Death Wobble Survivor Poll

[TheBirdie72]

Just fyi…
This thread is a jinx for anyone who voted “0” in the poll. The roughly two-thirds of folks at this point (myself included) who voted that way are about to get a wake-up call the next time we hit a highway expansion joint. Oh boy… karma is a b!tch… ?

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[BChism]

I bought a used fully stock ‘22 sport last summer and had one wobble last fall, but in the past month I’ve wobbled at least 10 times! I’m on the schedule with my local shop, but reading all these posts leads me to think my stabilizer is either loose or needs to be upgraded, which I could do myself. I live in the CO mountains and the road to my house is a mile of bad washboarding, so I guess I’m not surprised it’s taking a beating.

What aftermarket stabilizers do y’all like? Another thread has a lot of folks saying they like the Fox ATS.

 

[dragoneggs]

Just wanted to let you know that if you go with SS and you break an end or it wears out for whatever reason, it’s gonna cost you 200.00 for just one replacement end…. When my SS DL gave out( at 15k ) thats what sent me in a different direction….. I’m not pushing RK linkages , but it will literally cost me 20.00 to rebuild an end….so shop around, make sure the ends are serviceable and rebuild able, or if you get bars with replacement ends, make sure you don’t have to sell any organs to finance it…..? ……. Just some cents…

Thanks Roky, I will check that out with NR4x4.

 

[dragoneggs]

My buddy is touting Metalcloak tie rod and drag links. Any thoughts on these? Ends only are replaceable although still $99ea.

 

[Roky]

My buddy is touting Metalcloak tie rod and drag links. Any thoughts on these? Ends only are replaceable although still $99ea.

MC makes a great product and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them myself ( after some black rattle can, lol). I’m not sure how much you wheel it, that determines how fast shit wears…. The replacement end style bars all have expensive replacement ends, at least MC is half price of SS, lol…..

 

[zouch]

36K+ miles; plenty of off-road. Moab, lots of Mojave, etc.

Mopar "2-inch" Fox lift.
i upgraded all my steering with Teraflex bits (Track Bar, Tie Rod, Drag Link, UCAs and longer LCAs) and a Track Bar/Sector Shaft brace before i went from 35s to 37s and did Dynatrac ball joints just afterward.
ended up running without a Steering Stabilizer for quite a bit before i finished relocating it, and have never had Death Wobble.

i'm inclined to believe if you've got DW, it's because you don't have everything solid. the cheesy plastic Ball Joints are most suspect in my eyes, and seem to wear out quickly.

And a question to those that have not experienced DW... how many miles and have you off-roaded/rockcrawled much?

 

[AVGeek99]

Okay, stopped into Northridge4x4 today and they graciously put my JLR on the rack (no appt) and checked things out. Turns out my OEM tie rod ends are shot, as well as my OEM drag link ends. They also found my Clayton track bar had a worn bushing! Only one year old.

The ball joints checked out okay but it appears I am now in the market for a new drag link and tie rod assemblies, and NR recommended a Sector Shaft Brace.

Well now since we are at it… I might as well replace the ball joints while I’m at it. NR is recommending Steer Smarts components, and Dynatrac for the BJ’s

Do it yourself. You'll save at least a few of those Benjamins. Plus the feeling afterwards is awesome. I've always paid others to work on my vehicles. I started small with my JK, brakes, shocks, bumpers... With my JL I'm doing more of the work myself. In the last 4-6 weeks I've done TR, DL, SS, sector shaft brace. And today, DT ball joints. Thanks for the assist @Roky.

All this work has been to fix my shimmy and occasional DW. The only thing that wasn't in my upgrade plan was the sector saft brace. Was super simple to install, but wish I would have done the ball joints first. I think the ball joints finally fixed it.

 

[AVGeek99]

I was the first one who voted 5+. My first 40k miles were stock with 35" Cooper STT Pros. I never had the slightest shimmy.

This past November I got a MC 3.5 GC installed. I had a little shimmy as I drove home from the shop. I didn't really know what it was, felt like something was loose. I had my first episode of DW on day 4 and again on Day 5. Then it seemed to settle in. Shimmy was still there, but not as bad, and no more DW.

Then in January I had another DW episode and shimmy was more noticeable, so I started working on it. I started with the easy, free stuff. Loosened and retorqued all the suspension bolts. Then I increased my caster, which fixed the wandering and flightyness I'd had since the lift, but no improvement in the shimmy. I replaced the track bar bolts with larger (9/16) ones, this helped a little, for about a week, or I may have just had a good week.

Then 4-6 weeks ago I decided it was time to continue with my upgrade plan, hoping that something would be the silver bullet. First I did SS TR, DL, and SS; this didn't do anything for the shimmy or DW. Then a Sector Shaft Brace (SS). I think this actually made it worse. It's almost like the flex in the steering box was helping to absorbe the energy of the shimmy. But with the sector shaft brace, it stiffened it up and just deflected the energy back into the suspension, causing 6 or 7 episodes of DW in one day, to and from work. That was a little over a week ago. I quit driving it after that.

On Monday I ordered the DT ball joints, installed today. Took it for a long test drive including all the way to where I work. That route has several spots that regularly induced the shimmy, DW on a few occasions. A very slight shimmy on one bump in 50 miles, normally it's about 10 on the way to work and 6 or 7 on the way home. Knocking on wood, hoping I finally solved my shimmy and DW.

Now I can get new tires. Hopefully make it to Moab in a couple weeks.

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