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Death Wobble Without Stabilizer

JimLee

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How much time on your trackbar? I had an aftermarket track bar from a very reputable manufacturer go bad after only 6k miles (lots of washboard hell out here), it showed no discernable movement on the ground but DW went away as soon as I installed a Synergy track bar. The one I replaced had a heim joint at the axle end, i think it had just enough play in that joint to let the wobbles start at speed. The wobbles just need a point to start, physics takes over from there.
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SilverRubi

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Mine is a Metalcloak track bar. I have about 4000 miles on it. I haven't been to hard on it yet.
 

RancherRob

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I'm watching this thread as I too have been suffering with bad Wobble O' Death for over a year now with our 2019 JLUR. It showed up when we put on a rockkrawler 3.5" longarm lift and 35" tires on new rims with more backset. We had it "covered up" with a Fox Steering Stabilzer 2.5 for a while but I could still feel it trying to wobble but the fox stabilizer counter acting it.

So to clear it up, we put on a Steersmarts drag-link and tie-rod but the new steersmarts didn't leave enough clearance for the fox stabilzer to fit so now that the stabilizer is gone, the DW is back. Just picked up the jeep from the dealership this morning after getting the new steel steering box. DW is still there. Now it's at Les Schwab getting the steer smarts toe out alignment. Even if it eats tires, if I don't need to worry about DW, it'll be worth it.

If alignment doesn't fix the DW, next on the list is new dynatrac ball joints and hopefully a different tie-rod that will leave room to put back the fox steering stabilzer so it's at least safe to drive even if it doesn't feel "right".
 

Halstem1

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I'm watching this thread as I too have been suffering with bad Wobble O' Death for over a year now with our 2019 JLUR. It showed up when we put on a rockkrawler 3.5" longarm lift and 35" tires on new rims with more backset. We had it "covered up" with a Fox Steering Stabilzer 2.5 for a while but I could still feel it trying to wobble but the fox stabilizer counter acting it.

So to clear it up, we put on a Steersmarts drag-link and tie-rod but the new steersmarts didn't leave enough clearance for the fox stabilzer to fit so now that the stabilizer is gone, the DW is back. Just picked up the jeep from the dealership this morning after getting the new steel steering box. DW is still there. Now it's at Les Schwab getting the steer smarts toe out alignment. Even if it eats tires, if I don't need to worry about DW, it'll be worth it.

If alignment doesn't fix the DW, next on the list is new dynatrac ball joints and hopefully a different tie-rod that will leave room to put back the fox steering stabilzer so it's at least safe to drive even if it doesn't feel "right".
I don't know why and feel bad, but its actually comforting to know I'm not the only one chasing this same thing for almost a year. Curious what you think after alignment. Personally, I think the alignment just "hides" or prevents the DW. I would really like to know the underlying reason. I feel there has to be one. I've been skeptic of the ball joints too and the Dynatrac replacements are next on my list.

On the bright side, when I can get my alignment correct, it is 100% driveable again and not scary. But for some reason, every 4-6 weeks, it comes back and I have to tweak stuff again. Hoping that is just because i've screwed with other stuff.
 

JimLee

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One thing to keep in mind, if you have violent DW like I did it is hell on parts. Things you recently replaced could now be bad, I think this is why it seems so hard to get rid of.
 

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SilverRubi

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Steer Smart said they've been torquing the upper and lower factory ball joints to 65. I might give that a try.
 

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Well I guess misery loves company. I did the Dynatrac lift on mine a few weeks back, and I’m fighting a shimmy/wobble after hitting bumps. Not full blown death wobble but I’m pretty sure the only thing preventing that is the Fox stabilizer. I have re torqued everything at least 10 times, changed caster from 5.5-5.8 in .2-.3 increments, changed toe from 1/4-1/16. Had the tires balanced 3 times and still fighting it. I have the new box, all Clayton arms, synergy track bars. I just ordered the Rusty’s steering system to see if that helps. Weird thing is the temps here have been going from mid 50’s to low 30’s and when it’s colder it feels worse. I’m wondering if the IFP shocks are causing some issues when it’s cold.
 

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Well I guess misery loves company. I did the Dynatrac lift on mine a few weeks back, and I’m fighting a shimmy/wobble after hitting bumps. Not full blown death wobble but I’m pretty sure the only thing preventing that is the Fox stabilizer. I have re torqued everything at least 10 times, changed caster from 5.5-5.8 in .2-.3 increments, changed toe from 1/4-1/16. Had the tires balanced 3 times and still fighting it. I have the new box, all Clayton arms, synergy track bars. I just ordered the Rusty’s steering system to see if that helps. Weird thing is the temps here have been going from mid 50’s to low 30’s and when it’s colder it feels worse. I’m wondering if the IFP shocks are causing some issues when it’s cold.
Track bar or ball joints. Ball joints arent typically a cause, but three times now ball joints have cured it, mine included. For some reason the jl ball joints are utter garbage and causing problems on a lot of jls. My cousins jeep we replaced every bushing, track bar, stabilizer, and it didnt get fixed till we swapped out ball joints. Still had a bumpsteer shimmy but death wobble was gone. Last thing you would think causing it but it does cause it. Also the ball joints passed the typical ball joint testing just fine.
 

