Wobble to a shakey

[m1n0t4rr]

Hey All, first time caller, and looking for some advice.

Had a pretty bad wobble on my 2020 Rubicon with factory lift. 87k miles. Bought for a good deal in August and negotiated price on battery problems and tires (Thanks everyone for the info in the threads).

Fast forward to November, the death wobble started. Big O told me I needed a whole front end and new tires. So I checked all the hardware, expected lots of issues but everything is tight and looks good, even the tie rod ends and the ball joint tests seem ok. Finally got the new tires on today, got out on the open road, and the wobble seems to be gone, but is now more of an oscillating phenomenon above 75, about 60% to shaking my fillings out...

Anyone have a similar experience? Should I take it back to the tire shop for a re-rebalance/realignment? or to a jeep dealership for a proper diag?

I love the truck and its versatility, excited to get rolling strong again... appreciate you all

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[bleda2002]

Death wobble or a shake? Like death wobble as in you had to basically come to a stop to get it stop as it violently oscillated side to side, or more like the steering wheel moves a few degrees side to side? Or like the truck is trying to tear itself apart shaking? Front seat, back seat, steering wheel or?

Also what tires, and what size, static, dynamic, or road force balanced? If they're static balanced they could need a dynamic balance. How much weight did they take to balance? Since it mostly went away with tires, i'd get the tires at the minimum dynamic balanced preferably road forced if available to eliminate them from the equation. A lot of times if you paid for the standard balance its just static and on some brands (cough cough BFG) that usually doesnt cut it.

Other things to check are if you have the iron steering box (if its silver its aluminum, if its black its steel), check the frame side track bar bolt hole for wallowing out, check how much play is in the steering wheel itself (by turning it back and forth and see how much it needs to turn to get the pitman arm moving)

 

[darkhorse13]

I just went thru this process and hope this helps you. I took a step by step approach to narrow down the issue as we have a back up car to allow me to slow-play this fix.

My Jeep = 49K miles
2020 JTR, 3" lift, 37's since 8k miles, Synergy aftermarket steering components, aluminum steering box

Steps from diagnosis to resolution...

Death Wobble: came on at 52-55mph after hitting a bump and I had to slow down to 10-20mph to stop shaking
1) Started with freebies = checked torque on everything (some of these probably don't make an impact but I crossed them off the list) in the front end (track bar, steering box bolts, ball joints, tie rod/drag link bolts, sway bar end links, unit bearing hub, wheel studs, rotated tires front to back); NO RESOLUTION
2) Still freebie (Discount Tire and Local 4x4 shop) = rebalanced my 37" wheels/tires and switched rotation again; NO RESOLUTION. At this point my local 4x4 shop was kind enough to loan me a set of stock JT wheels and tires with no known issues to try out; NO RESOLUTION and OEM wheels/tires made the DW effect much worse
3) Borrowed a friend's Fox ATS 2.0 stabilizer = we all know that a stabilizer is NOT a fix but I got to try it anyway; NO RESOLUTION
4) Started to spend money = Upgraded to Steel Steering box. Yes, I understand this is not a cure to DW but I've been noticing an increase in the "dead spot" of the steering wheel and I missed the TSB window years ago. Honestly, this was more a "want" but I'm glad I did it as the steering feel is better now; NO RESOLUTION
5) Refreshed the tie rod end joints and got an alignment (I'm running 6 degree caster and toe-in 1/16"; these are the same specs that I've run for the last 40K miles with no issues) = I bought new Synergy ends as I already have their HD tie rod; DW GONE, but still a SHAKE after hitting bumps at 55mph
6) Refreshed track bar ends = bought new Synergy ends; DW GONE, but still a SHAKE after hitting bumps at 55mph
7) Refreshed drag link ends = bought new Synergy ends; DW GONE, and now a reduced SHAKE/WHEEL SHIMMY after hitting bumps at 60-65mph
8) Replaced Synergy ball joints with Dynatrac HD rebuildable version; RESOLVED = no DW, no SHAKES or SHIMMY

