Death Wobble Poll

[Blanco Willys]

I see no poll selection for the Willis.

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[Tab]

Interesting thread. I didn't realize DW was on unmodified Jeeps with so few miles. I bought my 2 door Sport about a year ago. It had 7300 miles when I bought it. It wasn't CPO but the Carvana guy who delivered it said it may have been a dealer demo, because they had no records of anyone owning it.

I only drove it for a couple of weeks before I had new wheels and 33" tires on it. I added Rubicon takes off springs and teraflex shocks, and this is when I experienced slight DW, not enough to scare me. Added a Steersmarts HD trackbar and teraflex 9500 steering stabilizer and the DW was gone.

Fast forward some months into summer, added a Dynatrack 2" lift and 35" tires. In between times I had my steering box upgraded, as well as intstalling Teraflex front LCA's for a 1.5 - 3.5" lift.

Hit the same bump near my neighborhood that caused the DW to test, and got a very violent
DW that did scare me. It felt like my Jeep was going to shake apart. It was so bad, that the car behind me slowed down to give me some space. I have since avoided that spot.

Other bumps in the road don't bother it, some seemingly worse than that one. It wasn't until going back to my hometown in Missouri, were the roads are worse; that I noticed more DW. I got nervous with every disturbance in the road, because it did it on some, but not others.

I have since replaced my ballsjoints with Dynatrak and tierod with Steersmarts and will go over everything else, checking the torques. Fingers crossed that this solves it. I also hope this info helps others.

I would be very interested to hear back if the ball joints fix it!

 

[TX_Ovrlnd]

I see no poll selection for the Willis.

Willys is a sport.

 

[Blanco Willys]

Willys is a sport.

Different suspension.

 

[TX_Ovrlnd]

Different suspension.

Only the shocks are different.

 

[Blanco Willys]

Only the shocks are different.

Makes the difference

 

[MSteeves]

My theory is that the sidewall height and width of a Rubicon K02 mounted on the OEM wheel is much more balloon-like than the OEM Sport tire mounted on the same wheel. Because of this, the Rubicon's tire is more likely to bounce around like an undamped spring.

Well, here's one for you:

Stock, no problems at all.

2.5" lift, still with stock Bridgstone A/T's ... at 65-70 mph, a bump on the highway would strongly tend to cause a death wobble. Slowing down caused it to go away.

Caster 7.0 left; 6.9 right. Adjustable lower control arms. Didn't mess with the caster as we were going to change tires before screwing with anything else.

Then, we did change tires to pizza cutters, Wild Peak A/T3W LT235/80R17 . These are load range E with a much stiffer sidewall. No other changes to anything, and no more wobblery. Steady as a rock. Left the caster where it was.

 

[jeepoch]

@AnnDee4444,

I have both kinds of experiences with two different 2019 Sports. Same engine (3.6L), transmission (auto) and 2 doors (purely stock). Both Jeeps are bright white as a matter of pure coincidence. This DW happened in November 2019.

The DW happened while in a rental stock JL Sport with 14K miles. I needed to rent something when a distracted 16 year old on his phone pulled out into traffic while I was driving an old Dodge Minivan. I could have killed him. Thankfully instead of T-Boning him at 40mph I swerved and he hit me on the side quarter. Everyone walked away unhurt but both cars were totalled.

So I then rented this JL on a whim.

In the rental JL, the Death Wobble occurred while driving over a railroad crossing at 55mph. The DW was pretty severe. Bounced like a pogo stick and wobbled like a Penguin until I got the vehicle's velocity below 15mph. The car behind me must of thought I was driving a Mexican Jumping Jeep. However, I was never able to repeat it. I must of driven over that crossing at least a hundred more times afterwards trying to duplicate the same experience. I even tried to find other road conditions on rural back roads along the Front Range of Colorado. Trying hard to potentially jar the suspension enough to recreate anything even close to a similar DW again.

I had a blast in the thing. I must of put another thousand miles on it driving around like a mad man. Over that time I fell in love with this thing regardless of that single strange DW event.

