Steering wheel wobble?

[californiajeeping]

This is my first post in this excellent forum and with one exception the JL is my favorite of all the Jeeps I have owned.

My 2018 totally stock, never off-roaded JLU Sahara (purchased June 15) had steering shake when traveling over surface irregularities ever since new. My two previous JKUs never had this issue so I thought it was a quirk of the JL.

On January 15 I was on driving on I-95 in heavy traffic at 70 MPH and the Jeep went into violent, full blown Death Wobble after crossing a bridge expansion joint. The DW did not resolve until I slowed to 50 MPH, which was incredibly dangerous while sandwiched between 18 wheelers. I assume my steering stabilizer failed at that point because the Death Wobble returned after every bump even though I reduced my speed to 55 mph.

The dealer test drove the Jeep and replicated the problem. They emailed pictures of the track bar welds to FCA (my vehicle was included in the recall). They informed me that the welds were good but the steering stabilizer had failed. The steering felt firmer with the new SS but the steering shake was not resolved. It felt as if there was an underlying issue causing wobble, yet the steering stabilizer was barely able to keep it to a shake.

Two weeks ago, traveling through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel in bumper to bumper traffic at 60 MPH the Jeep again went into violent Death Wobble after passing over a small bump. The wobble resolved when I slowed to 50 MPH. Terrifying! This has happened several more times in the past two weeks at speeds between 60 - 70 MPH and I really do not feel safe driving my beloved Jeep on the highway.

@JeepCares I would really like to get this resolved but I am concerned that the dealer will simply install a new steering stabilizer, which is really just a band aid partially covering up a serious underlying problem. With the massive amount of stress Death Wobble places on the steering components I am concerned that a catastrophic failure will occur if the steering system is not properly corrected.

Poolman and Xpsruler - did your dealerships check torque? Look at the front ball joint nut cotter pins (two upper and two lower). Are they factory perfect or looks like a human bent them in place? If perfectly bent like a factory machine, they didn't check the ball joints torque. If they look kinda mangled or messy like a human used a pair of pliers, then they most likely checked.

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[HoundDude]

the NHTSA safety complaint form is here: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

 

[JeepCares]

@JeepCares Update: Have been trying to contact my Jeep cares associate multiple times and have left multiple voicemails. I've even provided info for when I could be contacted... Tonight I get an email saying the case will be cancelled if I dont get in touch with them... I've since left a voicemail and will try calling them again... probably to get another voicemail.

The vehicle is unsafe and the issue keeps getting worse.

Hi xpsruler,
We are sorry to hear that you have had trouble contacting your case manager. Please send us your VIN in a private message so we can look into this further.
Alex
Jeep Social Care Specialist

 

[poolman]

Californiajeeping,

Thanks for the info!

It seems the original factory ball joint cotter pins are still in place, so unlikely they did more than replace the steering stabilizer.

 

[JeepCares]

I have the same issue... 2018 JKU Sport S... completely stock. I've only owned it for 3 weeks.

Started as a slight wobble at 850 miles, got worse by 1,500 miles. The dealer replaced the steering dampener at 1,700 miles. 3 days later, I had death wobble so bad I almost lost control of the vehicle. When I got to the dealership they found that the second dampener failed, the track bar bushings were dried out (it's only 3 weeks old!) and the drivers side rear shock was blown. Oh! yeah, and the rear seat was broken also. Customer care is involved and stated "we're going to try an aftermarket dampener... let's hope that fixes it. if not... we will try something else."
Sorry customer care, but... HOPE IS NOT A GOOD PLAN!
They've had it a week now... no answers.

I've had my 2018 JLU Sport since August and it has 13K miles on it and has been in 3 times (most recent time was last week) for the death wobble and they still can't figure it out. They replaced the drag link 1st, then the steering dampener, and then the steering dampener again. The service manager keeps telling me that Chrysler doesn't know what the issue is right now and tells them to only replace the steering dampeners until they find an actual fix. It's ridiculous that there are this many people with this issue and it's been going on for almost a year and still don't have a fix.

This is my first post in this excellent forum and with one exception the JL is my favorite of all the Jeeps I have owned.

My 2018 totally stock, never off-roaded JLU Sahara (purchased June 15) had steering shake when traveling over surface irregularities ever since new. My two previous JKUs never had this issue so I thought it was a quirk of the JL.

On January 15 I was on driving on I-95 in heavy traffic at 70 MPH and the Jeep went into violent, full blown Death Wobble after crossing a bridge expansion joint. The DW did not resolve until I slowed to 50 MPH, which was incredibly dangerous while sandwiched between 18 wheelers. I assume my steering stabilizer failed at that point because the Death Wobble returned after every bump even though I reduced my speed to 55 mph.

The dealer test drove the Jeep and replicated the problem. They emailed pictures of the track bar welds to FCA (my vehicle was included in the recall). They informed me that the welds were good but the steering stabilizer had failed. The steering felt firmer with the new SS but the steering shake was not resolved. It felt as if there was an underlying issue causing wobble, yet the steering stabilizer was barely able to keep it to a shake.

Two weeks ago, traveling through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel in bumper to bumper traffic at 60 MPH the Jeep again went into violent Death Wobble after passing over a small bump. The wobble resolved when I slowed to 50 MPH. Terrifying! This has happened several more times in the past two weeks at speeds between 60 - 70 MPH and I really do not feel safe driving my beloved Jeep on the highway.

