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Cold weather = Death wobble

ShadowsPapa

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DW isn’t a constant event. It gets triggered by the road conditions.

DW is a bad shimmy. It’s just a slang term. Whatever you want to call it, the diagnosis process is the same.
Yeah, I know/realize, but some talk as if they have DW any time it's cold, and it's a constant event. Real DW isn't. You might go miles and not have it kick in.
You see several posts over the last couple of years "it's cold, I have DW". It's as if any time it's cold it's happening.
Even my F250 that had it didn't do it all the time. I might drive it for 30 minutes and it would be smooth as heck, then suddenly shake real bad.

DW shakes the steering wheel visibly.
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Kevin_D

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Yeah, I know/realize, but some talk as if they have DW any time it's cold, and it's a constant event. Real DW isn't. You might go miles and not have it kick in.
You see several posts over the last couple of years "it's cold, I have DW". It's as if any time it's cold it's happening.
Even my F250 that had it didn't do it all the time. I might drive it for 30 minutes and it would be smooth as heck, then suddenly shake real bad.

DW shakes the steering wheel visibly.
Same with my F250.
If you've ever experienced a true, "Death Wobble," you'd've nearly loaded your shorts!
When you hit a pothole/bump and the steering wheel violently slaps back & forth, trying to rip itself from your grasp, while you're doing freeway speeds, it's truly frightening.
And on my F250, the only way to get the steering back under control was to slow below 30mph.

Kevin
 

Larry1962us

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I also have a bad shimmy. The temps were at 20 degrees and while driving around 75 mph on the interstate.
It happened when transitioning from an overpass to the highway. I could slow down to 65 or take my hands off the steering wheel to correct it.
I have a Terraflex level and stock 18" Bridgestone tires at 38 psi.
Once the temperatures warmed up I had no issues. This was during a 900 mile road trip.
 

Wheelin98TJ

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Same with my F250.
If you've ever experienced a true, "Death Wobble," you'd've nearly loaded your shorts!
When you hit a pothole/bump and the steering wheel violently slaps back & forth, trying to rip itself from your grasp, while you're doing freeway speeds, it's truly frightening.
And on my F250, the only way to get the steering back under control was to slow below 30mph.

Kevin
You can throttle through it if you’re brave enough and have enough power to lift the front end a little.
 

Kevin_D

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Same with my F250.
If you've ever experienced a true, "Death Wobble," you'd've nearly loaded your shorts!
When you hit a pothole/bump and the steering wheel violently slaps back & forth, trying to rip itself from your grasp, while you're doing freeway speeds, it's truly frightening.
And on my F250, the only way to get the steering back under control was to slow below 30mph.

Kevin
You can throttle through it if you’re brave enough and have enough power to lift the front end a little.
Not with an F250 you won't!

Kevin
 

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TroutFishingInAmerica

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Haven't experienced death wobble in my Mojave. In the frozen depths of hell that occasionally happens where I live, my tires are hard as a rock and take a while to warm up and smooth out, no death wobble yet. That would suck in ice and snow. I'm running mostly stock suspension.
 

ShadowsPapa

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Not with an F250 you won't!

Kevin
LOL- no kidding
Not with an F250 that only has a 5.8 (351) - those front ends were HEAVY and mine had the big brakes and heavy-duty hubs. Even romping it from a stop the front end didn't "rise up" any.
 

