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is the death wobble still a thing in the JL or is it too soon to tell?

ART-DOC

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My JL started its death wobble at 5,000 plus miles. The dealership installed the Mopar lift and 35's at delivery and of course it had the bowing in the springs. The wobble will start at any imperfection in the road while going around 30 to 45+ mph and the steering wheel and the wheels will violently go back and fourth. It is quite scary and unnerving while driving. I took it to the dealership and they diagnosed steering stabilizer and like others, the stabilizer is on back order. So I purchased the upgraded fox steering stabilizer that will get installed on Tuesday. I reported mine my DW to the NHTSA https://www.nhtsa.gov/ . Their site is currently undergoing maintenance, but if you have DW, please report it to the NHTSA. There needs to be more attention to this issue. It is very dangerous to you and everyone around a jeep that has DW. This is my first jeep, and this is leaving a very bad taste in my first jeep experience.
 

debjl2018

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......Actually, they'll probably just go the lemon law route at that point and give them a new Jeep.
I actually wondered that, if the lemon law would apply. I’ve only had my new 2018 JL since September. I had a few instances of shimmy after a few weeks when I only had about 1000 miles in it. The true DW happened (coincidentally?) 2 days after I got it back from the dealer from the track bar recall inspection at about 3000 miles. I was doing 80 on freeway passing another car and front end and steering started shaking so violently I thought the whole dam car was going to explode. It stopped shaking after I slowed down to about 60 mph. Now I’m afraid to get on the freeway and that’s mostly the type of driving I do. It seems to start the wobbling after hitting multiple successive bumps or rough road at high speed. I have an appointment this week to get it inspected. Can’t wait to hear what the tell me.
 

Cole

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Are all of you running lifts? I am seriously considering a JL for my next vehicle and this is concerning. I keep my vehicles a long time and have seen /heard stories of the death wobble with solid front axle vehicles, but have never driven one with that issue.
No lifts, running stock. I took it in and they said the dampeners were bad so they ordered new ones. They said it will take about a month to get the parts.
 

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whit

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I actually wondered that, if the lemon law would apply. I’ve only had my new 2018 JL since September. I had a few instances of shimmy after a few weeks when I only had about 1000 miles in it. The true DW happened (coincidentally?) 2 days after I got it back from the dealer from the track bar recall inspection at about 3000 miles. I was doing 80 on freeway passing another car and front end and steering started shaking so violently I thought the whole dam car was going to explode. It stopped shaking after I slowed down to about 60 mph. Now I’m afraid to get on the freeway and that’s mostly the type of driving I do. It seems to start the wobbling after hitting multiple successive bumps or rough road at high speed. I have an appointment this week to get it inspected. Can’t wait to hear what the tell me.
Oh yeah definitely. If they make a couple attempts to fix it (and by it, I mean literally just about any problem with the vehicle), and you still keep having the same problem, you can absolutely go the Lemon Law route.

Every state is different and some are easier than others, but definitely possible in all states. Florida is one of the most liberal when it comes to Lemon Law. I know someone who bought a $135k RV in Florida and got all his money back via Lemon Law because the windshield wipers didn't work. No joke.

Hope it doesn't come to that for you - good luck getting your Jeep fixed
 

SubZero_JL

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well mine started to wobble last night. looks like its going on the lift today to see if I can find anything loose. I have the mopar 2" lift and 37's which have been on for 4 months now.
I have same setup and I have had a bit of a flutter in the steering for a while. My jeep has only 2700 miles on it. The other day I was driving in the city and the road had a drop off to the grooved pavement for construction and when I hit the drop off the steering wheel had a bad wobble and the front end had a slight to mild wobble for about 50ft. No where near the "death wobble" I have seen in videos but enough to cause concern. My lift was done by the dealer and I am debating taking it back up there to get them to recheck everything since they did the lift. Also, looking to upgrade my steering components to steer smarts yeti xd components.

What did you find out on yours?
 

ART-DOC

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My death wobble is fixed. They upgraded to the fox steering stabilizer and they said that my perches for the Mopar lift were not initially installed correctly.
 

Nyjet123

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The best and only proven way to fix the DEATH WOBBLE (not steering shakes) is either replacing or upgrading the tie rod, track bar, ball joints, and drag links. the cause is worn/loose suspension. The issue people are having is a result of loose suspension components or faulty components which may have issues themselves, or may be installed loosely or incorrectly. Seems like FCAU is avoiding a recall by replacing the steering piece, hence why it’s on backorder
 

