Death Wobble, DW, Death Wobble, DW, Death Wobble, Shimmy, Wander, Drift, Bump Steer

[Lunentucker]

Did you have to pull the axles?

You have to slide the axles out to replace the ball joints.

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[GRDIESEL]

You have to slide the axles out to replace the ball joints.

Yep

 

[Lunentucker]

 

[Free2roam]

Yep

Any special concerns to keep in mind?

 

[Libis22]

Carried over from your other post, figured it could be helpful for some...

Nice post, maybe the best post ever.

Great video, that guy has some big clunkers to do that on purpose and keep driving for the sake of the video. Just wish they would of shown clip from inside, showing his hand and steering wheel. You can see his hand through the windshield for a moment.

Thanks for the post, very informative.

Behind every successful jeep owner, there is a reliable commuter :P We have a Prius.. on full time power mode (if you know you know)

 

[AXISJT]

Had a full nuts and bolts check, alignment, caster, new tires, brand new cav fab 2.5 ton steering new stabilizer and relocation bracket and still it drives terrible. The tires stopped the full blown death wobble and I could speed through it but I'm still getting it every once in a while with all that, as well as just constant wheel wobble. I'm at the point that I'd rather just get rid of it and get into a new trailhunter or something once it's out. But with how it drives I doubt I would get any good value for it. Super frustrating, feel stuck

 

[Shopshirt]

At that point it may be worth going back to stock before you sell it.

 

[RubiDukkie]

I thought this would be a good place to post this information. It is from the 2020+ Jeep Gladiator (JT) Service and Repair Manual, DIAGNOSIS AND TESTING, STEERING SYSTEM DIAGNOSIS CHARTS. What I find interesting is that it goes through the steps that the dealer is supposed to follow when diagnosing vibration/shimmy and I assume wobble issues.

 

[Lunentucker]

Yeah. They love to toss a new damper on it and call it good.
A new damper will mask the underlying issue(s) until they wear out the new one.

 

[Gvsukids]

What causes the tires to shake?

 

[rjley]

Just had this issue and took it to a Jeep specific dealership. They replaced the track bar, steering dampener, and steering stabilizer. I wanted to go through the checklist myself but the appointment I had made crept up on me. I've heard that they replace the steering dampener to get you out of the door but I'm hopeful because they replaced more than that. I'm going to ask if they can check the ball joints for play too and see what they say

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

What causes the tires to shake?

That's the u-joints speeding up and slowing down due to your wheels being turned.

 

[Gvsukids]

That's the u-joints speeding up and slowing down due to your wheels being turned.

So it's normal?

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

So it's normal?

Yup, normal and all good.

 

[KQL]

When folks say in this thread that they “make sure everything’s torqued correctly”, how exactly are you doing this on already-installed, single-use fasteners with torque+degrees listed under the specs? I can understand how to achieve the prescribed torque+degrees when installing a new part, but if a shimmy or DW develops X miles after the install, how would you confirm that nothing loosened? Doesn’t seem like you could throw a tq wrench on one of those fasteners, and you certainly can’t re-do the tq+deg.

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