Death Wobble Drastically Worse After Replacing Parts. Have questions

[JoeyD]

First. Yes, I've read a million threads, youtube videos, scrolls, articles, visited an ancient monk at the top of a mountain. Thought I had this handled and it's worse.

Tl;DR: Massive death wobble after replacing front steering parts

Short Description / symptoms:
- 35" RT tires w/ 2.5" front spacer lift ( comes with Shock spacer and longer sway bar links )
- Minor wobble at freeway speeds slowly was getting worse
- The front passenger tire developed really bad tire wear, the rest looked ok. I did rotate them
-Developed a clunk in the steering when turning
- when I would turn the wheel from left to right you could tell something wasn't right, there was a slight hesitation/binding as you would turn the wheel. I got under it and couldn't see any issue.
- At low speed, parking lots speeds the amount of force to turn the wheel left vs right was pretty different. On the freeway I couldn't tell difference. but it would wonder a little
- After reading up I learned stock end links are made of wet paper and moon dust
- Ordered Steer Smarts Yeti XL drag link and Tie Rod. RSO traction bar


Replaced all the below mentioned items and things went from bad to worse. Took it out for a test drive and death wobble nearly turned literal. The wobble started at about 35 and got so bad the car started moving into the other lane! I have to slam on the brakes, thankfully no other cars were near me.


Bought and replaced:
---- Drag Link
---- Tie Rod
---- Traction bar (because of the 2.5 front lift)
---- Mopar 2.5" lower control arms (because of the 2.5 front lift)
---- steering damper ( not currently installed )


Torqued:
- Yes everything has been torqued to spec or slightly above it, twice. Once I had everything together and torqued I torqued everything again.
- everything was tightened and torqued at resting height resting on the axle or wheels.

Toe and Alignment:
- I adjusted the Toe as straight as I can get it before I went for a test drive, I wanted everything to settle before adjusting it again. Was going to try to get it within that "1/8"" toe in mark and get it aligned later

Description after installing all parts:
First round I installed only the drag link. Didn't fix the issue and the tie rod didn't show up in time. This week I installed the tie rod and traction bar. Adjusted the toe to as close to zero as I could and went for a test drive. Overall if seems better a low speed, the above mentioned low speed symptoms seemed to be gone. But as I sped up the wobble started and got worse and worse to a very uncontrollable level. Now, because of poor description for a product I don't have the steering damper installed it's possible it was calming the symptoms I was getting before.

Now, I'm thinking three things:
- Steering box as left the building ( when the wobble got REALLY bad it wasn't trying to rip the wheel out of my hands, but you could certainly feel it in the wheel )
- Ball joints are shot ( strong contender but since the low speed symptoms are gone it has me questioning if this is the issue )
- Wheels are so unbalanced and the toe is far out it's making things worse. I have no idea what the toe was at before replacing parts.

Looking for feedback on this.

Thank you

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[Bjeepz]

Does your Jeep fall into the steering box recall timeframe related to its build date? I forget when the change to the new box started but somebody will have that detail to share!

 

[JoeyD]

I'll definitely look into it. it's an early 2021 so I think it's past that and I think it's cast instead of aluminum. But will check.

Does your Jeep fall into the steering box recall timeframe related to its build date? I forget when the change to the new box started but somebody will have that detail to share!

 

[Andy29847]

I'm guessing you have aftermarket wheels. If so, do you have adapters to make them hub centric, or are you depending on the lug nuts to center the wheels? If you are depending on the lug nuts, you need to be aware that there is a detailed procedure for installing wheels using lug nuts to center them.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/hub-centric-wheel-questions.26958/

Here is the procedure:

Here is how you should mount your aftermarket rims, after a rotation, new rims or tires, or a good old cleaning

1. Jack car up and secure it with a jack stand (Safety First )
2. Loosen all lug nuts and either put on rim, rotate or whatever the hell you need to do.
3. Thread on all the lug nuts, but DO NOT tighten to where you can not move them.
4. Rotate the tire/rim until one of the 5 lugs is at the 12 o clock position.
5. Tighten lug nut with thumb and forefinger to the point that you can not do it anymore.
6. Rotate the tire clockwise, skipping one lug nut.
7. After skipping the one nut, put the 3rd nut in the 12 o clock position. Tighten this one the same as Step 5
8. Skip one more nut, and repeat Step 5. This last nut will be right next to the first one.
9. Let the truck down to where the tires barely touch the ground. Use a wrench and tighten all bolts with about 25% of your strength. Just enough to grab.
10. I then let the truck down all the way and torqued the bolts to 90.
11. Repeat all steps above for the rest of the truck and throw a couple of beers in there

 

[whysoserious]

Did you solve your tire cupping problem from before? I've had "death wobble" before on two separate vehicles; a jeep JKU and a F-250. It has always been a sudden event after driving over a road irregularity (some kind of bump). If it happens as you speed up, I would lean more towards a tire issue (cupped tires?). I would suggest taking it to a tire/alignment shop and have the alignment done to see where your specs are at and make sure your tires are still good to go.

 

[JoeyD]

stock Willy's wheels. Forgot to mention that.

 

[Bjeepz]

Tire cupping 'could' be related to a bad shock... so many things to check!

 

[ZeeJay]

What did the ancient monk say?

 

[arosen1997]

I would check your steering box bolt torque. I got death wobble once like a year or so after I bought my JT. When I crawled under it I noticed the steering gear bolts were looser than factory spec, I think they were at like 15-20 ft-lbs instead of the 100ish they're supposed to be.
I've got a mid 2019 build though so it may not be relevant for you.

