F'in death wobble on my JT

[Bjeepz]

Well crap, F'in crap.

2020 JT Overland, 13000'ish miles, the super smooth best street driving Jeep ever until this evening.

No issues until today, about 11000 miles since full go over after JKS suspension install with Fox shocks. Accelerated to roughly 55-60mph. I then applied the brakes moderately and WOW WTF. Let off the brakes and applied again and same nasty shaky wobble. No weird wonky bumps on the road where this occurred, I have driven this small short section of hwy for 25yrs.

This JT is by far the smoothest Jeep I have owned..... 99, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020. JT. I was shocked today by this nasty shaky wobble. I will go over torque on all relevant parts.

Running well balanced super smooth Falken AT3W 285/75r17 on stock Jeep sport rims since new.

It does get driven on trails moderately.., however wheeling chatter is so variable... some ppl think they wheel then they come wheeling and realized they don't so much wheel off=road in the same way. Yet, this death wobble is death wobble regardless of how hard one may or may not wheel! I have not actually hit any hard trails with this JT, it is just a go camping rig.

Any other thoughts?

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[Kent5]

More info please:
Size of tires?
Amount of lift?
Amount of offset in wheels/running wheel spacers?
Caster checked?
Checked track bar mounting bosses for cracks/looseness?

If its been good for 10,000 miles, and then today, suddenly, there is an issue -- kinda sounds like something let go/broke vs. just a wear or equipment mismatch.

Outside the box: Might also want to check the front brakes. It is possible that if a caliper has frozen or is inop, the resulting torque induced by aggressive one-sided front wheel braking could initiate an oscillation or wobble if there is already some looseness in the front suspension. Have you noticed any kind of pulling to one side or the other under light to moderate braking?

Just thinking out loud here with some ideas.

 

[Bjeepz]

More info please:
Size of tires?
Amount of lift?
Amount of offset in wheels/running wheel spacers?
Caster checked?
Checked track bar mounting bosses for cracks?

If its been good for 10,000 miles, and then today, suddenly, there is an issue -- kinda sounds like something let go/broke vs. just a wear or equipment mismatch.

Outside the box: Might also want to check the front brakes. It is possible that if a caliper has frozen or is inop, the resulting torque induced by one-sided front wheel braking could initiate an oscillation or wobble if there is already some looseness in the front suspension. Have you noticed any kind of pulling to one side or the other under light to moderate braking?

Just thinking out loud here with some ideas.

Falken AT3W 285/75r17 tires on stock sport wheels. Tires and wheels have about 12000 miles on them, one 5 tire rotation at 7000 miles. Running 30PSI when wobble happened, was out lightly wheeling last weekend and drove about 150 miles since, normally run 38-40PSI.
JKS 3 inch lift with Fox shocks, JKS front geometry correction brackets.
Everything was smooth as usual with all my Jeeps running JKS and Fox stuff then this sudden issue. Up to this when asked how the JT rides/drives I have been saying I have been very happy
There has been no pulling or odd braking to one side or another before or during this event. Things were smooth as I could ever expect from a big comfy Jeep truck!

I will drive it tmrw and try to replicate the issue.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Falken AT3W 285/75r17 tires on stock sport wheels. Tires and wheels have about 12000 miles on them, one 5 tire rotation at 7000 miles. Running 30PSI when wobble happened, was out lightly wheeling last weekend and drove about 150 miles since, normally run 38-40PSI.
JKS 3 inch lift with Fox shocks, JKS front geometry correction brackets.
Everything was smooth as usual with all my Jeeps running JKS and Fox stuff then this sudden issue. Up to this when asked how the JT rides/drives I have been saying I have been very happy
There has been no pulling or odd braking to one side or another before or during this event. Things were smooth as I could ever expect from a big comfy Jeep truck!

I will drive it tmrw and try to replicate the issue.

Sounds like somethings loose, maybe trackbar or drag link. If it's happening under braking,I'd look at the ball joints as well. Not unusual for them wear out early, especially stock ones with more than 10,000 miles on them with larger tires. I've saw them go out at 5,000 miles. If you can replicate it then try to get a video, it may not be death wobble but something else. Death wobble is pretty violent if you haven't ever had it, you can't keep driving the vehicle normally. It will require you to come to a complete stop and feel like the whole jeep is coming apart.