spiritrider1

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Sorry this is a modified copy of my post to another thread but with so many threads about steering I'ts hard to decide which to leave it on.
I have Death Wobble. NOT shaking! (for the guy who insists we don't have DW) I've seen my Jeep from behind trailing my wife and the wheels looked like they were about to come off. There's only 9K miles on our JL Sahara and DW's violently at any bump over 50mph! We added a Rough Country 2.5" spacer lift in June with wider 275/65-18" Coopers on 10" wide Helo rims. Diameter stayed almost identical to stock 32" rubber, just 1" wider and more square. A slight bit more backspacing placed wheels just past the fender edges. The alignment was checked when tires & wheels went on at NTB. Only Castor was not within spec due to not having installed adjustable LCA's.
All was fine until mid November when we suddenly got the death wobble on a 45mph bump in a curve (that's the one I witnessed). Initially it was only happening on the unloaded wheel, e.g. right wheel would start shaking if making a RH curve & hit a bump, left wheel when going left, etc. but only when hitting bumps at speed. At first I thought maybe its a blown shock and the spring was causing the wheel to hop. But it looked like the wheel/suspension was oscillating all around, not just up & down.
Soon it was happening when running square over bridge joints or railroad tracks. If at 45mph It'll start but stop fairly quickly as I let off the gas. If over 50mph it gets worse and will not quit until I slow down significantly. The highway can be smooth as glass until the slightest irregularity sets it off and these are bumps I can't even see.
I've checked track bar level, bolt torques, frame welds, I loosened components, settled the jeep on the wheels and shook the steering to try to un-bind anything that may be goofed up. I've installed adjustable LCA's and started with the recommended lengths, then increased it twice now and am running close to 9 or so degrees castor and I think it's actually getting worse. The only thing all that castor has improved is the 'wandering' which has also been an issue since day 1 on our JL. The software recall/update helped the wandering but not much.
I also swapped out the steering damper to check its effect. Regardless if stock or aftermarket, I get the same DW. Not sure if the newer Jeep damper is super hard or what. If it is I can't imagine it is anything more than a band-aid because it isn't fixing anything, just masking.
I'm about to de-mod and go completely back to stock just to get back to baseline. Not to mention to keep our dealer from playing the blame game. They have proven to be difficult to work with. Anything not stock implies we tampered with the vehicle and didn't know what we were doing. Service writer wanted to know who had wired up our winch and trailer lights because it wasn't "factory" approved and was the possible cause of the navigation screen blacking out from time to time (whole other issue...). And last spring when I complained about the wandering steering we were told to 'live with it', it's a jeep thing - only to find out they knew there was something wrong.
We are Quickly loosing patience with FCA and the 'know-it-all' Jeep dealers.
 

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ItIsMe25

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It will happen on a stock JL fresh off the lot. Mine has 3500 miles on it, no lift, bare bones stock Sahara JL and is currently in the shop waiting on parts. (STAR case opened, hoping for a buy back so I can get a different one)
 

spiritrider1

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My death wobble is fixed. They upgraded to the fox steering stabilizer and they said that my perches for the Mopar lift were not initially installed correctly.
Isn't it swell that Jeep service department threatens to call Jeep and void my warranty because I installed a lift kit myself. It must be a Mopar kit AND be installed by a "Certified" Jeep expert. Regardless of what is causing my DW - which did not occur for 5 months after the lift was installed. I have video evidence of a lot of steering box slop and pitman arm ball joint click and they would not even look at it. They just said that would not cause DW. I was in to replace both main and secondary batteries that failed and freedom top seal that was leaking. They sent me on my way without any effort in solving the DW. They knowingly let me leave with a potentially dangerous vehicle!! And when I picked it up they told me to go buy a Fox steering dampner to solve the problem!!!!!!
I don't quite get the FCA/Jeep philosophy of blackmailing customers with threats of voiding warranties then turning around and telling us to purchase aftermarket parts to solve issues THEY CAN'T SOLVE THEMSELVES!!!!! :angry:
 

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Yep, death wobble happened to me. 2018 JL with 500 miles, no mods, right off the showroom floor.
 

spiritrider1

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Isn't it swell that Jeep service department threatens to call Jeep and void my warranty because I installed a lift kit myself. It must be a Mopar kit AND be installed by a "Certified" Jeep expert. Regardless of what is causing my DW - which did not occur for 5 months after the lift was installed. I have video evidence of a lot of steering box slop and pitman arm ball joint click and they would not even look at it. They just said that would not cause DW. I was in to replace both main and secondary batteries that failed and freedom top seal that was leaking. They sent me on my way without any effort in solving the DW. They knowingly let me leave with a potentially dangerous vehicle!! And when I picked it up they told me to go buy a Fox steering dampner to solve the problem!!!!!!
I don't quite get the FCA/Jeep philosophy of blackmailing customers with threats of voiding warranties then turning around and telling us to purchase aftermarket parts to solve issues THEY CAN'T SOLVE THEMSELVES!!!!! :angry:
Update: Unknown to me the dealer ordered the Fox steering stabilizer that they told me to go purchase on my own to fix the DW. I got a call asking when I'd like to come in to get installed. At first I was dumbfounded that they were now going to replace it for me. But that didn't last long when I spoke to the foreman who told me it would be $500.
I know there is still an issue somewhere in the system and I don't want to be personally paying for an entire new front end out of my pocket just to figure out what part(s) is(are) the cause. This should be on FCA. But - I have to drive the thing and need a fix, if only temporary. So I got the Falcon Nexus 2.2 adjustable Steering stabilizer and it has transformed the steering feel tremendously. I've tried it in "soft" and got a couple small oscillations of "after" wobble over considerable bumps, and in "medium" I don't feel anything other than the bump itself. I haven't tried "hard" yet, and hope not to have to! The wandering feeling also seems to be less pronounced. It truly feels more 'car like'.
Another thing - the Falcon requires removing the stock stabilizer brackets from the axle and right tie rod mount. When I removed the tie rod bolts they came off quite easily. The Falcon instructions called for 55'lbs (from memory - may be off) which is a little more than factory spec but definitely more than the bolts were tightened at the factory.
I haven't been driving much the past few days but will confirm all is still well after I burn a tank of gas - which won't take too long at 16mpg around town...
 

