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Steering wheel wobble?

btrain625

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How do I inform my dealer if the approval of the aftermarket heavy duty stabilizer?
I didn't get our DM's name and I couldn't find it online. I wonder if it could be as simple as telling them you have heard that other DMs have started offering the A/M part? I have been quick to reference this website when talking to the dealership, I think it establishes some credibility that we are all doing our homework on this.
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Kadonny

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This just my opinion from my experience for what itā€™s worth. A good steering stabilizer will correct the wobbly steering. I added a Falcon SS and it corrected mine and many people have had the same experience. I am also a person who doesnā€™t think this actually corrects the problem but it does stop the wobble. I think the reason the temperature has an impact is due to the type of SS. In cooler weather the oil in the SS has a harder time dampening and with cheap SS like the stock stabilizers the wobble gets worse when itā€™s colder as many and myself have noticed.

As mentioned in a post above I think the problem is the steering linkage. Although the JL linkage looks heavy duty, Jeep has lightened it to the point the thin tube walls on the drag link and tierod resonate or something causing the shimmy or wobble after a bump. I have replaced my drag link and hope to do the tierod in the near future. Iā€™m going on a month with no issues and my steering finally feels solid.

As an FYI, the ball joint on the pitman side of my drag link was so loose I could wobble it in the socket with my hand when I removed it at 4,000 miles. Hope this helps someone make a decision on what they need to do.
Agree fully. Feeds into my post above. Replace the track bar, drag link and tie rod with aftermarket and youā€™ll have no more problems. My long term solution.
 

brewdad

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Should we be concerned that the people installing our new Dampers are only ā€œsemi-skilledā€ at it? :movember:;)
All dealership technicians are required by FCA to complete certain courses of instruction in order to perform warranty work; here in the southeast, tech's are required to attend specialized training in Atlanta, GA; after a certain amount of training tech's are designated skill level's; the guy who replaced that damper was just skill level 1; he is only permitted to perform certain tasks, otherwise the dealership will not be paid by FCA for the warranty performed; best I remember tech's were skill level 1 through 4, depending on amount of training they had been given; not every tech at your dealership is allowed to perform all warranty work; they may have one person who is authorized to work on transmissions or engines and another tech who has training on suspension; sometimes takes years to get to level 4, it all depends on the dealership since the expense of training their tech's is not reimbursed by FCA, and if a tech is out of town being trained that is less service work that can be done at the dealership; some dealers were good at getting their tech's trained and others not so good.
 

szobell

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Just dropped it off at the dealer this morning and took a drive with the Manager over all the service techs. He felt it when I reproduced it for him. I told them to keep it until they solve it. ok - i am out of town for a week - so I told them to solve it and do what it takes. I said "it has a full tank of gas, I am gone for a week, drive it as much as you need to solve it".

@JeepCares - if Corporate has any genius suggestions or would like to be part of the solution - please feel free to reach out to Larry H. Miller Jeep in Bountiful and ask for Todd, the Service Manager. It would be great to have some corporate help on this as well.

I want the problem fixed so when i get me a JLUR diesel in a few months - this is SOLVED for all Jeeps. :)
 

Axlenut

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Does anyone else notice the shimmy or wobble to be worse at colder temperatures? It seems like all of these issues started in the northern states back in October and more people have chimed in from the southern states in November and December. My shimmy would come and go back in November as the temperatures fluctuated. When I experienced full on death wobble twice yesterday the temp was 37 degrees. I couldn't duplicate the death wobble with the service manager in my Jeep today when the temperature was 45 degrees. I could only duplicate the shimmy.
I guess I'll find out this week, because we will be -20 to -30+ below zero all week. Will have to determine if it is the wheel or just me shaking, though. I have not had any issues but I do not have many miles on either
 

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JeepCares

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Just dropped it off at the dealer this morning and took a drive with the Manager over all the service techs. He felt it when I reproduced it for him. I told them to keep it until they solve it. ok - i am out of town for a week - so I told them to solve it and do what it takes. I said "it has a full tank of gas, I am gone for a week, drive it as much as you need to solve it".

@JeepCares - if Corporate has any genius suggestions or would like to be part of the solution - please feel free to reach out to Larry H. Miller Jeep in Bountiful and ask for Todd, the Service Manager. It would be great to have some corporate help on this as well.

