Death Wobble / Bump Steer / Steering Issues / Drifting - RESOLVED

[Fizzlepop]

1. Did you replace the steering stabilizer with the OEM version? And did any of them have the new -AD code in the part number (new as of early November 2018 I believe)?
2. What were the date codes on each the steering stabilizers that you tried (if they were OEM)?

I did replace with OEM, not sure what dates were as I didn't change it. I've also used a rocksport stabilizer with the same result. I'm tracking the TSB about the stabilizer, though.

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[jeremyjeep]

I did replace with OEM, not sure what dates were as I didn't change it. I've also used a rocksport stabilizer with the same result. I'm tracking the TSB about the stabilizer, though.

If you check your service invoices from the dealership, they will have the part number of the stabilizer on it. It would be interesting to see if the part number ended with AB, AC or AD (AD is new as of early November 2018). But that won't explain the aftermarket steering stabilizer going bad too. Did they check the torque on all of your steering components? You can see if they checked the ball joint nuts by the condition of the cotter pins. If they are factory perfect, then they didn't check the torque.

 

[MDG]

Saw this article today. We'll see if anything comes of it.

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/11/19/jeep-wrangler-death-wobble-nhtsa/

 

[Chewbacca2264]

A quick update on my situation, the Falcon Nexus 2.2 was installed on Friday and set to the firm setting designed for on road use. It definitely changes the feel of the handling dramatically. I enjoy the feel of the wheel and I definitely notice that the vibration through the steering wheel is gone. That said my jeep still will not track straight, driving the Interstate into a 20MPH wind the other day I found myself chasing it all over the road as usual. The Yeti XD is in the box in the backseat just waiting to go on. I am hoping for tomorrow, though my schedule has been nuts and I have not had the chance to get it installed. Quite frankly this is it for me, if this does not fix the issue I am getting rid of this thing and going back to a JK. Long story short I would say the steering stabilizer made this 20-25% better, now we will see if the track bar can make this thing drive normally.

Chewi

 

[jeremyjeep]

A quick update on my situation, the Falcon Nexus 2.2 was installed on Friday and set to the firm setting designed for on road use. It definitely changes the feel of the handling dramatically. I enjoy the feel of the wheel and I definitely notice that the vibration through the steering wheel is gone. That said my jeep still will not track straight, driving the Interstate into a 20MPH wind the other day I found myself chasing it all over the road as usual. The Yeti XD is in the box in the backseat just waiting to go on. I am hoping for tomorrow, though my schedule has been nuts and I have not had the chance to get it installed. Quite frankly this is it for me, if this does not fix the issue I am getting rid of this thing and going back to a JK. Long story short I would say the steering stabilizer made this 20-25% better, now we will see if the track bar can make this thing drive normally.

Chewi

Did you get all of the steering components torque checked? And the alignment?

 

[Chewbacca2264]

Did you get all of the steering components torque checked? And the alignment?

Yeah I did that prior, all was good except the lower ball joint nuts. They were like finger tight plus 1/4 turn. I torqued them to spec prior to the stabilizer.

 

[Chewbacca2264]

Also had alignment done and it was spot on, caster 4.8/4.7. Sorry missed that in my last post.

 

[Mike21163]

A quick update on my situation, the Falcon Nexus 2.2 was installed on Friday and set to the firm setting designed for on road use. It definitely changes the feel of the handling dramatically. I enjoy the feel of the wheel and I definitely notice that the vibration through the steering wheel is gone. That said my jeep still will not track straight, driving the Interstate into a 20MPH wind the other day I found myself chasing it all over the road as usual. The Yeti XD is in the box in the backseat just waiting to go on. I am hoping for tomorrow, though my schedule has been nuts and I have not had the chance to get it installed. Quite frankly this is it for me, if this does not fix the issue I am getting rid of this thing and going back to a JK. Long story short I would say the steering stabilizer made this 20-25% better, now we will see if the track bar can make this thing drive normally.

Chewi

Well, how are things after the Yeti XD was installed?

We hear about the negatives daily on this portion of the forum. I’d like to think my story is on the more positive side. If there are others with positive resolutions, please continue to share them. I know that Joes Jeep Jungle saved me many months of agony! Possibly even saved me from trading my Jeep in. Thanks again Joe!

As a follow up to my original post. My Jeep steering is still exceeding all of my expectations. No death wobble, nothing even remotely close to that, no shimmy, tracks great on the highway. And I absolutely love the firm tight steering from the Falcon Nexus 2.2.