ShadowsPapa

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Whoops, you were talking about an F250 and I was thinking Jeeps when I said that. :facepalm:
Funny thing on timing, your posts, etc. as your first post reminded me that this is related to harmonics and frequencies. The fact that you can "drive through it" (in some cases, we'll ignore the beastly F250) or drive under it. It's like a guitar string in a way - waiting to be plucked.
So many things in the universe are related. When you tune an old school drag racer, looking for the right size and length of exhaust, smoothing out pulses with X and H piles, figuring where to cut the pipe for the best effect at a given RPM, that whole system, carburetor air horn to the tip of the exhaust is tuned like an acoustic guitar.
It seems that these are similar.
Looking back at the drawings by the true experts (designers, engineers, Baja racers and others, not forum experts) the whole steering and suspension is a sort of parallelogram. Long bars at more of an angle can flex, like a bow (bow hunters not using a compound cross-bow) You get the parts wobbling, "vibrating" and the more the pressures are not directly end-to-end, the more the angle, the heavier the parts, the lower the frequency and you don't have a fast vibration or shimmy, you have a severe slow shimmy, the death wobble.
Throwing different wheels with different offsets or backsets, spacers, lifts, etc. now your forces aren't pushing straight against a long part (drag link, tie rod, track bar) they are flexing it. It bows, it recovers beyond straight and the forces hit it again.
It's easier for my to see it in my mind, visualize it and see it based on my experiences than it is to describe it. But how I envision it, yes, you could drive through it in some cases.
In fact, I did exactly that with my car when I had the 2 years of trying to figure out a really weird entire car shaking vibration that led to the entire dash shaking, the whole chassis shaking.
Sadly, it was the worst right around the local speed limits of 65-70. Over 75 and it was greatly reduced, 60 and under it wasn't even there. It was the very worst right where the prevailing traffic speed was. So I had to go slower than traffic and speed limits, or blow through it and hit 75-80 to make it settle down enough to not destroy the car. (It did crack the top of the A-pillar to root seam)
It makes sense that either you have to slow to get below the frequency at which it occurs, or blow through those speeds and get above it.
 

Freedom1836

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Have not experienced death wobble yet on the gladiator, but I did recently hit a puddle at 70 on the interstate with my front right tire. Lets just say it was a good thing I was wearing my brown pants. I do frequently air my tires to be sure they are in working order. Be safe out there!
 

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jeepin48

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I just started experiencing DW (violent at 70mpn and have to slow to 50 for it to stop) the of the last month and never thought that it could be temp related. The dealer stated that the stabilizer was leaking and after it was replaced it has stopped. Im running 265/70R18 Cooper AT3 on stock wheels.

- Does lower or higher pressure contribute to DW? I typically run on the lower side (35PSI)
- Is there theory the temp causes the steering stabilizer to be less effective? Maybe an aftermarket one would preform better or last longer than the 23K I got from mine.
 
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BuckeyeButch

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You can throttle through it if you’re brave enough and have enough power to lift the front end a little.
I also have a bad shimmy. The temps were at 20 degrees and while driving around 75 mph on the interstate.
It happened when transitioning from an overpass to the highway. I could slow down to 65 or take my hands off the steering wheel to correct it.
I have a Terraflex level and stock 18" Bridgestone tires at 38 psi.
Once the temperatures warmed up I had no issues. This was during a 900 mile road trip.
This is exactly what I'm experiencing. When I get back home I'm replacing the steering stabilizer. When I pull the OEM unit I'll post what condition I find it in.
 

ShadowsPapa

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I'd like to see how many experience this with 100% stock Gladiators. Stock tires, inflated per stock recommendations, stock height, stock wheels, etc.

or take my hands off the steering wheel to correct it.
??
So if you completely let go, it settles down and is smooth and goes STRAIGHT down the road? Not to one side or the other, but straight, and the shimmy is gone?
 

Wheelin98TJ

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This is exactly what I'm experiencing. When I get back home I'm replacing the steering stabilizer. When I pull the OEM unit I'll post what condition I find it in.
That’s not what I’d do. Rotate your tires first and see if anything changes.

How many miles are on your tires and what shape are they in? Are they evenly worn and when were they last balanced?
 

Wheelin98TJ

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….??
So if you completely let go, it settles down and is smooth and goes STRAIGHT down the road? Not to one side or the other, but straight, and the shimmy is gone?
Throttling through it is brave. This is faith. Let Jesus take the wheel. 😁
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