I then went straight to the CDRJ dealer and bought a similar 2019 JL Sport S right off the lot. I also put about another 5K miles on the new one without a hint of any DW behaviors. In fact, this unit had absolutely none of the crappy steering issues that other JL owners had reported. It drove great. I then got bit by the Jeep modification bug and installed the Mopar Lift along with 35's. Life was good when stock but dramatically better now lifted on the larger rubber. I really do love driving this thing, every minute over every mile.

Still, I have yet to experience anything even close to another DW to this day. I voted for experiencing a DW on a Sport because it did happen. Please refer to my very first post (#1) on this forum describing it.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/i-dont-have-the-death-wobble-yet.42088/post-931659

However, I could have also voted no since a similar JL had absolutely no hint of any type of DW (ever).

Again this is the absolute best daily driver I've ever owned. I love traversing all four corners of my home state of Colorado and everything in between. I'd highly recommend this experience to anyone wanting to visit a plethora of US Forest Service trails leading to really high altitude passes, peaks and pure mountain wilderness joy. I'm quite certain that John Denver probably wrote his song "Rocky Mountain High" in his Jeep.

Jay

 

[Tab]

@AnnDee4444,

I have both kinds of experiences with two different 2019 Sports. Same engine (3.6L), transmission (auto) and 2 doors (purely stock). Both Jeeps are bright white as a matter of pure coincidence. This DW happened in November 2019.

The DW happened while in a rental stock JL Sport with 14K miles. I needed to rent something when a distracted 16 year old on his phone pulled out into traffic while I was driving an old Dodge Minivan. I could have killed him. Thankfully instead of T-Boning him at 40mph I swerved and he hit me on the side quarter. Everyone walked away unhurt but both cars were totalled.

So I then rented this JL on a whim.

In the rental JL, the Death Wobble occurred while driving over a railroad crossing at 55mph. The DW was pretty severe. Bounced like a pogo stick and wobbled like a Penguin until I got the vehicle's velocity below 15mph. The car behind me must of thought I was driving a Mexican Jumping Jeep. However, I was never able to repeat it. I must of driven over that crossing at least a hundred more times afterwards trying to duplicate the same experience. I even tried to find other road conditions on rural back roads along the Front Range of Colorado. Trying hard to potentially jar the suspension enough to recreate anything even close to a similar DW again.

I had a blast in the thing. I must of put another thousand miles on it driving around like a mad man. Over that time I fell in love with this thing regardless of that single strange DW event.

I then went straight to the CDRJ dealer and bought a similar 2019 JL Sport S right off the lot. I also put about another 5K miles on the new one without a hint of any DW behaviors. In fact, this unit had absolutely none of the crappy steering issues that other JL owners had reported. It drove great. I then got bit by the Jeep modification bug and installed the Mopar Lift along with 35's. Life was good when stock but dramatically better now lifted on the larger rubber. I really do love driving this thing, every minute over every mile.

Still, I have yet to experience anything even close to another DW to this day. I voted for experiencing a DW on a Sport because it did happen. Please refer to my very first post (#1) on this forum describing it.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/i-dont-have-the-death-wobble-yet.42088/post-931659

However, I could have also voted no since a similar JL had absolutely no hint of any type of DW (ever).

Again this is the absolute best daily driver I've ever owned. I love traversing all four corners of my home state of Colorado and everything in between. I'd highly recommend this experience to anyone wanting to visit a plethora of US Forest Service trails leading to really high altitude passes, peaks and pure mountain wilderness joy. I'm quite certain that John Denver probably wrote his song "Rocky Mountain High" in his Jeep.

Jay

I love my 2 door Sport S. It has served me well so far with the exception of the DW but I think I have it under control and usually dont drive it ove 65 on the highway and do try to avoid pot holes!

