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Death Wobble Just Started

Bswen

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Has anyone heard of the Mojave having death wobble issues? 2nd Sahara JL going through it now. Hoping for a second buy back so I can get a Mojave...

Side note, sucks 2021 Mojave doesnt get the Gobi paint...
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Andy29847

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I am a new Gladiator owner and a long time Wrangler TJ owner. I am not an expert, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express one time. Death wobble is really scary. It scars your psyche. It normally happens in the 40 -50 mph range, and you have to slow to a walking speed or stop to make it go away. Most of the problems I have been reading about here are really shimmy. Shimmy can normally be attributed to tire problems. Shimmy may be caused by tires out of balance, tires out of round, or wheels mounted off center. Wheels off center you ask? That was my problem on my TJ. Stock Jeep wheels are hub centric. The hole in the middle fits over a boss on the hub and they center automatically. A lot of after market wheels have the center hole made big enough to fit several vehicles. The wheels are made to be lug centric. Lug centric works if you follow the proper procedure, but if you mount the wheel onto the lugs, then run the first lug nut down tight, the the wheel may lock in place off center. Here is the funky part. These same tire issues can be part of what causes death wobble. Solving death wobble can be frustrating and expensive. Many wheelers end up throwing parts at their Jeep hoping the wobble will go away. My suggestion is to first verify all of your bolts are tight, especially the track bar. A static steering test is important to verify that there is no play in the steering components. Then check your tires and wheels are balanced and run true, then verify your wheel alignment is correct (toe-in and castor),

Something to remember if you are making suspension changes. You can lift your vehicle to do the work, but you should let it sit on the wheels and even bounce each end a couple of times before you torque the suspension bolts.
 
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Bswen

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My JLs felt like a shimmy at first, but then when it gets worse and you hit a bump at 70 and your tires are violently jumping around, and you have to slow to 40 on a busy interstate to get the wobble to go away, yea, its scary.
 

IamWardicus

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My JLs felt like a shimmy at first, but then when it gets worse and you hit a bump at 70 and your tires are violently jumping around, and you have to slow to 40 on a busy interstate to get the wobble to go away, yea, its scary.
My Gladiator Sport S Max Tow just started doing this last month. It's semi-repeatable on a couple different sections of the highway I travel for work. My first dealer visit they said everything looked OK. I'm going for the TSB in 2 weeks so I'm hoping that it might help a bit.
Did you have any work done on your JL to fix the issue and if so, what was done?
 

5JeepsAz

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I am a new Gladiator owner and a long time Wrangler TJ owner. I am not an expert, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express one time. Death wobble is really scary. It scars your psyche. It normally happens in the 40 -50 mph range, and you have to slow to a walking speed or stop to make it go away. Most of the problems I have been reading about here are really shimmy. Shimmy can normally be attributed to tire problems. Shimmy may be caused by tires out of balance, tires out of round, or wheels mounted off center. Wheels off center you ask? That was my problem on my TJ. Stock Jeep wheels are hub centric. The hole in the middle fits over a boss on the hub and they center automatically. A lot of after market wheels have the center hole made big enough to fit several vehicles. The wheels are made to be lug centric. Lug centric works if you follow the proper procedure, but if you mount the wheel onto the lugs, then run the first lug nut down tight, the the wheel may lock in place off center. Here is the funky part. These same tire issues can be part of what causes death wobble. Solving death wobble can be frustrating and expensive. Many wheelers end up throwing parts at their Jeep hoping the wobble will go away. My suggestion is to first verify all of your bolts are tight, especially the track bar. A static steering test is important to verify that there is no play in the steering components. Then check your tires and wheels are balanced and run true, then verify your wheel alignment is correct (toe-in and castor),

Something to remember if you are making suspension changes. You can lift your vehicle to do the work, but you should let it sit on the wheels and even bounce each end a couple of times before you torque the suspension bolts.
Interesting. I run bias ply on my old truck and the same sort of thing is true. You have to center balance from the axle hole, wheel mass, and tire out; just the tire might allow a more general wheel bounce. Also true, like you said, mising a tire weight will allow a radial tire to go nuts and be like a little death wobble. I am always amazed that we don't have a solution to something we lovingly term "death wobble"
 