SUMMARY:
1) Track Bar, Tie Rod and Drag Link replacement bushing took care of the DW symptoms (as expected); but indicated that I still had an underlying issue.
2) Ball Joint replacement was necessary to completely resolve my specific issue

 

[m1n0t4rr]

It was like the truck is trying to tear itself apart shaking, now it is like the road is uneven at higher speeds

 

[bleda2002]

It was like the truck is trying to tear itself apart shaking, now it is like the road is uneven at higher speeds

Thats usually tire related but i'd still be checking the trackbar ends and track bar holes for wallowing. Get a good dynamic or road force balance to eliminate the tires as the cause, although keep in mind if they're RT's or mud tires they're going to always feel a bit uneven at higher speeds (my experience on different sets) but we're talking slight uneveness through the steering wheel. You can also rotate tires around to see if the shake changes.

 

[m1n0t4rr]

Re-balanced and a little better. How can I diag ball joints without replacing them blindly? I did the tire test and it was solid, but this guy has almost 90,000 miles and most of those have been on 37s….

 

[darkhorse13]

Re-balanced and a little better. How can I diag ball joints without replacing them blindly? I did the tire test and it was solid, but this guy has almost 90,000 miles and most of those have been on 37s….

From what I've been told on JL/JT's, you really can't 100% diagnose visually. I too have gone the route of raising a tire off the ground, inserting a long metal pipe as a pry bar and trying to look for vertical play... no visual cues. The ball joints appear to be tight. Yet, when I swapped mine out with new ones the issue was gone.

If you have 90K miles on OEM ball joints with 37's then I would say your efforts won't be "wasted" to perform this replacement. FWIW, most of us with larger tires are looking at only 30-40K miles on OEM ball joints before needing replacement.

 

[m1n0t4rr]

This day and age, to Jeep dealers share vehicle history? Could they see what's been done to the truck?

 

[Medical_Bartender]

I’d replace alot of stuff if 80k+ miles, but ball joints for sure. My JK had DW around 90k on stock BJs and changing them cured my DW. It’s not too bad if a job with the right tools.

Personally for the mileage and being a new to you jeep with issues I’d replace BJs first, track bar & drag link second, road force balance tires next, new stabilizer last.

 

[darkhorse13]

I’d replace BJs first, track bar & drag link second, [tie rod third], road force balance tires next, new stabilizer last.

^^ exactly this + tie rod as well ^^

 

[Medical_Bartender]

Agreed ^^ forgot the tie rod ?

 

[Georgia Mo Javy]

Mine is in the shop today, the track bar bushings were oblong, tires wouldn't align. Installing the new track bar today. My wobble wasn't bad, but wanted to get ahead of it. Installed a new Fox stabilizer because I wanted it to match the shocks. Wobble went away, but had my local shop, great guys, check it just to make sure. OEM track bar bushings are made of soap I believe, so they go bad pretty quick. Mine has 30k miles on it 3.5" metal cloak lift sitting on 37's.

 

[SSinGA]

Hey All, first time caller, and looking for some advice.

Had a pretty bad wobble on my 2020 Rubicon with factory lift. 87k miles. Bought for a good deal in August and negotiated price on battery problems and tires (Thanks everyone for the info in the threads).

Fast forward to November, the death wobble started. Big O told me I needed a whole front end and new tires. So I checked all the hardware, expected lots of issues but everything is tight and looks good, even the tie rod ends and the ball joint tests seem ok. Finally got the new tires on today, got out on the open road, and the wobble seems to be gone, but is now more of an oscillating phenomenon above 75, about 60% to shaking my fillings out...

Anyone have a similar experience? Should I take it back to the tire shop for a re-rebalance/realignment? or to a jeep dealership for a proper diag?

I love the truck and its versatility, excited to get rolling strong again... appreciate you all

Still on factory ball joints? Even if there is no up/down play when doing a "normal" ball joint check, I'd bet that a new set will fix your issue.

I have found the Teraflex ball joints to be a good value, YMMV.

 

[Banned]

As big of a problem everyone has with death wobble, I would think Jeep would have had a class action lawsuit years ago for selling unsafe vehicles to the general public. They know what's causing it, but they don't care.

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