Nyjet123

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Sorry this is a modified copy of my post to another thread but with so many threads about steering I'ts hard to decide which to leave it on.
I have Death Wobble. NOT shaking! (for the guy who insists we don't have DW) I've seen my Jeep from behind trailing my wife and the wheels looked like they were about to come off. There's only 9K miles on our JL Sahara and DW's violently at any bump over 50mph! We added a Rough Country 2.5" spacer lift in June with wider 275/65-18" Coopers on 10" wide Helo rims. Diameter stayed almost identical to stock 32" rubber, just 1" wider and more square. A slight bit more backspacing placed wheels just past the fender edges. The alignment was checked when tires & wheels went on at NTB. Only Castor was not within spec due to not having installed adjustable LCA's.
All was fine until mid November when we suddenly got the death wobble on a 45mph bump in a curve (that's the one I witnessed). Initially it was only happening on the unloaded wheel, e.g. right wheel would start shaking if making a RH curve & hit a bump, left wheel when going left, etc. but only when hitting bumps at speed. At first I thought maybe its a blown shock and the spring was causing the wheel to hop. But it looked like the wheel/suspension was oscillating all around, not just up & down.
Soon it was happening when running square over bridge joints or railroad tracks. If at 45mph It'll start but stop fairly quickly as I let off the gas. If over 50mph it gets worse and will not quit until I slow down significantly. The highway can be smooth as glass until the slightest irregularity sets it off and these are bumps I can't even see.
I've checked track bar level, bolt torques, frame welds, I loosened components, settled the jeep on the wheels and shook the steering to try to un-bind anything that may be goofed up. I've installed adjustable LCA's and started with the recommended lengths, then increased it twice now and am running close to 9 or so degrees castor and I think it's actually getting worse. The only thing all that castor has improved is the 'wandering' which has also been an issue since day 1 on our JL. The software recall/update helped the wandering but not much.
I also swapped out the steering damper to check its effect. Regardless if stock or aftermarket, I get the same DW. Not sure if the newer Jeep damper is super hard or what. If it is I can't imagine it is anything more than a band-aid because it isn't fixing anything, just masking.
I'm about to de-mod and go completely back to stock just to get back to baseline. Not to mention to keep our dealer from playing the blame game. They have proven to be difficult to work with. Anything not stock implies we tampered with the vehicle and didn't know what we were doing. Service writer wanted to know who had wired up our winch and trailer lights because it wasn't "factory" approved and was the possible cause of the navigation screen blacking out from time to time (whole other issue...). And last spring when I complained about the wandering steering we were told to 'live with it', it's a jeep thing - only to find out they knew there was something wrong.
We are Quickly loosing patience with FCA and the 'know-it-all' Jeep dealers.
Here you go bud! There’s a few upgrades that are more essential when using spacers for the lift,
Steer-smart seering upgrade (fix death wobble)

(Tiebar, drag link flip kit, trackbar)

YETI XD™ JL/JLU Track Bar Relocation

Bracket


YETI XD™ JL/JLU Adjustable Front Track Bar


YETI XD™ Jeep Wrangler Tie Rod Assembly

JL/JLU (2018+)

Standard


Yeti XD Jeep Wrangler JL/JLU Draglinks

No-drill Top Mount (this might be different depending on your suspension setup)


Otherwise i would drag your dealer through the shit storm, threaten action from FCAU if they don’t comply with your request. I’ve found many Jeep dealers just need a strong nudge to get them in the right direction, denying any problems is a car dealerships bread and butter, go in confident that there is a problem and tell them your not leaving until it’s fixed, eventually either they’ll fix it or you’ll wear em down to the point that they’ll fix it.

On a side note, If they give you any shit over aftermarket parts, I’d pull up some of the anti-lemon law docs/etc you signed when you purchased and threaten legal action if they refuse service, AFTERMARKET PARTS DO NOT VOID WARRENTY and that’s been proven by court cases in many states! Good luck!
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