It's cold again. Guess who's back? Old St. Death Wobble. (edit-Not true DW, just a big shimmy)

[sass JT]

What phone/app do you use for this info? My iPhone doesn’t have all these widgets available ?

Yahoo weather… pick your city and then scroll down…..

and now back to the regularly discussed “wobble” is and isn’t what you say it is schedule!

Sponsored

 

[Lynn_F]

The same thing happens to mine like clockwork - this my 3rd Winter in the Gladiator and it has happened every year. I won't get into what's DW or not but I have replaced just about everything on my suspension and my steering components battling it. The latest round of mods were the Synergy drag link flip and the Teraflex rear track bar bracket. I have been more satisfied with the improvement from those 2 brackets than pretty much any other change I've made.

 

[BUZZHEAD]

So it definitely got cold last night… not quite the -16° they forecasted but the windchill made up for it… oh and my Jeep drove fine when I went to town for a burger. No wobbles.

 

[Bonanza]

I think some replies are splitting hairs between shimmy-shake-DW. It's not like a light switch, it takes time to ramp up to the violent shake. The tire shimmy at a specific speed is balance related. Mine is hitting a deviation in the road, which produces a significant shake in the wheel. Without quickly accelerating, it would 100% ramp to a full on DW.

 

[Gvsukids]

So as you add distance between the chassis and the axle and compound the forces with larger wheels and tires spaced further from the axle center, you need to increase the length of both your tie rod and track bar and lower the connection point on your steering box connection to keep the bump steer under control.

Can I fit 37's? Seriously, is this effected by adding a one inch leveling kit on the front of my Gladiator?

The same thing happens to mine like clockwork - this my 3rd Winter in the Gladiator and it has happened every year. I won't get into what's DW or not but I have replaced just about everything on my suspension and my steering components battling it. The latest round of mods were the Synergy drag link flip and the Teraflex rear track bar bracket. I have been more satisfied with the improvement from those 2 brackets than pretty much any other change I've made.

No problems with my Max Tow in Michigan Winters.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

@Gvsukids

I'm having trouble reading the tone. I mean with enough swazall you could put 42s on a stock sport, right?

Does a 1" leveling kit do it? No. Does a 1" leveling kit perturbate the system, yes, but below tolerances. The solution to death wobble is to return the mechanical linkages as close to stock as possible. Larger and heavier wheels and tires, even out of balance ones won't cause death wobble but they sure won't help it.

 

[Gvsukids]

I'm having trouble reading the tone. I mean with enough swazall you could put

I was kidding about the 37's, but appreciate the response about the leveling kit; I currently don't have any problems with any wobbling and don't want to encourage the problem.

 

[Average-Joe]

Old Saint Death Wobble is my least favorite Saint.

 

[Bonanza]

Reviving a two year old thread. Weather cooled down, and my old friend is back.

I’m going to run my tires at 40 psi, as I suspect it’s just the cold flat spots after sitting at night. I only get wobble in the first 5 mins of driving in the morning.

 

[Gvsukids]

Reviving a two year old thread. Weather cooled down, and my old friend is back.

I’m going to run my tires at 40 psi, as I suspect it’s just the cold flat spots after sitting at night. I only get wobble in the first 5 mins of driving in the morning.

Still hasn't been fixed? I've never had this problem with cold weather.
Do you park outside? Maybe you might have moisture in a tire that freezes?

 

[Chadp82]

Is there moisture or humidity? Possibly getting ice in the rims throwing the balance off?

I am new to the gladiator, so this caught my attention.

in my old truck, I would get ice or snow pack in the rims at times and at city speeds it wasn’t an issue but at highway speeds it would feel like I was going to be bucked off a horse sometimes. I learned to live with it, and would knock snow and ice from the rims as best I could to help.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Why is this being called death wobble? It's clearly not.
It's a tire issue.

Do you park outside? Maybe you might have moisture in a tire that freezes?

Not sure what parking outside would matter - most of us don't park in heated garages.
Water freezing in a tire is imbalance - not wobble. It would take getting up to some speed, then it would vibrate. It would not shake the steering wheel. So even that isn't death wobble, and it's not a wobble at all, but a vibration.

Is there moisture or humidity? Possibly getting ice in the rims throwing the balance off?

He's in southern CA so unless he's in the mountains.....I assume CA to mean California, not Canada.
Again, that's balance, and that isn't wobble.
The fact that it happens when cool or cold suggests (strongly) it's a TIRE ISSUE, flat spots.
He "drives out of it", that's a clue.

