Ghost Death Wobble Lite

F

Four Flusher

New member
I'm running KO2 315's and a dynatrac lift and I'm at 7500 miles. When stock, I had some steering wandering on the freeway. After the lift, my JLUR seemed more planted and easier to drive on the freeway. A few weeks ago the day after a wheeling trip the temps were in the 30's and I was driving with around 25lp psi. At about 55mph I hit a bump and the steering wheel started to shake. I aired to 30lb cold and tried unsuccessfully to duplicate the wobble. It was time to rotate and balance tires so I had that done. Last week I was out of town and my wife drove the Jeep early in the morning and had the wobble at 55mph at about 30 degrees. When I got home I checked the air pressure cold and the tires were around 25lb psi. After airing to 30lb, I was unable to recreate the wobble. After searching for info, I located a fair amount of info on loose components and steering stabilizer issues. I had DW in my '06 LJUR so I know what real DW feels like and this ain't it. My '06 DW had a trackbar issue. It's hard for me to see the steering stabilizer being the issue but after talking to a reliable source in SoCal, he said he's seeing lots of similar steering issues on a bunch of JLs and the issues were resolved by replacing the steering stabilizer. At any rate, I've made an appointment to have it checked out by the dealer in Carson City week after next.
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Yup, I've experienced the same thing and can tell you that it does seem to be temp specific and NOT lift specific. Far from "true" DW but there's definitely a shimmy. If you remove your steering stabilizer, it's a lot more pronounced. Apparently, there's a TSB for this and the solution is a higher pressure steering stabilizer. Be careful about running aftermarket stabilizers as I have tested out the Rough Country one and it performed worse than OE.
 

WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
Four Flusher said:
I'm running KO2 315's and a dynatrac lift and I'm at 7500 miles. When stock, I had some steering wandering on the freeway. After the lift, my JLUR seemed more planted and easier to drive on the freeway. A few weeks ago the day after a wheeling trip the temps were in the 30's and I was driving with around 25lp psi. At about 55mph I hit a bump and the steering wheel started to shake. I aired to 30lb cold and tried unsuccessfully to duplicate the wobble. It was time to rotate and balance tires so I had that done. Last week I was out of town and my wife drove the Jeep early in the morning and had the wobble at 55mph at about 30 degrees. When I got home I checked the air pressure cold and the tires were around 25lb psi. After airing to 30lb, I was unable to recreate the wobble. After searching for info, I located a fair amount of info on loose components and steering stabilizer issues. I had DW in my '06 LJUR so I know what real DW feels like and this ain't it. My '06 DW had a trackbar issue. It's hard for me to see the steering stabilizer being the issue but after talking to a reliable source in SoCal, he said he's seeing lots of similar steering issues on a bunch of JLs and the issues were resolved by replacing the steering stabilizer. At any rate, I've made an appointment to have it checked out by the dealer in Carson City week after next.
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I’ve been chasing the same thing since it got cold in WI. Fine some days, shakes most days. Really don’t know what to try to get it to go away.


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Jeepers Creeper

Jeepers Creeper

Member
That's weird. I don't have near the miles you all do yet. Only about 2,000. But it's been down in the 20's the last couple weeks, and I haven't noticed an issue yet.... hopefully I'm the lucky one?

2018 JLUR. V6. Auto.
 

JTCO

JTCO

Meme King
Jeepers Creeper said:
That's weird. I don't have near the miles you all do yet. Only about 2,000. But it's been down in the 20's the last couple weeks, and I haven't noticed an issue yet.... hopefully I'm the lucky one?

2018 JLUR. V6. Auto.
Click to expand...

It's because your Jeep is yellow.
 

WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
My new track bar will be here tomorrow. Hopefully that helps out, but I have a feeling it has to do with the steering box. It’s the only thing I can think would be affected by temperature. My Jeep drove great until a few weeks back when it dropped into the 40’s and below here.


