Death wobble help please

[mountainpass]

What brand tires? I put Kendas on mine and had issues until I replaced them with Toyos.

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[Gvsukids]

What brand tires? I put Kendas on mine and had issues until I replaced them with Toyos.

In contrary, I recently upgraded from stock 33" Wildpeak to Kenda 35" R/T without any issues on a 2020 Gladiator.

 

[mountainpass]

In contrary, I recently upgraded from stock 33" Wildpeak to Kenda 35" R/T without any issues on a 2020 Gladiator.

Good luck but I kept throwing wheel weights and finally gave up.

 

[Gvsukids]

Good luck but I kept throwing wheel weights and finally gave up.

Discount Tire installed mine. Great job @Discount Tire .

 

[clinkous]

What brand tires? I put Kendas on mine and had issues until I replaced them with Toyos.

To be perfectly honest, I bought the cheapest 35" mud tire discount tire sold! I know I am going to catch crap for this but I like to be honest so others can benefit from these threads. It's not a tire issue! It's not bump-steer! It was death wobble. The steering wheel would shake uncontrollably until I came to a complete stop.

I'm not being a d$ck when I say this but, I am a pretty experienced mechanic and I have never had this happen to me before with any of my jeeps. I finally got to experience death wobble lol.

I have heard over the years that toeing the wheels out would stop it but I have never had to do it. I jumped on here because I have done this long enough to know that I don't know everything and I am glad I did. All of the information above is great advice and should absolutely be checked before just toeing your wheels out and sending it.

I can honestly say that if you have to question whether or not you have death wobble, you probably don't lol. I'm 48 years old and have owned one of every make and model jeep has made and this is the first time I have had the wobble.

 

[DylanM]

"At 45 mph if I hit any decent size bump or hump in the road, the steering wheel shakes uncontrollably with total loss of steering."

@clinkous
Constructive criticism here, but if you would have noted in your very first post that the DW required hitting something in the road to trigger it then the idea that the tires were the foremost suspect wouldn't've been suggested.

Glad you got it sorted and very much appreciate that you followed through with the fix information.

 

[Stan H]

Is there any pattern to what size, type, or air pressure see the most wobble?

I think you want a decent contact patch the toe is supposed to be set just slightly out . This will correct it alot of times.

 

[Stan H]

In contrary, I recently upgraded from stock 33" Wildpeak to Kenda 35" R/T without any issues on a 2020 Gladiator.

I went to Kenda also , and I run 27 cold and no problems.

 

[polishwings]

Are there any signs of death wobble coming?

My 2024 Rubi JL is not daily driver... but when i put miles i do 10k within few weeks... last summer from 0 to 11k within 6 weeks...

now i am preparing for another summer 8 weeks trip... the last thing i would like to have to deal with it far far from home...

is there a list of parts so i could replace just to be safe before it starts or there are some signs coming...

.

 

[ChrisNLA]

Are there any signs of death wobble coming?

My 2024 Rubi JL is not daily driver... but when i put miles i do 10k within few weeks... last summer from 0 to 11k within 6 weeks...

now i am preparing for another summer 8 weeks trip... the last thing i would like to have to deal with it far far from home...

is there a list of parts so i could replace just to be safe before it starts or there are some signs coming...

.

In my experience it starts out subtle.

There would be a bump in the road that was rough, but the truck goes through it fine.

Then maybe 10K miles later the same bump induces a shake through the steering wheel.

Then 5K later the same bump would cause a shimmy that would oscillate the wheel a few times then stop.

Then another 5K later the same bump would send the truck into a short burst of death wobble that would stop if I slowed down.

It was never all or nothing in either of my Jeeps. Both exhibited symptoms that grew worse over time until we went from solid to shimmy to wobble.

 

[Gvsukids]

now i am preparing for another summer 8 weeks trip... the last thing i would like to have to deal with it far far from home...

is there a list of parts so i could replace just to be safe before it starts or there are some signs coming...

How far will you be away from an auto parts store? Otherwise, buy all of the parts in the front end, and then you'll be safe.

 

[PLP1]

I need some help guys! I have a 2020 Gladiator Rubicon with a leveling kit. I purchased it with 100,000 miles on it. Love it and it drove great with the 33” tires it had. All I did was put a new set of 35” tires on and now it’s death wobbling like crazy. I have checked the alignment and it is towed in 1/8 or a inch, I have replaced the draglink and that didn’t fix it, I changed the lower control arms and that didn’t fix it. I have upper arms that I’m going to change tomorrow.

my question is this, has this happened to anyone else? If so, what was your fix? Lastly, any advise as to what else to check would be greatly appreciated! I’m at a loss here…..all I did was change tires from 33 to 35 and tires were brand new.

i fixed it immmediately and simply by changing out the flimsy factory panhard with Clayton’s on my 2021 lifted (3”) and highly upgraded suspension (front and rear) - 37” tires with minimal offset, AEV HD front and rear coil springs, ICON stage 8, etc. Have over 50k miles between Baja and Alaska and Peru and Bolivia Argentina, Chile with large majority offroad. My death wobble started after the Alaska journey so changed the panhard before South America expedition and no problems. (Did however bust an AEV HD coilspring which also punctured rear air bag…but that’s because my rig weighs 3200kg.). Good luck.

 

[Gvsukids]

panhard

Is that the same as a trackbar?

 

[Gizmo]

Yes

 

[Lunentucker]

Everyone who owns a Jeep should learn how to run the steering through a DIY inspection process at least once every six moths. More if you really wheel the thing.
Lifts, bigger tires, higher offsets, and even missed torquing from the factory can all lead to steering and handling issues pretty quickly.

Aftermarket upgrades can certainly help.

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