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Rldavid

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As a follow up: I replaced the OEM ball joints with Dana Spicer joints. Got all the adjustments done, then I readjusted and torqued the Steer Smarts set of track bar, drag link and tie rod which had all, within 2-3 weeks prior, been done, as well as tire pressure and balancing prior to install. Had incidents of death wobble before, during and after the install of the Steer Smarts set, and felt many more threats of death wobble, before the ball joints.
In this round, I went with the upper limit specified by Steer Smarts rather than mid point.
It's been about two weeks, with no death wobble so far. Yes, death wobble. As some say shimmy, I say skittery, is not death wobble. And, yes, several of these vehicles are getting death wobble, as well as shimmy / skittering. Both conditions from early on. With this set up, I also do not get the "skittering" either.
We should not be putting so much effort, and money($), into new vehicles to address these issues. And, should NOT have the dealer dismissing the issues because it doesn't want to admit there is such a "thing", going on for either of these conditions and the steering box.
BTW, it is now two months past the order date for the "corrected" steering gear box with no contact/input from the dealer as to when, how you doing, boo, just no communication! Even after an FCA representative sent a note asking if I'd heard from the dealership a few weeks ago.
 
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Lynn_F

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As a follow up: I replaced the OEM ball joints with Dana Spicer joints. Got all the adjustments done, then I readjusted and torqued the Steer Smarts set of track bar, drag link and tie rod which had all, within 2-3 weeks prior, been done, as well as tire pressure and balancing prior to install. Had incidents of death wobble before, during and after the install of the Steer Smarts set, and felt many more threats of death wobble, before the ball joints.
In this round, I went with the upper limit specified by Steer Smarts rather than mid point.
It's been about two weeks, with no death wobble so far. Yes, death wobble. As some say shimmy, I say skittery, is not death wobble. And, yes, several of these vehicles are getting death wobble, as well as shimmy / skittering. Both conditions from early on. With this set up, I also do not get the "skittering" either.
We should not be putting so much effort, and money($), into new vehicles to address these issues. And, should NOT have the dealer dismissing the issues because it doesn't want to admit there is such a "thing", going on for either of these conditions and the steering box.
BTW, it is now two months past the order date for the "corrected" steering gear box with no contact/input from the dealer as to when, how you doing, boo, just no communication! Even after an FCA representative sent a note asking if I'd heard from the dealership a few weeks ago.
You never said what type of lift. If it's the Mopar lift or a different type of cheaper lift it likely didn't come with adjustable control arms. I have the skykacker 3.5 coil spring lift and I had terrible DW after ~17k miles. I replaced my track bar, drag link and tie rod with Metalcloak HD steering kit...it didn't help. I initially took off my Fox ts stabilizer to put the rockspoet one on and that made it worse. I eventually installed MC adjustable lower CA's and ran the Caster way out - I don't even know the angle but they are extended ~1.5". This took care of the DW. My tires are wearing weird causing some bouncing but it never gets to full blown DW.

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20201122_205942.jpg
 

Rldavid

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You never said what type of lift. If it's the Mopar lift or a different type of cheaper lift it likely didn't come with adjustable control arms. I have the skykacker 3.5 coil spring lift and I had terrible DW after ~17k miles. I replaced my track bar, drag link and tie rod with Metalcloak HD steering kit...it didn't help. I initially took off my Fox ts stabilizer to put the rockspoet one on and that made it worse. I eventually installed MC adjustable lower CA's and ran the Caster way out - I don't even know the angle but they are extended ~1.5". This took care of the DW. My tires are wearing weird causing some bouncing but it never gets to full blown DW.

Jeep Gladiator Death Wobble Just Started 20201122_205942


Jeep Gladiator Death Wobble Just Started 20201122_205942
The lift was done by the Dealer, and the young man who first bought it off the showroom floor as the Dealer set it up, when I bought it. It does have Mopar parts, and no, they did not replace the control arms. It is a 2.5" to 3" lift by my reckoning. Again, the Dealer will not provide any information on what they did, or did not do; will not provide a copy of the window sticker or any other documentation.
Now a month into use with what I have installed, Steer Smarts and Spicer parts as noted, I do not have any occurrence of death wobble, and have not had an indication it might.
And still, no contact, response to message, regarding the expected receipt/install of the replacement steering gear box.
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