 

[Chewbacca2264]

Sorry about the delay on updating this thread. I finally got around to getting the Yeti XD on the Jeep yesterday. It clearly has made a world of difference. The deflection in the front end is gone and the steering tightened up nicely. I have been playing with the nexus and trying the firm and medium settings to see what works best. I like the steering wheel feel of the medium setting, but the jeep is less "flighty" on the firm setting. There is no vibration through the steering wheel at all and that is a good development. That said, honestly, the Jeep is still flighty and does not handle as well especially on the Interstate as the 2014 Sahara I traded in to get this thing. I firmly believe that I either need to go back to the stock suspension or add caster to get this thing to handle the way I want. My guess is that with stock shocks and springs the caster would be 5.3-5.5 which when combined with stabilizer and track bar should eliminate the flighty feel. The other option of course is to add caster and keep the rubicon shocks and coils. I will have to research this as I am not sure if I want to go with the relocation brackets or adjustable LCA's. Honestly I have always been more of an engine guy so this suspension stuff is a bit out of my league and has taken loads of research to try to understand. Also as an aside my steering when is now off center after the track bar install so I plan to fix that today as it looks like an easy fix. I guess that considering that my Jeep handled terribly in stock form I should not be surprised that it is taking so much tweaking to get it right after the lift and tires. Hopefully others are having more success than I am.

Chewi

 

[wbee]

Well, how are things after the Yeti XD was installed?

We hear about the negatives daily on this portion of the forum. I’d like to think my story is on the more positive side. If there are others with positive resolutions, please continue to share them. I know that Joes Jeep Jungle saved me many months of agony! Possibly even saved me from trading my Jeep in. Thanks again Joe!

As a follow up to my original post. My Jeep steering is still exceeding all of my expectations. No death wobble, nothing even remotely close to that, no shimmy, tracks great on the highway. And I absolutely love the firm tight steering from the Falcon Nexus 2.2.

Mike, what did you do to your to get it right? I assume a track bar and adding caster. How much caster? I probably can’t get to joes from my location.

 

[Mike21163]

Mike, what did you do to your to get it right? I assume a track bar and adding caster. How much caster? I probably can’t get to joes from my location.

Hey Wade, it's only a little over 1400 miles from Spring TX to Joe's Jungle Jeep. That sounds like a great East Coast trip to me : )

Joe installed the Steer Smarts YETI XD Adjustable Track Bar and the TeraFlex Falcon Nexus EF 2.2 Fast Adjust Steering Stabilizer. I've been extremely happy ever since. I'll be replacing the 35's with 37's very soon, and with total confidence that my steering is safe and stable.

 

[wbee]

Hey Wade, it's only a little over 1400 miles from Spring TX to Joe's Jungle Jeep. That sounds like a great East Coast trip to me : )

Joe installed the Steer Smarts YETI XD Adjustable Track Bar and the TeraFlex Falcon Nexus EF 2.2 Fast Adjust Steering Stabilizer. I've been extremely happy ever since. I'll be replacing the 35's with 37's very soon, and with total confidence that my steering is safe and stable.

An East Coast Wheeling trip sounds fun. Thank for your reply. I appreciate the help. I am now at day 3 with no DW by doing basically what you said above and moving my caster to just over 6 degrees.

 

[nerubi]

What if I told you that you can have a perfectly driving wrangler without ANY stabilizer at all? Death wobble almost all of the time is trackbar related. There is nothing wrong with the OEM trackbar, although your axle may be too far off center if your lift is too tall. Most of the time, it is because of a bad lift install, improperly torqued bolts, etc.

This is not a new issue that you are probably aware of owning a JK and reading the hundreds of posts about DW on the JK forums. Seems I remember most of the true DW problems occurred on lifted Jeeps that weren't professionally installed, some cases where a stabilizer took care of it (or reduced it) or loose bolts. Personally i would never lift a Jeep because you need a ladder to get into them unless you are 6'8" or taller plus you increase the risk of these problems. Since Jeep has heard these problems for years and not resolved them I don't think they are going to care unless it happens on a fully stock vehicle. All modifications are at the owners risk.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Plenty of stock jeeps have death wobble. Also, its not only jeeps, it's any solid axle vehicle. Modifications are fine, so long as they are correctly installed and the geometry is correct. Most people modify their 10 million dollar R&D'ed jeep steering/suspension with cheap garbage, and then have ill side effects and wonder why. I have never had a smidgeon of death wobble on EITHER of my JKs and both were/are modified.

 

[jeremyjeep]

Has anyone needed to get an alignment after installing any aftermarket steering stabilizer with or without having to loosen the track bar to get to the steering stabilizer bolts?

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