I want the problem fixed so when i get me a JLUR diesel in a few months - this is SOLVED for all Jeeps. :)
Hey szobell,

We'd be happy to assist - just send us a PM with your VIN so we can take a look.

Jennifer
Jeep Social Care Specialist
 

xpsruler

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Ive had the steering stabilizer replaced twice now and still have the wobble. Jeep will go in later this week (4th visit) :-(.
 

F.E.R

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So, just had my first real death wobble moment this morning. 2018 JLU Sahara, bone stock, not off-roaded, @6500 miles. Traveling @75 mph and hit a bridge expansion joint that is at an angle to the direction of travel and I thought the whole thing was going to shake apart. It didn't stop until I slowed to @55 mph. One more note, today is about the coldest its been all year (mid-TN).

I've had minor shakes before but they were well within what I'd consider acceptable but today was something else. I don't scare too easily but this was frightening. I'm putting together an email with a lot of the good info from this thread to send to my dealer and we'll see what happens. I shudder to think what would have happened if my wife was driving or if I wouldn't have been able to get it back under control (on an overpass, with a decent amount of pitch, curved from left to right).

Otherwise, I've no complaints and the Jeep really puts a smile on my face but wobbling like that most definitely overrides any sense of happiness the Jeep brings me...
 

szobell

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Continued Update: Lead trchnician just went through it top to bottom and it is all tight except they say there is excessive play in my steering box. They still have the JL. New steering box on order for Thursday delivery. fingers crossed!
 

Kadonny

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Steering wheel wobble update. Note, I never had "death wobble" I only had the steering wheel wobble:

So I finally swapped my newly dealer swapped (stabilzer was replaced under the TSB by dealer) steering stabalizer with the Tereflex Falcon Nexus 2.2. Wow, big difference. So the big positive is the steering wheel wobble is definitely gone, totally. After the dealer did the OEM swap, I was still having wobble. It was better, but not gone.

The Falcon Nexus stopped the wobble, but there is now a pronounced change in the steering. It's much more sensitive. Where I used to go down the road with minimal steering wheel movement, I now have more adjustments it seems. Does it feel unstable? Not in the slightest. It seems to keep it's current direction and track longer, which on country roads makes more steering wheel corrections than before. So, I'm still deciding if I like it. I do like the settings as you can feel the difference between hard, medium and soft and that definitely changes the feel, but I'm kind of not digging the more steering input. Might this be a good thing? Perhaps, but I'm still weighing it out.
 

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Chewbacca2264

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Continued Update: Lead trchnician just went through it top to bottom and it is all tight except they say there is excessive play in my steering box. They still have the JL. New steering box on order for Thursday delivery. fingers crossed!
So a quick response to this, the front end/suspension guy that helped me set the caster with the LCA's, has a theory on the problems that we have all been having. Full disclosure my JL is the only one he has scene but he believes that the wobble, mini death wobble whatever you want to call it is tied to the steering box. He believes that the box is also the reason that stabilizers are "going bad." So his theory is that at least with my Jeep the steering box is not working properly with the steering assist and is leaving a "loose" feel to the steering wheel that includes a large dead spot. When you drive the Jeep down the road the wheels are deflecting as they hit bumps and due to the dead spot/lack of firmness there is not enough tension on the wheels to keep them straight. The deflection of the wheels overtaxes the stabilizer causing the stock unit to fail. This is why the higher end stabilizers tend to help, they are dampened to absorb the deflection better. He fully believes that the issue is simply the steering box and getting a properly calibrated box will eliminate the wobble, loose steering, bump steer etc. Not sure if I have explained this properly but it makes sense to me and our discussion opened my eyes to this possibility. My Jeep is presently at the dealer and they are working with me to change the steering box to see if we can get this right......finally.


