Do I have the death wobble?

[Alucard77]

Last year during the winter, when driving to one of my sons events, I hit a bump going about 70 and the jeep just started shaking violently. When I slowed to 40 or around there, all was fine. But it did happen for a little bit after that during the winter, then it went away in the spring. It hasn't happened since then, and today, the temp dropped to the 50s. Again I was on the highway and this happened again 3 separate times. The Jeep dealer thinks this could be the steering stabilizer. It was replaced 5 years ago when I first bought my jeep, but they said Jeep still have issues with this. It is a 2018 JL Sahara.

Is this the death wobble and should I try to have Jeep replace it?

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[Bulletbill]

Sounds like you do

 

[CO2Wrangler]

How many miles and what size tires?

 

[Alucard77]

Sounds like you do

Would a good first step be to reach out to Jeep and have them change the Steering Dampner, knowing they have had issues there. The car is 5 years old and has only 30k miles on it, and is stock.

 

[Bulletbill]

Would a good first step be to reach out to Jeep and have them change the Steering Dampner, knowing they have had issues there. The car is 5 years old and has only 30k miles on it, and is stock.

I had a very similar issue. The dealer replaced the dampner and it corrected the issue. This seems to be Jeeps goto fix. If you have an aftermarket warranty or bought it used and have a dealer extended warranty then I would just take it back to Jeep and let them do their thing.

If you no longer have a factory warranty, I would take it to a good shop and have them check the ball joints, track bar, dampner, and ensure the wheels are all balanced.

 

[Ratbert]

Replacing the steering stabilizer might make the issue disappear for a while, but I'm pretty sure that's just masking whatever the real issue is.

 

[Bulletbill]

Replacing the steering stabilizer might make the issue disappear for a while, but I'm pretty sure that's just masking whatever the real issue is.

Yes and no, there was an issue with early steering dampners. Although, I agree, that there are often other things going on that cause death wobble, it’s plausible that in a few cases a bad dampner could be the culprit.

After my replacement it went away, but being that I read to many horror stories on here I took mine to a shop for a second opinion. They checked all the main culprits and it came back with a clean bill of health. Problem hasn’t come back.

 

[Flip]

I hit a bump going about 70 and the jeep just started shaking violently. Is this death wobble?

Most assuredly yes.

 

[Nvdardx28]

Real issue is likely ball joints. For any JL it is just a matter of time, the stock ball joints are very weak and do not hold up. I had a similar issue with my JL and it seemed worse in the cold, finally I get around to swapping the ball joints and now my Jeep never felt better.

 

[Alucard77]

Real issue is likely ball joints. For any JL it is just a matter of time, the stock ball joints are very weak and do not hold up. I had a similar issue with my JL and it seemed worse in the cold, finally I get around to swapping the ball joints and now my Jeep never felt better.

How many miles did you have? I am at less than 30k miles, so it's odd that would happen this early.

 

[smokeythecat]

I think if you're still alive you don't have death wobble.

 

[jludave]

it's odd that would happen this early.

Not necessarily. I'd have them checked.

 

[Nvdardx28]

How many miles did you have? I am at less than 30k miles, so it's odd that would happen this early.

I had about 48k miles when I started noticing mild wobble, and it just continued to get worse. Also, I heard early JLs particularly from 2018 had improperly torqued ball joints from the factory which accelerated ball joint wear. Unless you have check torque and specifically ruled out ball joints, which there is no easy way, then ball joints would be highly suspect.

 

[Mocopo]

A new stabilizer is cheap enough to just try it and see what happens. Worry about diagnosing other stuff if the problem persists or shows back up in the future. If you're handy, you could even do it yourself for like $50 and 20 minutes with regular hand tools.

 

[jc1003]

I replaced our Sahara's ball joints with 26k miles on them. I could move them around with one finger. Dynatrac is such an improvement over stock.

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