Death wobble in stock gladiator!!

[Parlegrecojoey]

I have a bone stock 2022 Jeep gladiator. On my way to work this morning I was coming around the corner around 45 mph and hit a pothole in the road and my whole truck started shaking all over the place. And to add to that a few weeks ago, I noticed when I’m turning really slow pulling into my driveway and I turned the wheel back-and-forth. I can hear some movement. Almost like a popping sound. I guess my question is could that popping sound be the culprit of the death wobble? And if so, what should be the first thing I look for?
I’ve heard people say it’s the track bar, but I’m wondering if it’s something else

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[ChrisNLA]

Check your drag link. Put someone you trust in your truck with in park and running. Have them rock the steering wheel back and forth (short motion) and touch the upper drag link end and lower drag link end with your hand and see if you can feel it clunking.

My stock 2022 is getting death wobble and I have narrowed it down to bad drag link ends. I can feel each end clunking in my hand. The upper is worse. Did the same with the tie rods and no clunking / slop.

 

[pcrawfordpt]

Got to inspect the usual suspects. Have someone turn the wheel back and fourth and look for play at the steering components. Make sure all your steering components are torques to spec. Most common is a loose track bar at the frame. Test your ball joints for play. Make sure your tires are balanced. If all that checks out, check the steering stabilizer. It might just be shot after 4 years. Don’t go straight to the stabilizer. If it’s not the root problem, you will just be putting a band aide over it.

 

[SoK66]

Thanks for the tip on the drag link. The drag link & tie rods on these things are pretty cheezy to save weight, plus the aluminum knuckles don't help in dampening vibrations. The steering dampeners on them are probably not the best and I'm not the biggest fan of the shocks.

I'm getting it occasionally in my "pretty much stock" ' 23 Willys. It has Rubicon-spec 285 BFG KO2s that show no out of balance symptoms, a 1.5" Teraflex spacer in front, TF 2" shock extensions and the lower control arms from the Mopar 2" lift to correct the caster. It has only done it twice, but indicates there's some slop in the steering or control arms/track bar somewhere.

 

[IamPro2A]

Death wobble on a stock Jeep is *almost* always wear related. Steering, suspension, bearings, tires..... anything that moves.

I say almost always because there was a batch of Wranglers and Gladiators that came off the line with improperly torqued ball joints (my 2021 was one of them). If you caught it early enough you just had to retorque it and put in a new cotter pin, but if allowed to go on it could get bad enough to cause bigger problems and might even require replacing the ball joint/knuckle at that point.

 

[vacaedzzr1200]

When I bought my '22 Gladiator used at 50k miles I left the dealership and got on the freeway, hit a expansion joint and got a serious death wobble. Turned around and went right back to the dealer.
They checked it out, replaced the steering dampener, and said everything checked out.
Drove away and several miles down the road it did it again. I got my phone out and recorded what was happening.
Returned to the dealer and showed it to them. They replaced the tires and that solved the problem. I have also noticed when the tire pressure dropped due to freezing temps it started again. Aired up and it went away.

 

[ChrisNLA]

Death wobble on a stock Jeep is *almost* always wear related. Steering, suspension, bearings, tires..... anything that moves.

I say almost always because there was a batch of Wranglers and Gladiators that came off the line with improperly torqued ball joints (my 2021 was one of them). If you caught it early enough you just had to retorque it and put in a new cotter pin, but if allowed to go on it could get bad enough to cause bigger problems and might even require replacing the ball joint/knuckle at that point.

This as well. While looking my truck over i found the lower ball joints to be slightly under torque, and ultimately needed to be advanced to the next castellation. This wasn't the problem, but did not hurt to address.

 

[AirborneSilva]

A very smart person told me that have caster checked, that was on a brand new TJ that i had just lifted, he told me it should be 5.7 degrees, don't know if that would be the same on our newer Gladiators, anyway, it fixed it and never had another problem...

 

[IamPro2A]

A very smart person told me that have caster checked, that was on a brand new TJ that i had just lifted, he told me it should be 5.7 degrees, don't know if that would be the same on our newer Gladiators, anyway, it fixed it and never had another problem...

Once you start going aftermarket steering and suspension, everything changes. Adding a suspension lift certainly requires a re-alignment. But the OP says his is bone stock.

Caster and camber really should not just change on their own. If they are out of spec it usually means some related part has been replaced., or is worn/damaged and should be replaced.

 

[AirborneSilva]

Once you start going aftermarket steering and suspension, everything changes. Adding a suspension lift certainly requires a re-alignment. But the OP says his is bone stock.

Caster and camber really should not just change on their own. If they are out of spec it usually means some related part has been replaced., or is worn/damaged and should be replaced.

You have way too much confidence that the factory got it right, never hurts to have it checked. Just my opinion...

 

[IamPro2A]

You have way too much confidence that the factory got it right, never hurts to have it checked. Just my opinion...

If we were talking a brand new Gladiator, I would agree with you. But we are talking about a 2022 with IDK how many miles already on it. If the caster was set wrong from the factory, it wouldn't take 4yrs to manifest itself. The vehicle would have been having driving and tire wear problems from day one. It sounds like this just started happening. So either something is worn, loose, or damaged. Even if the caster is now off, correcting it is not fixing the underlying problem.

 

[AirborneSilva]

Death wobble on a stock Jeep is *almost* always wear related. Steering, suspension, bearings, tires..... anything that moves.

I say almost always because there was a batch of Wranglers and Gladiators that came off the line with improperly torqued ball joints (my 2021 was one of them). If you caught it early enough you just had to retorque it and put in a new cotter pin, but if allowed to go on it could get bad enough to cause bigger problems and might even require replacing the ball joint/knuckle at that point.

You are correct, I quickly read over the first post before my first cup of coffee so reading comprehension was not kicking in

As you were

 

[Zachanadandy]

If we were talking a brand new Gladiator, I would agree with you. But we are talking about a 2022 with IDK how many miles already on it. If the caster was set wrong from the factory, it wouldn't take 4yrs to manifest itself. The vehicle would have been having driving and tire wear problems from day one. It sounds like this just started happening. So either something is worn, loose, or damaged. Even if the caster is now off, correcting it is not fixing the underlying problem.

There's only 1 control arm part number for these rigs. The frame brackets are welded by computer controlled robots. The caster is what it is period and isn't "set" at the factory. That's why there's an acceptable range and not a specific number for the caster stock. A Mojave that sits an inch higher from the factory up front will have about 1⁰ less caster because everything else is the same from the factory aside from the ride height. On a stock Jeep it's either something worn, something lose, or something bent causing the wobble.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

OP take it to a shop so they can diagnose it and tell you that you need $2000+ in steering upgrades (sans labor) to fix it. Or just look at the tie rod/drag link ends.

That’s what a local shop did for me. Wanted to rip my whole Synergy steering kit out and replace it with a Metal Cloak setup.

 

[Parlegrecojoey]

I have a bone stock 2022 Jeep gladiator. On my way to work this morning I was coming around the corner around 45 mph and hit a pothole in the road and my whole truck started shaking all over the place. And to add to that a few weeks ago, I noticed when I’m turning really slow pulling into my driveway and I turned the wheel back-and-forth. I can hear some movement. Almost like a popping sound. I guess my question is could that popping sound be the culprit of the death wobble? And if so, what should be the first thing I look for?
I’ve heard people say it’s the track bar, but I’m wondering if it’s something else

okay so I got under there and there is some movmovement in my track bar I think. And long tie rod?

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