Anyway, ice, or water in a tire, is imbalance - a vibration. Not wobble. It won't cause steering wheel shake.
And tire flat spotting is also easy to diagnose as if you drive straight away from the parking spot, the front will go up and down, sort of a whump-whump thing - not a wobble yet.
Turn the first corner and now the steering wheel moves side to side and the whump-whump if left-right-left-right.
Tire flat spotting changes after your first turn. As long as you drive perfectly straight from the parking spot, it's a clear down/up/down/up of the front. That first turn throws the front tires out of synch and you have truck that drives like a guy with a bump leg - more of a waddle.
In any case, this isn't death wobble - people need to be very careful about confusing imbalances or vibrations or things that happen from the very start as DW. DW doesn't begin until you get up to some speed and then you must slow way down or even stop to get it to stop, and you can take off again and it's usually fine. It's a VIOLENT shaking of the steering wheel and the front tires back and forth. It's not a vibration. It's not felt as you drive away from your overnight parking spot then disappear in a few minutes. If anything, it's the opposite.

 

[Gvsukids]

Not sure what parking outside would matter - most of us don't park in heated garages.

The only heat in my garage comes from the vehicles that are parked there, or leaked from the house. Parking outside in cold climates can harden moisture quicker.

 

[In3briatedPanda]

Reviving a two year old thread. Weather cooled down, and my old friend is back.

I’m going to run my tires at 40 psi, as I suspect it’s just the cold flat spots after sitting at night. I only get wobble in the first 5 mins of driving in the morning.

same. mines a shimmy in the steering wheel though, not the whole truck violently shaking.

metalcloak true dual 3.5" with BFG k02s 315/70r17 on a mammoth wheel 17x19.5 with -6mm backspacing. My jt has 13800k miles.

last time the steering stabilizer fixed my issue, but as soon as it got cold this year, it returned. I jumped my tire PSI from 30 to 36 and it mitigated it for now. Calling the dealer today. I believe it be tire related at this time and im too poor to mount a different set of tires and test this theory, but thats what i want to do. Lower tire pressure the shimy is slower side to side but at greater spans of left to right movement. higher psi makes the shimmy faster but not as far left or right. Im not the most articulate person, I hope that makes sense.

I just dont want you to think youre crazy, I have the EXACT same issue with mine. Second year in row it gets cold and i get a shimmy on uneven pavement that wont go away unless i slow down to under 45mph. Mine happens between 45mph-50mph. I see numerous youtube videos calling it death wobble, but i dont think it is. Temps in the morning have been 40s-50s.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The only heat in my garage comes from the vehicles that are parked there, or leaked from the house. Parking outside in cold climates can harden moisture quicker.

Why? 25 degrees inside is 25 degrees outside.

It does take longer to cool down than outside, but the 7am temperatures are going to be pretty equal. By the time you go out in the AM, say 5, 6, 7, the temperatures are going to be very close in most cases.
My garage is typically within 5 degrees of outside unless it's in the dead of summer where the heat builds up badly and it's 10 degrees or so hotter in there.
My point is that if it's 20 outside and your vehicle is outside, and it's 25 in the garage and there's a vehicle in there, the water will still be frozen in the morning.

I had a wobble with the WJ I had until I sold it in 2020. It was fine in the summer and moderate weather, but once it got to 40 or below and if it sat more than a day or two, the front would feel like the tires had a flat spot on them until I got to the end of the driveway and turned and headed down the road. Then it was uneven - left/right/left/right and wobbled the steering wheel and felt it in the front of the vehicle. Going faster made it less noticeable. After about a mile, it was dissipating.
People say "flat spots don't happen on modern tires". Yeah, they can, and do on some. These were decent newer tires my father had put on the Jeep before he was killed and I bough the Jeep from the estate.
In warm weather you could drive that thing any way you wanted it, fast, slow, whatever and the steering was rock solid, no vibrations, no wobbles, nothing shook.
But come cooler weather you dealt with that tire wobble until they warmed up.

Again, water - extremely rare - will be an imbalance. It will not cause a wobble, it won't shake the wheel. It will be the same thing as a weight coming off the wheel - out of balance up and down as you drive - no wobble to it.
Snow pack on the outside can cause vibration and on some deeper wheels a bit of shimmy, but not a wobble. That's because the snow pack is off-center - not dead center to the wheel/tire.

Sponsored