@JeepCares I would really like to get this resolved but I am concerned that the dealer will simply install a new steering stabilizer, which is really just a band aid partially covering up a serious underlying problem. With the massive amount of stress Death Wobble places on the steering components I am concerned that a catastrophic failure will occur if the steering system is not properly corrected.

Hi poolman, Boston.Irish and theville87,
We are very sorry to hear that you have experienced this. If you would like some extra assistance, feel free to send us a private message!
Alex
Jeep Social Care Specialist

 

[californiajeeping]

Californiajeeping,

Thanks for the info!

It seems the original factory ball joint cotter pins are still in place, so unlikely they did more than replace the steering stabilizer.

There have been posts where people pulled the cotter pins and could remove the castle nuts with their fingers, no tools needed. Seriously loose. Other times, it wasn't that loose, but took several full turns to get it to the proper torque amount. Click here for the JL torque numbers.

 

[jeepthang]

There have been posts where people pulled the cotter pins and could remove the castle nuts with their fingers, no tools needed. Seriously loose. Other times, it wasn't that loose, but took several full turns to get it to the proper torque amount. Click here for the JL torque numbers.

Cali - just curious if you are experiencing the same issues with your Jeep? And thanks for being so involved with all these steering posts and continued efforts on all the useful information.

 

[californiajeeping]

Cali - just curious if you are experiencing the same issues with your Jeep? And thanks for being so involved with all these steering posts and continued efforts on all the useful information.

Yes, I had steering wheel wobble, not full on death wobble, but I did have to slow down for it to stop shaking. Found super loose ball joint nuts, semi-loose track bar bolts, drag link bolts, tie rod bolts. Wobble problem completely gone after torqued to spec. 2 dealerships had claimed they checked torque. They obviously didn't. I had read on one of the forums about checking the cotter pins to verify the dealer checked them or not. For many with steering wheel shimmy, wobble or death wobble it appears to be a combination of multiple issues vs just one such as, but not limited to loose steering and suspension components (which are sometimes causing steering stabilizers to go bad, beyond the known bad ones with the date codes if not caught in time), alignment (adjusting toe, adding caster via longer lower control arms), tires that need balancing (there might be a chance that the tires are balanced at 48 PSI at the factory, then drastically changing PSI to 32, 30 could cause a balance issue, not sure if I believe that one but worth getting them balanced in case) and dead spot in the steering box (either tighten or replace the steering box). And Mopar has a new (mid Feb 2019) JL track bar and new inner drag link, which might be helping as well.

 

[RockinMarine]

I have had a sterring wobble that was slight. Last week I installed aftermarket tires and rims. The issue got worse. So I ordered a Roughcountry stabilizer. Made it worse. So this morning, I put the OEM tires back on. While on the freeway I have severe Death wobble at 60mph. Anytime I got above 45mph it would start, but at 60, the shake was so severe traffic behind me would stop, fearing I would lose control. Went to nearest dealership and paid 110 for a OEM stabilizer. Made the jeep.drivable again, but can still feel the wobble. I will check all bolts tomorrow for tightness since this is beyond scary. @JeepCares you need to address this before someone gets killed.

 

[brewtus98]

Ok I had slight wobble a while back after about 1000 miles with stock Sahara 18's and goodyear all terrains. Swapped to Rubi takeoffs & problem gone. Gone for like 3000 miles. Rotated tires today and guess what WOBBLE!!! It is hard to believe this suspension is that sensitive to tires and variation of tire/position!! WTF???!

 

[californiajeeping]

Ok I had slight wobble a while back after about 1000 miles with stock Sahara 18's and goodyear all terrains. Swapped to Rubi takeoffs & problem gone. Gone for like 3000 miles. Rotated tires today and guess what WOBBLE!!! It is hard to believe this suspension is that sensitive to tires and variation of tire/position!! WTF???!

What happens when you rotate the tires back to the original position? Does the wobble go away?

 

[jeepthang]

I've had a minor case of DW and loose steering for a while now and have had it serviced twice for this with no resolve. This past week it got so bad that it was scary to drive. I finally dropped it off at my dealership after work yesterday for a third trial. I do have a case escalated with Jeepcares so hopefully this will light some fire under them. I won't accept a third stabilizer and another "16-point front end inspection". As much as I love this Jeep, I will pursue the lemon law. I cannot continue driving a 50k vehicle with these issues.

 

[brewtus98]

What happens when you rotate the tires back to the original position? Does the wobble go away?

Going to try tomorrow. Ran out of time.

 

[Cypher]

I was bragging a few times about how well my 2019 JLUR drives. Well, right around 3000 miles mine has the bad wandering / loose steering and wheel shimmy when hitting expansion joints etc. Fun stuff.

 

[DanW]

Mine got worse today. It was full blown death wobble when I hit a bump while accelerating through about 55mph. It seems that when the cg transfers to the rear under acceleration or going up a hill, the shake is worse upon hitting bumps. On the bad one today, it shook until I braked and shifted the cg forward. I'll be setting up an appointment with the dealership this week. I'm also going to try to get under it tomorrow afternoon and torque every bolt I can find in the front end.

Anybody who solves this, be sure to post on what you or your dealer did to cure it. This is a mechanical thing that is interacting with laws of physics, so it IS solveable. We or Jeep just have to figure it out, whether it is control arms, the track bar, stabilizer bar, steering stabilizer, or some combination, we will figure this thing out. The number of people having consistent problems speaks to a common issue that has to have a solution. @JeepCares I hope is taking note. It is also important that we report this to the NTHSA. Nothing gets an automaker's focus like numerous reports on the same issue. If they haven't already, once they put some of their better engineers on this, they'll figure it out.

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