Just got the Death Wobble on my JT....grrrr. Any advice?

[wesley8808]

Need more information..
- Is your JT lifted, and if so, how much and what type of lift. Spacers, springs, or both.
- If lifted, did the lift include control arms
- What size tires are you running
- Is your suspension 100% stock
- Track Bar Bushings/Bolt and Loose Control arms can greatly affect the oscillations. (Death Wobble).
- Based on your mileage and this problem starting out of the blue, loose bolts would be a strong possibility.
- I've had many Wranglers, and I have experienced the Wobble on everyone, except the JT.
- -Many "experts" say lifting isn't the cause of the Wobble, which is somewhat true, but changing angles and parts with the
lift is usually 99% of the problem with DW.

I have no mods on the JT at all. It is 100% stock.

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[ColoradoGlad]

I have no mods on the JT at all. It is 100% stock.

Perfect...
Sounds like something might have come loose on the track bar...

 

[wesley8808]

So I came back from the Dealership with a couple of new tie rods. They said they torqued all the bolts down and a new front end alignment.

I admit that the JT felt better when driving home. That was on Friday. It sat in the the driveway until today when I drove in to work, and sure enough it happened again. I called the dealership to bring it back in again. Here is a video of it happened this morning. The clicking you hear is the hardtop experiencing the torquing of the cab from the wobble. You can see my left on the wheel shaking as I tried to pull over.



Bringing it back in on Friday.

 

[Lynn_F]

So I came back from the Dealership with a couple of new tie rods. They said they torqued all the bolts down and a new front end alignment.

I admit that the JT felt better when driving home. That was on Friday. It sat in the the driveway until today when I drove in to work, and sure enough it happened again. I called the dealership to bring it back in again. Here is a video of it happened this morning. The clicking you hear is the hardtop experiencing the torquing of the cab from the wobble. You can see my left on the wheel shaking as I tried to pull over.



Bringing it back in on Friday

That sucks and there is definitely something wrong...but that is not death wobble. Death wobble does not last as long as what you recorded. It starts and within a few seconds you will have to slam the brakes or you will wreck. The steering wheel will violently swing from 9oclock to 3oclock and there is no way to control it without either immediately braking or accelerating through it. I know a lot of people comment about DW but it is truly unmistakable if you've experienced it.

 

[3-pedal-Rub]

I'd be fucking PISSED

 

[ColoradoGlad]

Suggest rotating the tires..
Rears to Front.. Straight forward on the same side.
Cross the fronts to the rears....

Good place to start by eliminating a tire issue,
In the video, that looks more like a tire issue...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Looks like a hard shimmy rather than the wobble I've seen talked about.
Shimmy can be alignment issues, tow, caster, tires, and yeah, check the trackbar mount.
I thought the "wobble" was more of a wobble - where the wheel went back and forth a whole lot further.
When I did front ends we'd call that one a shimmy - a quick constant shaking of the wheel back and forth, but not a large "distance", under an inch typically.

 

[wesley8808]

Fair point on the violent movement from 9 to 3 of the steering wheel, so maybe not a "death wobble" but an "oh Shit, wobble" instead. It is certainly more than a shimmy, and more than a shake (having a flashback to Airplane ) Either way, it should not be happening at all. No other car I have ever had did that after going over a road overpass.

It is bad enough that I need to slow down to get it to stop and if I was accelerating, it gets significantly worse.

The dealership did a full tire rotation, and complete front end alignment after replacing the tie rods. They said the tires were good. We will see what they come up with this time.

 

[Bbannongmu]

Looks like a PIA and not really any conciliation but it’s not death wobble. Hard to say what it is without being under your Jeep with a torque wrench and pry bar. Death wobble is utterly uncontrollable , life altering and boxer short staining. You have to stop to recover. 90% of the time death wobble is the trackbar and can be compounded by other loose/worn components and it quickly deteriorates Because it wears stuff out. Also don’t let anyone use a new stabilizer as a fix. A properly set up front end doesn’t need a stabilizer at all to drove wobble free. It’s really a comfort/dampening item. I’ve driven for thousands of miles on my JKU with no stabilizer after fixing some shimmies so I could sort it out. A bit of extra feedback on bumps/potholes but no shimmy.
Good luck!

 

[wesley8808]

Looks like a PIA and not really any conciliation but it’s not death wobble. Hard to say what it is without being under your Jeep with a torque wrench and pry bar. Death wobble is utterly uncontrollable , life altering and boxer short staining. You have to stop to recover. 90% of the time death wobble is the trackbar and can be compounded by other loose/worn components and it quickly deteriorates Because it wears stuff out. Also don’t let anyone use a new stabilizer as a fix. A properly set up front end doesn’t need a stabilizer at all to drove wobble free. It’s really a comfort/dampening item. I’ve driven for thousands of miles on my JKU with no stabilizer after fixing some shimmies so I could sort it out. A bit of extra feedback on bumps/potholes but no shimmy.
Good luck!