 

[Lunentucker]

Check the ball joints.
Check the steering gearbox bolts.
Check the Pitman arm nut.

Toe out slightly. 1/16" on the edge of the rims or 1/8" at the edge of the tires.

More reading and videos.

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

 

[JoeyD]

Was it the bolts that connect the box to the frame? My pitman arm to drag link was definitely not to spec., maybe like 30 ft-lbs. But I haven't checked the steering box to frame.

Now that I search for the steering box I see a lot of people talking about the steering box bolts and the recall. certainly will look at it tomorrow.

I would check your steering box bolt torque. I got death wobble once like a year or so after I bought my JT. When I crawled under it I noticed the steering gear bolts were looser than factory spec, I think they were at like 15-20 ft-lbs instead of the 100ish they're supposed to be.
I've got a mid 2019 build though so it may not be relevant for you.

 

[mtbjeeper]

Someone mentioned a bad shock. That is often overlooked in DW but if a shock can’t adequately dampen movement it could lead to an uncontrolled oscillation especially if something else is a bit off as well.

I spend thousands chasing DW only to find out that I had 5 bad tires from Maxxis. Our best guess was that the belts weren’t seated properly so at speed the tire would flutter.

Changed to Nittos and the problem disappeared. On the plus side I learned a ton about my Jeep’s front end and got lots of shiny new parts. On the down side I threw away a bunch of money; but it’s important to realize that fixing DW is more of a black art than a set in stone procedure. When and if you come out the other side you’re better for it; what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and all that.

The real bummer for me was that those maxxis tires had the best grip, by a long shot, of any tire I’ve ever owned. Too bad they tried to kill me.

 

[Bbannongmu]

This is maddening. I just went through this. I used this https://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merchant2/DeathWobbleChecklist.pdf

I had to put new tires on my Jeep - DW wouldn’t go away - even with new HD steering, control arm bushings, steering box, sway bar end links, Bilstein 5100 shocks.

Also - inspect the axle side bolt on the Trackbar. Mine was a bit to long and was bottoming out - torqued, it was loose and there was play. A shorter bolt and proper torque helped.

Good luck!

 

[40x40]

First. Yes, I've read a million threads, youtube videos, scrolls, articles, visited an ancient monk at the top of a mountain. Thought I had this handled and it's worse.

Tl;DR: Massive death wobble after replacing front steering parts

Short Description / symptoms:
- 35" RT tires w/ 2.5" front spacer lift ( comes with Shock spacer and longer sway bar links )
- Minor wobble at freeway speeds slowly was getting worse
- The front passenger tire developed really bad tire wear, the rest looked ok. I did rotate them
-Developed a clunk in the steering when turning
- when I would turn the wheel from left to right you could tell something wasn't right, there was a slight hesitation/binding as you would turn the wheel. I got under it and couldn't see any issue.
- At low speed, parking lots speeds the amount of force to turn the wheel left vs right was pretty different. On the freeway I couldn't tell difference. but it would wonder a little
- After reading up I learned stock end links are made of wet paper and moon dust
- Ordered Steer Smarts Yeti XL drag link and Tie Rod. RSO traction bar


Replaced all the below mentioned items and things went from bad to worse. Took it out for a test drive and death wobble nearly turned literal. The wobble started at about 35 and got so bad the car started moving into the other lane! I have to slam on the brakes, thankfully no other cars were near me.


Bought and replaced:
---- Drag Link
---- Tie Rod
---- Traction bar (because of the 2.5 front lift)
---- Mopar 2.5" lower control arms (because of the 2.5 front lift)
---- steering damper ( not currently installed )


Torqued:
- Yes everything has been torqued to spec or slightly above it, twice. Once I had everything together and torqued I torqued everything again.
- everything was tightened and torqued at resting height resting on the axle or wheels.

Toe and Alignment:
- I adjusted the Toe as straight as I can get it before I went for a test drive, I wanted everything to settle before adjusting it again. Was going to try to get it within that "1/8"" toe in mark and get it aligned later

Description after installing all parts:
First round I installed only the drag link. Didn't fix the issue and the tie rod didn't show up in time. This week I installed the tie rod and traction bar. Adjusted the toe to as close to zero as I could and went for a test drive. Overall if seems better a low speed, the above mentioned low speed symptoms seemed to be gone. But as I sped up the wobble started and got worse and worse to a very uncontrollable level. Now, because of poor description for a product I don't have the steering damper installed it's possible it was calming the symptoms I was getting before.

Now, I'm thinking three things:
- Steering box as left the building ( when the wobble got REALLY bad it wasn't trying to rip the wheel out of my hands, but you could certainly feel it in the wheel )
- Ball joints are shot ( strong contender but since the low speed symptoms are gone it has me questioning if this is the issue )
- Wheels are so unbalanced and the toe is far out it's making things worse. I have no idea what the toe was at before replacing parts.

Looking for feedback on this.

Thank you

i too previously had a wobble starting at 35 mph. my wheel/tire/lift package is significantly different from yours. not wanting to spend money blindly replacing parts, i read every DW thread on this forum. what cured the wobble FOR ME was the installation of american iron offroad ball joint deletes. they are not cheap at $550 but i've put 19,000 miles on them with zero issues.

 

[Lunentucker]

Ball joints are often overlooked when people say "I checked everything".
You will definitely see them wear out prematurely if you have moved well out of factory specs on your front end geometry with lift, bigger tires, and offset.

@Metalcloak extended their 10% off and free shipping through the weekend.
https://metalcloak.com/jl-wrangler-ball-joint-set-upgrade-kit.html

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