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Death Wobble Poll

When my Jeep had stock suspension, wheel, and tires:


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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!
Yeah it was about 25mph crosswinds with gusts up to 50mph that I drove through so I’m guessing things just worked loose. They tightened ball joints up the last time and realigned front end. They ordered (I think) the front steering stabilizer and associated parts to fix it since it still does it after everything was tightened back up.
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AnnDee4444

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I have a theory that sidewall flex is the origin of death wobble, and that all other fixes are either replacing worn out parts or upgrading the existing parts to handle the loads better... but none of the fixes actually address the root of the problem. 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. The steering stabilizer tries to compensate for the oscillating mass of rubber, but the undersized shock and bushing flex eventually give in to the wobble.

If my theory is correct, the Sport should have the lowest percentage of factory death wobble. I know this isn't a perfect test though, as caster & spring height is not consistent (drag bar angles would be different).
Looks like I was exactly wrong. So far the Sport has about a 1/3 chance of death wobble, while the Rubicon is closer to 1/10.

It doesn't make sense with the Sport having higher caster... possibly it's the combination of parts that cause the oscillation.
 

NewbieJon

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Not sure I should answer poll. My stock 2021 JLUR should have the steel steering box. I have never felt death wobble.
 
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2019 JLUR 3.6 with 10'000miles on it, everything including tire pressure as it came from the factory. No DW ever. Has the steering stabilizer recall in the system, but why let 'em fix sth that obviously ain't broken...
 

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People still have death wobble? I have a pretty extreme suspension on my Ram 2500 and have experience death wobble exactly TWO times, the same bridge from TX to OK. I must have been traveling the same speed over the same bridge because I made that route 25 times and it only happened twice. It was enough to know I never wanted to experience that ever again.

I now live in CO and have never experienced death wobble here. Neither the jeep or truck.

After reading through these posts, caster could DEF have an impact. I'm running 7 degrees on the jeep.. never a hint of death wobble.
 

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The death wobble / bump steering wobble is not specifically caused by the steering gear (ak.a. steering box). The steering gear TSB is primarily for wandering or too stiff a feeling when trying to maintain a road track while driving down the road at speed. The steering gear TSP specifically mentions that it does not remedy the wobble issues. There is another TSB specifically for the steering stabilizer. Most dealer service shops will try to replace the steering stabilizer shock on the first iteration of service to stop the wobbling issue. In reality, the wobble issue could be caused by a single or combination of the following, in no particular order:

1. worn ball joint(s)
2. loose or worn track bar
3. worn aluminum steering gear
4. worn control arm bushings
5. wheel alignment / balance
6. worn steering stabilizer
7. worn tie rod / drag link ends

Keep in mind the dealer service tech follows a troubleshooting script, and the first action after a cursory inspection appears to be replacing the steering stabilizer, while no other logic may be seen as to whether or how the service tech inspectas any of those other items on the list. I can say this because we had the aluminum steering gear TSB done on our lifted 2020 Gladiator at less than 300 miles (in 2020) due to the wandering issue. AND just recently as last week we had my son's stock 2020 Gladiator (daily driver) in because we started experiencing the death wobble when it just rolled over 11000 miles. We have been trying to get it in for service since OCT '21. We finally had the issue escalated and got a service appoinment on 14 JAN 22. They replaced the steering stabilizer and sent us on our way. It looked like they at least did one test drive as the mileage increased by 9 miles from when we droppped it off, so we were optimistic. Back to the day we picked it up from the service department, not more than 5 miles from the dealership, with the new steering stabilizer, we hit a bump and experienced the same death wobble again.
Some may indeed have at least a bad steering stabilizer, but we obviously have something else going on as the steering stabilizer replacement did not fix our death wobble.
His Gladiator is back at the service department waiting to be looked at. Since we are once again "elevated" for consideration, Jeep engineers are now advising the service tech to check those other components I've listed above... what does that tell you about dealer service department technicians and their training? Or, more specifically, about their troubleshooting script(s)?

But, (this is one of the best posts ever) read this:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...ble-an-algorithm-to-diagnose-the-issue.62313/
 
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HCOffroad

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I was reading here and it seems that the death wobble is inherent in any straight axle vehicle. From what I can see is that once it starts you need to go back and check all components and also all of their mounting points to the vehicle to find anything that could have come loose.
 