Thanks everyone for their input and advice. The impact of the wobble is definitely worse than the video shows. It isn't as bad as you say above, so maybe it wasn't a DEATH wobble, but nonetheless it was a wobble. I had to slow way down for it to stop, and it was difficult to change lanes.

The dealership has been great about it. The first trip in their swapped out the tie rods. Then it happened again (that was the video one). I brought it back and the the swapped out the steering damper. It feels better and I have not experienced a wobble like that again. Although, it still feels looser than my '07 JK with 185k miles.

I feel a little gun shy going over overpasses now. I will drive it some more and see what happens.

Thanks again for reading and commenting. OH - While in the shop I had the bed Rhino lined and I LOVE the way it turned out!

 

[Bbannongmu]

Thanks everyone for their input and advice. The impact of the wobble is definitely worse than the video shows. It isn't as bad as you say above, so maybe it wasn't a DEATH wobble, but nonetheless it was a wobble. I had to slow way down for it to stop, and it was difficult to change lanes.

The dealership has been great about it. The first trip in their swapped out the tie rods. Then it happened again (that was the video one). I brought it back and the the swapped out the steering damper. It feels better and I have not experienced a wobble like that again. Although, it still feels looser than my '07 JK with 185k miles.

I feel a little gun shy going over overpasses now. I will drive it some more and see what happens.

Thanks again for reading and commenting. OH - While in the shop I had the bed Rhino lined and I LOVE the way it turned out!

Sorry for the ensuing rant....I hope the tie rods are the fix you needed. A new stabilizer is a red flag as stabilizers can mask issues. I sincerely hope your issues are fixed but a new stabilizer doesn’t really fix anything and it should be the final tweak for comfort and feel. Maybe it helps for now but it could be kicking the can down the road and the symptoms could return when you have no warranty and the other front suspension parts are now worn. This starts a maddening, time consuming and expensive chase for the root cause. Removing the stabilizer and making it drive properly with no shimmy shows it’s properly fixed and then replacing the stabilizer for comfort once it’s sorted is the cherry on top. This comes from around 3 decades of Jeep life, tons of wrenching and personally falling for the stabilizer “ fix” in the past. Not trying to make anyone paranoid but I get sick of mechanics that should know better, selling snake oil cures to shimmies and shakes without properly isolating, diagnosing and correcting in a scientific and methodical way. You should be able to drive your JT with confidence on overpasses. End rant...FWIW

Good luck. Congrats on Rhino liner.

 

[wesley8808]

Sorry for the ensuing rant....I hope the tie rods are the fix you needed. A new stabilizer is a red flag as stabilizers can mask issues. I sincerely hope your issues are fixed but a new stabilizer doesn’t really fix anything and it should be the final tweak for comfort and feel. Maybe it helps for now but it could be kicking the can down the road and the symptoms could return when you have no warranty and the other front suspension parts are now worn. This starts a maddening, time consuming and expensive chase for the root cause. Removing the stabilizer and making it drive properly with no shimmy shows it’s properly fixed and then replacing the stabilizer for comfort once it’s sorted is the cherry on top. This comes from around 3 decades of Jeep life, tons of wrenching and personally falling for the stabilizer “ fix” in the past. Not trying to make anyone paranoid but I get sick of mechanics that should know better, selling snake oil cures to shimmies and shakes without properly isolating, diagnosing and correcting in a scientific and methodical way. You should be able to drive your JT with confidence on overpasses. End rant...FWIW

Good luck. Congrats on Rhino liner.

No rant at all. I would rather be informed by everyone's experiences and recommendations than go in blindly. I will certainly be keen to anything out of the norm going forward.

If you have an expert recommendation in our local area I would appreciate it (of course you can PM the info). FWIW, I took it to the dealer I bought it from who is reputable in our area. But I am also a skeptic too!

 

[MarineHawk]

If you have an expert recommendation in our local area I would appreciate it (of course you can PM the info).

Don't know if this is close enough to you, but these guys seem to have been able to figure everything out I have thrown at them on my Jeeps since 2012: https://hightechautoandtruck.com/
Probably want to ask to speak to Raul, as the guy who often answers the phone knows nothing--by his own admission--about the JT suspensions.

 

[Bbannongmu]

No rant at all. I would rather be informed by everyone's experiences and recommendations than go in blindly. I will certainly be keen to anything out of the norm going forward.

If you have an expert recommendation in our local area I would appreciate it (of course you can PM the info). FWIW, I took it to the dealer I bought it from who is reputable in our area. But I am also a skeptic too!

I agree they are reputable and knowledgeable. Might just need to push back on them a bit to get a more experienced tech or something before paying for anything.

 

[ajaj96]

I too have just developed this shimmy if which you speak of. It's definitely not full on DW but it's extremely annoying and does not feel safe at all. In bringing it into the dealership to have then take a look at it tomorrow. It's a bone stock overland with 13,500 miles.

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