Chewi
 

szobell

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So a quick response to this, the front end/suspension guy that helped me set the caster with the LCA's, has a theory on the problems that we have all been having. Full disclosure my JL is the only one he has scene but he believes that the wobble, mini death wobble whatever you want to call it is tied to the steering box. He believes that the box is also the reason that stabilizers are "going bad." So his theory is that at least with my Jeep the steering box is not working properly with the steering assist and is leaving a "loose" feel to the steering wheel that includes a large dead spot. When you drive the Jeep down the road the wheels are deflecting as they hit bumps and due to the dead spot/lack of firmness there is not enough tension on the wheels to keep them straight. The deflection of the wheels overtaxes the stabilizer causing the stock unit to fail. This is why the higher end stabilizers tend to help, they are dampened to absorb the deflection better. He fully believes that the issue is simply the steering box and getting a properly calibrated box will eliminate the wobble, loose steering, bump steer etc. Not sure if I have explained this properly but it makes sense to me and our discussion opened my eyes to this possibility. My Jeep is presently at the dealer and they are working with me to change the steering box to see if we can get this right......finally.


Chewi
That makes me optimistic!! Thanks for sharing!
 

Leights7

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So a quick response to this, the front end/suspension guy that helped me set the caster with the LCA's, has a theory on the problems that we have all been having. Full disclosure my JL is the only one he has scene but he believes that the wobble, mini death wobble whatever you want to call it is tied to the steering box. He believes that the box is also the reason that stabilizers are "going bad." So his theory is that at least with my Jeep the steering box is not working properly with the steering assist and is leaving a "loose" feel to the steering wheel that includes a large dead spot. When you drive the Jeep down the road the wheels are deflecting as they hit bumps and due to the dead spot/lack of firmness there is not enough tension on the wheels to keep them straight. The deflection of the wheels overtaxes the stabilizer causing the stock unit to fail. This is why the higher end stabilizers tend to help, they are dampened to absorb the deflection better. He fully believes that the issue is simply the steering box and getting a properly calibrated box will eliminate the wobble, loose steering, bump steer etc. Not sure if I have explained this properly but it makes sense to me and our discussion opened my eyes to this possibility. My Jeep is presently at the dealer and they are working with me to change the steering box to see if we can get this right......finally.


Chewi
Thanks for posting this. What doesn't add up though, is that FCA has identified that many of the OEM stabilizers are faulty. This would lead me to believe that either a non-faulty OEM stabilizer or an aftermarket one would still fix the wobble / shimmy. Is your mechanic saying the actual steering box is faulty?
 

Chewbacca2264

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Thanks for posting this. What doesn't add up though, is that FCA has identified that many of the OEM stabilizers are faulty. This would lead me to believe that either a non-faulty OEM stabilizer or an aftermarket one would still fix the wobble / shimmy. Is your mechanic saying the actual steering box is faulty?
My mechanic believes that the aftermarket stabilizer masks the wobble through sheer force. I run the Falcon 2.2, generally on firm. My wobble has been gone sine I added it. The steering is marginally better with the stabilizer, that said there is still slop in the box. That is why I still have poor handling and loose steering. He just believes that the wobble, bump steer and poor handling all stem from faulty steering boxes allowing for play in the wheels. His theory is that many who have gone through multiple stabilizers actually have steering boxes not placing enough tension on the wheels, when the wheels are getting deflected it is causing the stabilizer to "catch" the wheels and hence fail. He believes that many people driving the JL think that the loose, vague steering is a Jeep thing instead it is actually a steering box issue. This is just a theory we have been discussing.
 

szobell

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My mechanic believes that the aftermarket stabilizer masks the wobble through sheer force. I run the Falcon 2.2, generally on firm. My wobble has been gone sine I added it. The steering is marginally better with the stabilizer, that said there is still slop in the box. That is why I still have poor handling and loose steering. He just believes that the wobble, bump steer and poor handling all stem from faulty steering boxes allowing for play in the wheels. His theory is that many who have gone through multiple stabilizers actually have steering boxes not placing enough tension on the wheels, when the wheels are getting deflected it is causing the stabilizer to "catch" the wheels and hence fail. He believes that many people driving the JL think that the loose, vague steering is a Jeep thing instead it is actually a steering box issue. This is just a theory we have been discussing.
I agree with your mechanic. When I had my #2 stabilizer put on, I could feel it ā€œtry to wobbleā€ but stop because the stabilizer. Something is not right if it is starting to wobble and the stabilizer just stops the harmonic from progressing. It shouldnā€™t start to begin with.
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