Death wobble help please

[clinkous]

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.

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[In3briatedPanda]

7 degrees of caster with both adjustable arms as well as retorquing my draglink got me there. Once i dialed this in, i have had zero issues for the past year. I hope you get there as well. It was a major PITA to figure out and this forum got me there and fixed. My thread is probably still floating around. lol. This is my fourth jeep and the only one with death wobble, it was new territory for me.

balljoints would have been my next step per recommendations on this forum. I also changed tires bc i had feathering issues on my ko2s (which i hated anyway) and balance issues. I replaced the tires to rule them out but i cant confirm it was leading to my issue.

Im at 35k miles with a 3.5" metalcloak lift. i cant say enough good things about Metalcloak.

 

[clinkous]

When you say 7 degrees of caster with bit arms, what exactly does that mean? Are you saying extend both lower arms until I get 7degrees?

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Has the tire balance been checked again after they were mounted? How much balancing weight is on the front tires?

 

[DylanM]

You changed nothing but the tires and the vehicle went from driving fine to having horrible front end shimmy --> it's the tires causing the problem.

Head back to the shop where you got the tires and have them checked for out of round and get them rebalanced, preferably road force balanced. If they're excessively out of round or can't be properly balanced, get them replaced.

 

[Lunentucker]

With that many miles on it it's time to check everything.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...-wobble-shimmy-wander-drift-bump-steer.68302/

 

[Wmkresse]

Is it a constant shimmy? That would be the new tires. If it actual death wobble, like when you hit a solid bump and then the wobble starts and can’t be stopped until you slow down. I’d check for anything loose, then ball joint time…

 

[Lunentucker]

You changed nothing but the tires and the vehicle went from driving fine to having horrible front end shimmy --> it's the tires causing the problem.

Head back to the shop where you got the tires and have them checked for out of round and get them rebalanced, preferably road force balanced. If they're excessively out of round or can't be properly balanced, get them replaced.

Not necessarily. New tires could have simply brought another issue to light with a slight change in geometry.
If it was a new truck and everything else presumed to be fine, even that's a crapshoot, then that would be a reasonable assumption, but not here.

 

[Matt Paxson]

Tire pressure. If ur running 37 to 40 pounds, lower it. I run 29 with my 37s. Do the “chalk test” it will tell u what the best tire pressure to run.

 

[DylanM]

Not necessarily. New tires could have simply brought another issue to light with a slight change in geometry.
If it was a new truck and everything else presumed to be fine, even that's a crapshoot, then that would be a reasonable assumption, but not here.

I respectfully disagree.

When one reads the OP's message stating "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" , then the most likely cause for the new behaviour is the thing that was changed just prior, the tires.

If a person fuels up at a station they've never used before and suddenly the vehicle starts running poorly immediately afterward, it doesn't make good sense to start by doing a compression test or throwing parts at it, instead you check for bad fuel. When you have a marked change for the worse that closely follows an easily identified point/event, always look first at the most recent thing that was messed with or changed before things went to crap. Only once you've eliminated that do you then broaden the investigating into the next most likely causes.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

The tires could have brought some issues to light. I had that happen just going from 37” AT to a 37” MT. Heavier tire and it really made the shimmies come to the top. Check for worn ball joints, do the wheel bearing check.

This is all after taking it back to the tire shop and having them recheck their work. That’s where you start. You’ve already paid for it so let them earn that pay.

If that doesn’t work get it into a 4X shop. Let them look it over and have them point to exactly what they diagnose and SHOW you what is out of whack. That’s probably the most cost efficient way of doing it if it’s not something obvious.

 

[In3briatedPanda]

When you say 7 degrees of caster with bit arms, what exactly does that mean? Are you saying extend both lower arms until I get 7degrees?

My true dual did not come with adjustable LCAs, only the adjustable UCAs. I added the adjustable LCAs and increased my caster from 6* to 7*

 

[Gizmo]

Usually the dry steer test will show you exactly what is worn out. The weight of the new tires may be causing what is worn to show up. Usually track bar and drag link are the first to show up bad from my experience but with the miles you have it could be most anything. Other than ball joints the dry steering test will show ya. Never has failed to show me whats worn and it has never been bad enough to even cause death wobble at that point

 

[DenCoGladiator]

I started getting periodic death wobble at 55k miles. I had bought some low mileage take off shocks for my Mojave and the guy threw in a track bar that came off with the shocks. I swapped out the track bar and that pretty much got rid of the issue. I had already purchased an aftermarket drag link and tie rod so I ended up putting them on after and truck feels great.

 

[azmojave]

It’s weird but my wobble shows up when my tire pressure is lower (30-33) but at 37 no issues

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