Gladiator death wobble

[ShadowsPapa]

Any other ball joints that are stock, (except the new drag link ball joints you mentioned) are “plastic”. Yes, the actual ball is metal but it sits in a plastic cup and to me, I just call the whole thing plastic because that’s the “weakest link” and seeing as how it’s your 2020, you can safely bet there’s lots of wiggle room in those joints, then give them a death wobble and forget it, plastic parts won’t hold well.

Ask @StanH about his factory plastic ball joints he put over 130 miles on and swore they were just fine until he finally upgraded to “non plastic” joints.

And they may well have been. It's not a plastic as people think of plastic. And they ALL have some movement against a strong spring and wear material. Otherwise, they'd all be bad after 10-20,000 miles.

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[Mystsoftyme]

That's a mask - not a solution.


That's what they are told to say by FCA. It will mask DW but the underlying cause is still there and will wear a stabilizer prematurely.

So what would you do?

 

[Stan H]

Any other ball joints that are stock, (except the new drag link ball joints you mentioned) are “plastic”. Yes, the actual ball is metal but it sits in a plastic cup and to me, I just call the whole thing plastic because that’s the “weakest link” and seeing as how it’s your 2020, you can safely bet there’s lots of wiggle room in those joints, then give them a death wobble and forget it, plastic parts won’t hold well.

Ask @StanH about his factory plastic ball joints he put over 130 miles on and swore they were just fine until he finally upgraded to “non plastic” joints.

Those ball joints where okay back and forth but loose as a goose after removing them you could spin the bolts around with you finger . Twist them around with you fingers. Was rather shocking the one worse than the other .

 

[AstroZombie]

can anyone recommend what ball joints to get if and when they need to be replaced?

 

[AstroZombie]

Yup. Like I said. Toss a set of MOPAR 2" lower control arms on. They are a very cost effective upgrade. Less than $100 shipped. I think I paid $88 and that was with shipping. They will give you a few more degrees of caster. Solid axles vehicles love caster. I have done this now on my wifes 2019 JL Rubicon and my '23 Gladiator Rubicon. Both with great results.

will this affect anything when an alignment is done?

 

[Rubclt]

Easy home test, with motor off have someone sit in driver seat and rock steering wheel left to right. Another person sit under front and hold drag link, the tie rod and then track bar. A click or vibration will lead to any issues in steering. Replace any joints. Torque to spec and recheck. Ball joints is a different test already mentioned.

 

[Free2roam]

can anyone recommend what ball joints to get if and when they need to be replaced?

Metalcloak ballers. I've got 76k on my original ones. Just checked about a month ago and still holding strong.
On the other side of things the factory tie rod and drag link. Suck ass. Hollow and flexible. Which when I went to a wider stance on tires and rims found out the scrub radius and the -6 rims caused excessive flexing of the components. Which induced DW. Changed out to Fusion 4X4 steering components and Fox ats dampener. Have had no issues since.

 

[Stan H]

can anyone recommend what ball joints to get if and when they need to be replaced?

@Metalcloak Ballers..no question about it . They are frighin' amazingly smooth. Greasable and lifetime rebuildable .
I waited way too long did mine at 140thousand . Should have done them at 70-80k max

 

[Maximus Gladius]

@Metalcloak Ballers..no question about it . They are frighin' amazingly smooth. Greasable and lifetime rebuildable .
I waited way too long did mine at 140thousand . Should have done them at 70-80k max

Hookie Dina man! Who twisted your arm to change them?

 

[Stan H]

Hookie Dina man! Who twisted your arm to change them?

Uh , Some guy from Canada that was trying to play "whack a moose" with his Gladiator

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

So what would you do?

Go full HAM!!!! RockJock high steer kit and MetalCloak Baller joints!!!! And even BIGGER go with some Hydro Assist steering!!!! If that don’t solve your problems I have no idea what would.

 

[Gizmo]

I initially replaced the lower front control arms when lifted to start eliminating any thing with oe clevite bushings. Next was drag link because it was shot next was track bar then the rest of the RJ high steer kit. I never have had bump steer to begin with as i am fussy about steering to begin with. I have never had DW on any of my jeeps for that matter as I have always used Currie and PSC for steering and this is the only jeep that still has a stock steering stabilizer on it.(only 18,000 miles on the jeep) I want to feel everything so nothing is masked. Still stock BJs

 

[Andy29847]

Whenever I see threads with a member having the wobbles after making changes to the suspension, my first thought is always the wheels. For the purposes of this discussion, wheels come in 2 flavors, hub centric and lug centric. Factory wheels are always (as far as I know) hub centric. The hole in the center of the wheel matches the diameter of the hub on the axle. The wheels center as soon as you mount them. Many aftermarket wheels are made for multiple vehicles. The holes in the center of the wheels are oversize and the wheel does NOT center until the lug nuts are installed. The problem with this is that you can mount a wheel off-center if you tighten the first lug nut enough to lock the wheel in place before installing the other lug nuts. There is a procedure for installing lug centric wheels.

Here is how you should mount your aftermarket rims, after a rotation, new rims or tires, or a good ol cleaning

1. Jack car up and secure it with a jackstand (Safety First )
2. Loosen all lug nuts and either put on rim, rotate or whatever the hell you need to do.
3. Thread on all the lug nuts, but DO NOT tighten to where you can not move em.
4. Rotate the tire/rim until one of the 5 lugs is at the 12 o clock position.
5. Tighten lug nut with thumb and forefinger to the point that you can not do it anymore.
6. Rotate the tire clockwise, skipping one lug nut.
7. After skipping the one nut, put the 3rd nut in the 12 o clock position. Tighten this one the same as Step 5
8. Skip one more nut, and repeat Step 5. This last nut will be right next to the first one.
9. Let the truck down to where the tires barely touch the ground. Use a wrench and tighten all bolts with about 25% of your strength. Just enough to grab.
10. I then let the truck down all the way and torqued the bolts to 90.
11. Repeat all steps above for the rest of the truck

Mt first Jeep (2005 TJ) with American Racing wheels was great until I changed the tires. Then I got the wobbles. I struggled with the wobbles until I changed tire jockeys. My new tire guy showed me how one wheel was off-center. Once I learned the right way to install the wheels, it was smooth sailing after that.

 

[AstroZombie]

i can't tell if the wheels are wobbling but i get a pretty noticeable shimmy in my steering wheel around 45-55MPH. Some days it's not there others it is. I can't feel it in the brake pedal and i don't have any significant uneven tire wear. I can rotate dth drag link by had and i do hear a click every now and again just turning the wheel to park. Once i hear the steering click i can't reproduce it right away which makes i very hard to pinpoint.

any have any thoughts?

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