CocoaBean
New Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Hello and thanks for letting me join! Long time Jeep lover, am on my 5th Jeep. I have a 2020 Wrangler Sport 2 door that I absolutely love.
Last September I was involved in a front end collision (not my fault) that caused quite a bit of front end damage to my Jeep. I hit the other person on an angle, on the right side of my bumper. All the front body panels were forced out of place, the bumper and assembly were toast, and my front frame rails were bent. In addition, my steering wheel was at 10 o'clock from center. Big mess. Ended up being an over $12K fix.
A few months ago I experienced the first date wobble I have ever had. Now when my Jeep had the collision it only had 20K miles on it, non of it off road, just driving on paved roads. This had never happened before.
Took it to a Jeep dealer and asked them to diagnose the problem. They came back with replace the steering stabilizer, balance the wheels and do an alignment.
We bought the stabilizer and husband installed it. Feeling rather suspicious of such a simple diagnosis by their "Class A tech", I took it to a 4 wheel place and they immediately mentioned the excessive play in the steering gear box. Which has been that way since the accident. I have a dead zone at immediate turning of the wheel. Causes me to have to continually correct the wheel while driving.
Did some research and found out that a front end collision could absolutely damage the gear box. So I went back to the dealer and asked them why they didn't notate that in their inspection (which cost me $425). They claim that the loose steering is a separate issue. WTH!!!!!
So now comes the hard part. Replacing that gear box is very pricey, and I want to have the body shop reopen the insurance claim so the other person pays for the repair. Unfortunately, this dealer is not willing to state that the gear box needs replacement or that it has anything to do with death wobble.
Right now all I have is the diagnosis from the 4 wheel shop and the gear box replacement has to be done by a dealer (lots of programming and calibrating).
Am I the victim of the old saying "Which came first, the chicken or the egg"? Or could this damage have been done by the crash? And if so, what would be some good resources to convince the insurance company that they need to pay for this fix?
Last September I was involved in a front end collision (not my fault) that caused quite a bit of front end damage to my Jeep. I hit the other person on an angle, on the right side of my bumper. All the front body panels were forced out of place, the bumper and assembly were toast, and my front frame rails were bent. In addition, my steering wheel was at 10 o'clock from center. Big mess. Ended up being an over $12K fix.
A few months ago I experienced the first date wobble I have ever had. Now when my Jeep had the collision it only had 20K miles on it, non of it off road, just driving on paved roads. This had never happened before.
Took it to a Jeep dealer and asked them to diagnose the problem. They came back with replace the steering stabilizer, balance the wheels and do an alignment.
We bought the stabilizer and husband installed it. Feeling rather suspicious of such a simple diagnosis by their "Class A tech", I took it to a 4 wheel place and they immediately mentioned the excessive play in the steering gear box. Which has been that way since the accident. I have a dead zone at immediate turning of the wheel. Causes me to have to continually correct the wheel while driving.
Did some research and found out that a front end collision could absolutely damage the gear box. So I went back to the dealer and asked them why they didn't notate that in their inspection (which cost me $425). They claim that the loose steering is a separate issue. WTH!!!!!
So now comes the hard part. Replacing that gear box is very pricey, and I want to have the body shop reopen the insurance claim so the other person pays for the repair. Unfortunately, this dealer is not willing to state that the gear box needs replacement or that it has anything to do with death wobble.
Right now all I have is the diagnosis from the 4 wheel shop and the gear box replacement has to be done by a dealer (lots of programming and calibrating).
Am I the victim of the old saying "Which came first, the chicken or the egg"? Or could this damage have been done by the crash? And if so, what would be some good resources to convince the insurance company that they need to pay for this fix?
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