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DW is like herpes. It’ll never go away completely. The response from the Jeep Care rep is funny. They have no clue what to do about it.
We will be seeking users with Death Wobble to see if Exact Center will help them. If you have this issue and you have all good and tight mechanicals we would like to hear from you. I am the inventor of Exact Center and to date, we have had good success stopping it from starting. We do not cure Death Wobble we just make it so it cannot start.
Here is my explanation of how Exact Center works https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...y-roadmaster-explained-by-the-inventor.87515/
The video in this ad shows my previous 2018 JL that had the issue and what happened when Exact Center was installed. 25 seconds into the video, there is an animation that shows the mechanics that make Exact Center work. That Rubicon in the video had a 75 psi gas spring, on RV's we have gone as high as 330 psi, we are presently testing on this forum with 100psi with plans to do 75 psi, 125 psi, and 150 psi.
https://www.roadmasterinc.com/products/rss/exactcenter.php
 

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Just curious as to how many miles people had on their stock Jeeps when the death wobble popped up. I intend to keep my 2021 for a long time. I have experienced zero issues with it so far, but I’m not exactly gentle with it when I go off-road which is about 4 times a year. I’m trying to understand what the average miles are when things start to loosen up and the wobble begins.
 

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Just curious as to how many miles people had on their stock Jeeps when the death wobble popped up. I intend to keep my 2021 for a long time. I have experienced zero issues with it so far, but I’m not exactly gentle with it when I go off-road which is about 4 times a year. I’m trying to understand what the average miles are when things start to loosen up and the wobble begins.
I wouldn’t go about it that way, as there is no way to predict it from Jeep to Jeep…. It’s better to just get ahead of it preemptively. Starting with track bar, and when you do tie rod and drag link, do them together….I know it sounds ridiculous to start replacing parts that seem ok, but it’s the nature of the beast…. This is how I’ve always done it and I’ve never had DW in any of my rigs……however, I’ve fixed it and experienced it in others rigs. Another reason I go down this lane is, my wife drives the Jeep a few times a week, and the last thing I want, is to have her experience DW…….. just an opinion…….✌
 

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Just curious as to how many miles people had on their stock Jeeps when the death wobble popped up. I intend to keep my 2021 for a long time. I have experienced zero issues with it so far, but I’m not exactly gentle with it when I go off-road which is about 4 times a year. I’m trying to understand what the average miles are when things start to loosen up and the wobble begins.
Our 2019 had barely 3000 miles on it. It was the first time we exposed it to cold to go play in the snow. Every bridge transition sent it into uncontrollable shuddering. 3-1/2 years later it is still an issue.
 

XX4XEXX

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Well your poll just got thrown out the window I think.

In theory DW yes does start at the tire/wheel however it's not caused by sidewall. DW is solely initiated from the vertical movement of 1 wheel usually the DS and a correlating loose or worn part. DW can be induced by driving at or around 50 to 55 mph and hitting an upward small bump (or a soft rolling small bump) on 1 wheel it will happen everytime if you got DW.

Sometimes Jeeps built off the assembly line can have bad parts (as seen in your poll), however (also seen in your poll) its not the rubicon or said mentioned taller side wall.

The information you seek to gather is not in a poll and mentioned in this forum in an algorithm step process of elimination by another member. This process takes you through 1 step at a time on how to locate your issue. When DW is assumed, not steering shake, and you drop off your Jeep at a dealer for warranty they need to simulate your claim and usually can not. When they can not it goes right back to you.

Steering stabilizers are NOT needed at all not even worth discussing. You can drive all day long without one with proper suspension specs.

As mechanics what dealers should do is a full inspection and torque check from day 1. Ive had a few friends including my personal JT come down with DW and for some reason I can simulate it everytime no clue why but 100% of everytime we found a nut or bolt out of spec, it happens.

Yes some comsmers dont buy Jeeps to wrench on them or should worry about if the will occure at some point but a huge majority do and intend to wrench the sheet out of them from lights to metal. To ease ones frustration when buying a Jeeps with a warranty or any car for that matter your warranty should be looked at as protection against major failures. LoL we had a Tacoma years ago we chased a squeek in the dash for months through dealer warranty and could not find it so we installed some gaffers tape solved.

DW can be an extreme safety factor so as another piece of mind as I mentioned on another post you can pay OOP for a private inspection that will not void warranty, shouldnt have to but you can.

my 2 cents




I have been wondering for a while about the causes of death wobble, and realized that we should probably collect some data to see if any patterns emerge. To keep things simple, I am only interested in what your Jeep did with the stock suspension, stock wheels, and stock tires. No wheel spacers either... I am looking for bone stock vs bone stock comparison.

I have a theory that sidewall flex is the origin of death wobble, and that all other fixes are either replacing worn out parts or upgrading the existing parts to handle the loads better... but none of the fixes actually address the root of the problem. 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. The steering stabilizer tries to compensate for the oscillating mass of rubber, but the undersized shock and bushing flex eventually give in to the wobble.

If my theory is correct, the Sport should have the lowest percentage of factory death wobble. I know this isn't a perfect test though, as caster & spring height is not consistent (drag bar angles would be different).
 

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I got it bad in my 2022 Sahara stock everything
7400 miles
waiting for parts at the dealership.
they said it’s the steering damper
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