just slow down to about forty when it stopped then get going again, Ford dealer put five steering stabilizers on my truck in 50,000 miles, new tires also solved it for a while. Our company has hundreds of F-250-450 trucks and all the 250s guys warned the new truck drivers about it. One guy took his truck to a a shop and had new parts put on much heavier duty then factory no issue, I went to our shop gave them my keys and said I’m done with this truck until you replace all the steering components on front end, they did problem solved for 40,000 miles now.
Something is loose or worn in your steering, most likely tie rod, pitman or loose nuts…..Jack

 

[NachoRuby]

I think sometimes (not saying it's always the case), folks aren't used to the bump steer effect on solid axle vehicles. That's not death wobble, but if someone is not used to it, they would think it is. If one side of either of our 2 jeeps, or my solid axle VW hits a pothole at 60 mph+, there will be bump steering, and I'll have to correct for it. That's inherent to a suspension that is not independent. A lot of folks buy these without ever having owned an SFA vehicle, and don't understand that they drive differently. Not badly. But differently. Now if it keeps oscillating back and forth after that pothole, then you have death wobble. But there's no way for one side to absorb the bump and not have it effect the other, because our suspension is not independent.

 

[Wicked Snow White]

Wicked Snow White, did dealer check everything on the front steering , tierods, steering box pitman arm nut, retorque bolts. I had death wobble on my company F-250 bad ,real bad. Just a bump on the road set it off, hitting brakes made it worse , best to just slow down to about forty when it stopped then get going again, Ford dealer put five steering stabilizers on my truck in 50,000 miles, new tires also solved it for a while. Our company has hundreds of F-250-450 trucks and all the 250s guys warned the new truck drivers about it. One guy took his truck to a a shop and had new parts put on much heavier duty then factory no issue, I went to our shop gave them my keys and said I’m done with this truck until you replace all the steering components on front end, they did problem solved for 40,000 miles now.
Something is loose or worn in your steering, most likely tie rod, pitman or loose nuts…..Jack

I hear ya... I generally don't buy new vehicles, because I prefer to work on my own vehicles and therefor place less value on a car that is under warranty. However, this is my wife's vehicle. It's a 2021 High Altitude ecoDiesel ($60k MSRP) with only 12,000 miles and it really chaps my @#$ that i'm going to be the one that has to fix it. They didn't see anything loose, and nor did I. However, being under warranty, I only took a brief look before taking it to the dealership. Being a 2021, it does have the upgraded steel steering box and hardware. After reading more on this forum, I wonder if adjusting the steering box is the best option along with replacing the steering damper. I know the steering damper is not the fix, but may have worn out prematurely given the other play in the system.

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