 

[hivol13]

I know exactly how you feel. My Sport S did the same thing around 10,000 miles. I was cruising down the interstate around 80 mph and hit a pothole when the whole front end started shaking violently. I had to pull over and come to a complete stop. From that point on, breaks in the pavement and uneven road surfaces would cause the vibration. I immediately made an appointment with my Jeep service department.

Luckily, they took my concern seriously. Even though they said they could not replicate the issue, they still looked at the front end and retorqued the track bar bolts. I assume something had worked loose, because I have not had an issue since.

Just wanted to share, because the sheer amount of info on this issue can be overwhelming! Hopefully it will be something simple like in my case! Good luck!

 

[Phljeeper]

If it is death wobble it is typically trackbar related. I would recommend checking the front trackbar bolts and make sure they are tight and that the mounting holes aren’t ovaled out.

 

[Phred]

Sounds like warped rotors to me and not death wobble...since you mention it only happens with applying brakes.

 

[Oilburner]

Sounds like warped rotors to me and not death wobble...since you mention it only happens with applying brakes.

^^^ This. DW happens independent of braking.

 

[Factoid]

Sometimes when the brakes are hot, if you drive through water it can warp the discs. Since it only happens when you apply the brakes there is little else that could have failed. This is not the end of the world and it is definitely not death wobble. You simply need to diagnose and repair the root cause.

It is not a bad idea to periodically visually and physically inspect your steering and suspension. This includes jacking up the front axle and checking for wheel looseness at 3 and 9 o’clock (tie rods/drag link) and 6 and 12 o’clock (wheel bearings) by grabbing the outer edges of the tires at these positions and attempting to wobble the wheel. I do this at every oil change.

If you have a micrometer you can mike the rotor, but almost equally effective is to start the engine and firmly press the brake pedal, turn off the engine without moving the vehicle, jack up the front axle (don’t forget jack stands) and remove the front wheels. Slowly turn the hub listening for periodic rubbing. It might help to use a long screwdriver between two wheel lugs for leverage. The alternative is to take it in for a brake inspection. Good luck, it will be back to normal soon!

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Yep, same thing as @Oilburner @Phred @Factoid said doesn't really sound like death wobble, more like a rotor or brake issue. Death wobble either happens when you hit a bump or get to a certain speed. The couple times I had it, I either hit a bump and it started shaking to the point to where I had to slow down and pull over. I was able to drive the Jeep one time, and another time it was basically undrivable above 10-15 mph, it also shook so hard that it snapped my muffler off once. Twice it was my track bar and it was undrivable, the other time it was ball joints and I could drive it then but not much over 50 mph and I had to watch it. Tie rod coming loose can cause it as well or not being torqued to spec but it almost never occurs when braking, that actually would be something that would cause the issue to subside.

 

[Bonanza]

For anyone who searches the thread, I had DW in my 2013 Wrangler. Replaced ball joints, drag link, tie rod, rebalanced and roadforced the tires, new track bar, you name it. After all that it turns out the soruce was bad 4WP steel wheels, all out of round from the factory. Replaced those and never had DW again.

 

[Jimmy]

Witness marks are great for eyeballing fasteners which have loosened. Any chance they were added when the lift was done?

 

[Kent5]

^^^ This. DW happens independent of braking.

This.

Seems like some people call ANY sort of shimmy or shake in a Jeep "death wobble". Makes it seem a lot more prevalent than it actually is. (I'm not talking about people in this thread, but the Jeep world in general.)

Having a tire or wheel out of round, or a wheel out of balance isn't 'death wobble'.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

For anyone who searches the thread, I had DW in my 2013 Wrangler. Replaced ball joints, drag link, tie rod, rebalanced and roadforced the tires, new track bar, you name it. After all that it turns out the soruce was bad 4WP steel wheels, all out of round from the factory. Replaced those and never had DW again.

I don't think that's considered Death Wobble, that's just out of round wheels, or the same could be said for out of balance tires. If you could drive it at normal speeds it more than likely isn't death wobble.

 

[Factoid]

The reason death sits in front of wobble is that with real death wobble, the worn or defective components hit a resonant frequency of vibration that amplifies the vibration until you lose control of the vehicle. Think of feedback on a speaker that grows in intensity until you reduce the volume or move the microphone away from the speaker. If you have a constant vibration that doesn't gain in intensity as you continue at a constant speed, that is not death wobble.

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