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Track bar or ball joints. Ball joints arent typically a cause, but three times now ball joints have cured it, mine included. For some reason the jl ball joints are utter garbage and causing problems on a lot of jls. My cousins jeep we replaced every bushing, track bar, stabilizer, and it didnt get fixed till we swapped out ball joints. Still had a bumpsteer shimmy but death wobble was gone. Last thing you would think causing it but it does cause it. Also the ball joints passed the typical ball joint testing just fine.
I have seen a few people commenting about replacing the ball joints. I feel a little play in the right tie rod end, that’s what I’m going to replace the steering system.I’m a little over 10k on the Jeep, I would hate to think the ball joints are shot but who knows on these things. Really starting to miss my old Lj.
 

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Track bar or ball joints. Ball joints arent typically a cause, but three times now ball joints have cured it, mine included. For some reason the jl ball joints are utter garbage and causing problems on a lot of jls. My cousins jeep we replaced every bushing, track bar, stabilizer, and it didnt get fixed till we swapped out ball joints. Still had a bumpsteer shimmy but death wobble was gone. Last thing you would think causing it but it does cause it. Also the ball joints passed the typical ball joint testing just fine.
@Moto_21 What brand of Ball joints did you use? The Dynatrac are probably way over kill for what I do, the Spicer looks to be a decent improvement over the stock.
 

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@Moto_21 What brand of Ball joints did you use? The Dynatrac are probably way over kill for what I do, the Spicer looks to be a decent improvement over the stock.
Well i had the stock ones, then i upgraded to the ud44, those had better ball joints, then i got upgraded to synergy ball joints, gave them to my cousin to see if it would cure his death wobble, now im on dynatracs. The upgraded dana ball joints are what i would go for. Unless they are close in price to the dynatracs, get the dynatracs. They are so worth it
 

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@Moto_21 What brand of Ball joints did you use? The Dynatrac are probably way over kill for what I do, the Spicer looks to be a decent improvement over the stock.
The ball joint test where you lift a tire and use a pry bar didn't reveal movement in my jeep's ball joints. They were still unknowingly shot at 29k miles(with only 2500 miles on 37s) and were the culprit of legit death wobble at 40mph where I had to completely stop the jeep twice...and then carefully dropped it off at a shop to be fixed. After swapping in new steering components/balancing tires/alignment, it didnt help. They swapped in dana spicer all metal ball joints and it drove like a new jeep. I agree with @Moto_21 ...the stock ball joints are garbage and absolutely can cause death wobble.

It seems most folks on here are referring to a shimmy where they hit a bump at 40mph and slow to 30mph and it stops. True death wobble is scary and doesn't resolve by slowing down a little.
 

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The ball joint test where you lift a tire and use a pry bar didn't reveal movement in my jeep's ball joints. They were still unknowingly shot at 29k miles(with only 2500 miles on 37s) and were the culprit of legit death wobble at 40mph where I had to completely stop the jeep twice...and then carefully dropped it off at a shop to be fixed. After swapping in new steering components/balancing tires/alignment, it didnt help. They swapped in dana spicer all metal ball joints and it drove like a new jeep. I agree with @Moto_21 ...the stock ball joints are garbage and absolutely can cause death wobble.

It seems most folks on here are referring to a shimmy where they hit a bump at 40mph and slow to 30mph and it stops. True death wobble is scary and doesn't resolve by slowing down a little.
It 100% isn’t full on death wobble, I have been there and done that on another Jeep. When you hit a bump around 30-40 it gets a harmonic in the steering wheel for a few seconds you can easily drive through it but I’m pretty sure it will end up getting worse if I don’t figure out where it is coming from. I would bet without the good stabilizer on there it would be worse. I have about 9000 miles on it running 35’s, I did a few wheeling trips in South Dakota and Kentucky but nothing I would consider beating the snot out of it. The tie rod should be in next week so I guess I will start with that.
 

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My death wobble is finally cured! Problem is I don't know what fixed it. This last go around at the shop, I had the ball joints replaced with Dynatrac, the RockKrawler front track bar replaced with a steer smarts one. Thirdly, the steersmarts yeti drag link griffen attenuator was swapped out with a simple adjustable coupling and it was realigned for the 5th or so time.
So it was one of those 3 or a combination of them. I don't think it was the alignment as it is basically the same as a previous one. After trying to induce death wobble at a few choice locations and curb hops that I know repeatedly caused it, I'm calling it fixed and have put back on the fox steering stabilzer. It's fantastic to finally have the death wobble behind me!
 

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Well, after about 4 hours in the garage I managed to swap out the ball joints with the HD Spicer joints. I will say that it drives 90% better,there is still a slight shimmy but I could absolutely feel some play in the Rt tie rod end when I had it off the knuckle. I have the new Rusty’s steering in the garage but I wanted to do everything one at a time. Hopefully I will have some time over the next few days and get it installed, fingers crossed that gets rid of the remaining shimmy.
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