 

[Some Random Guy]

I had a shimmy when stock that would last 5-10 seconds at times, but usually was fine. Lift went on, shimmy went away and then came back one day as DW that wouldn't stop until I slowed down to a stop. It happened multiple times in a row on gentle acceleration around 35 mph. Larger tires went on, no DW but I did get an occasional shimmy like before, 3-5 seconds and then it usually resolves itself. All feel like they start and progress the same way, so in my mind they're all DW of different degrees (but I voted no DW, since I guess you could call it a shimmy). About a month or two ago I was getting some shaking at highway speeds (74+), so I loosened and re-torqued front control arms and track bar at ride height. Shaking is gone, shimmy is still around. Once I resolve my rear end diff issues, I'm doing ball joints. They've clicked like crazy on the trail ever since I got it (but not on the road, rarely heard). My 3 suspicions are ball joint, tie rod, or I need to do a hardware kit to replace all my bolts because they've been stretched 3 times now (factory, initial lift, follow-up lift maintenance).

 

[qnet]

Early results, my death wobble is fixed! I went to the spot they gave me trouble three times, once a little slow, the next time a little faster, and last at full speed, Rock solid everytime.

I think the new Dynatrack HD balljoints did it, but not sure. I also install the steersmarts XD tierod assembly.

Merry Christmas to everyone! hope you're having a good day with your families.

 

[JeepFiend]

In my experience death wobble is generally caused by loose, low quality, or improperly installed steering components, or poor alignment, particularly with straight axle vehicles.

A new stabilizer can often mask the problem, but rarely if ever "resolves" it.

My first course of action in addressing it is generally to ensure all components are tightened to spec. Caster is within spec. Toe is within spec, but inclined more toward toe in. I've experienced DW previously when the alignment was within spec but more towards toe out. Out of the factory, everything is going to settle a bit.

Just my $0.02.

 

[Tab]

Early results, my death wobble is fixed! I went to the spot they gave me trouble three times, once a little slow, the next time a little faster, and last at full speed, Rock solid everytime.

I think the new Dynatrack HD balljoints did it, but not sure. I also install the steersmarts XD tierod assembly.

Merry Christmas to everyone! hope you're having a good day with your families.

Good to hear Qnet! If I have anymore issues I will replace the ball joints! Thanks for the response

 

[cajuntransplant]

‘21 JLU Sport Altitude, stock, 6k miles. Started getting death wobble on interstate just within the last few months and was really random but it’s a bit sketchy at 80mph. Noticed it started happening after my steering wheel was quite a bit off center after some crazy high winds and driving almost at an angle to keep from getting thrown off road for couple hours fighting the winds.

The DW happens when I hit a large expansion joint on interstate and only ever happens at higher speed (over 60mph). Took it to dealer, they found loose ball joints and I was out of alignment. They realigned everything and ordered some replacement parts based on older recalls they said. Went away for a couple weeks and now it’s back but much much less often. Parts came in after a week and change and hoping the parts they replace resolves the issue. Have appointment at the dealer this week to get it all worked on and things replaced.

 

[Tab]

‘21 JLU Sport Altitude, stock, 6k miles. Started getting death wobble on interstate just within the last few months and was really random but it’s a bit sketchy at 80mph. Noticed it started happening after my steering wheel was quite a bit off center after some crazy high winds and driving almost at an angle to keep from getting thrown off road for couple hours fighting the winds.

The DW happens when I hit a large expansion joint on interstate and only ever happens at higher speed (over 60mph). Took it to dealer, they found loose ball joints and I was out of alignment. They realigned everything and ordered some replacement parts based on older recalls they said. Went away for a couple weeks and now it’s back but much much less often. Parts came in after a week and change and hoping the parts they replace resolves the issue. Have appointment at the dealer this week to get it all worked on and things replaced.

Interesting that the alignment would be off from high winds, that sounds more like something moved or came loose. Hope the ball joints fix it for you but with only 6k on these I dont have much hope. If mine comes back I will use aftermarket ball joints, I just dont have any faith in the factory with the plastic liner in them. Keep us posted and good luck!

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