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F

Four Flusher

New member
First day skiing at Squaw, about 30 degrees in Truckee, no issues today. I'm running air pressure at 30lbs cold, seems to help.
 

P

Principal Skinr

Member
Four Flusher said:
I'm running KO2 315's and a dynatrac lift and I'm at 7500 miles. When stock, I had some steering wandering on the freeway. After the lift, my JLUR seemed more planted and easier to drive on the freeway. A few weeks ago the day after a wheeling trip the temps were in the 30's and I was driving with around 25lp psi. At about 55mph I hit a bump and the steering wheel started to shake. I aired to 30lb cold and tried unsuccessfully to duplicate the wobble. It was time to rotate and balance tires so I had that done. Last week I was out of town and my wife drove the Jeep early in the morning and had the wobble at 55mph at about 30 degrees. When I got home I checked the air pressure cold and the tires were around 25lb psi. After airing to 30lb, I was unable to recreate the wobble. After searching for info, I located a fair amount of info on loose components and steering stabilizer issues. I had DW in my '06 LJUR so I know what real DW feels like and this ain't it. My '06 DW had a trackbar issue. It's hard for me to see the steering stabilizer being the issue but after talking to a reliable source in SoCal, he said he's seeing lots of similar steering issues on a bunch of JLs and the issues were resolved by replacing the steering stabilizer. At any rate, I've made an appointment to have it checked out by the dealer in Carson City week after next.
Click to expand...

I experienced it today. It was probably 34 to 36 degrees and it shook after hitting a small bump. That's the only time it ever happened.

Keep us posted on this. If mine does it again, I'll take it in.
 

P

Principal Skinr

Member
wayoflife said:
Yup, I've experienced the same thing and can tell you that it does seem to be temp specific and NOT lift specific. Far from "true" DW but there's definitely a shimmy. If you remove your steering stabilizer, it's a lot more pronounced. Apparently, there's a TSB for this and the solution is a higher pressure steering stabilizer. Be careful about running aftermarket stabilizers as I have tested out the Rough Country one and it performed worse than OE.
Click to expand...

Eddie, do you know the TSB number or maybe the description used to search for it? I want to make it as easy as possible for the service advisor to take care of it, should it happen again and I take it in.

The temps rose to just about 40 today and I tried and tried to get it to do it again to no avail. Hopefully I won't see it again, but we'll see.
 

WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
Principal Skinr said:
Eddie, do you know the TSB number or maybe the description used to search for it? I want to make it as easy as possible for the service advisor to take care of it, should it happen again and I take it in.

The temps rose to just about 40 today and I tried and tried to get it to do it again to no avail. Hopefully I won't see it again, but we'll see.
Click to expand...

I don’t think it’s a full TSB right now but there is Star cases on it.


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WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
Well I think mine has gotten significantly better. Put a new front track bar in and so far no shaking in the steering wheel. I think my stabilizer is junk as I do feel every bump coming through the steering wheel. But it’s not shaking like it was.


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R

Rubiman_JL

New member
wayoflife said:
Yup, I've experienced the same thing and can tell you that it does seem to be temp specific and NOT lift specific. Far from "true" DW but there's definitely a shimmy. If you remove your steering stabilizer, it's a lot more pronounced. Apparently, there's a TSB for this and the solution is a higher pressure steering stabilizer. Be careful about running aftermarket stabilizers as I have tested out the Rough Country one and it performed worse than OE.
Click to expand...

What do you recommend?


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F

Four Flusher

New member
There seems to be a relationship between tire air pressure and outside temperature. I now have the tires at 32Lbs cold. Yesterday when I headed to the hill it was close to 20 degrees, no shimmy, but the steering's different, less planted on the highway. Weird how folks have complained about the funky steering since day 1. Lifted, not lifted, bigger tires, stock tires, all have reported issues. This is way above my pay grade.
 

P

Principal Skinr

Member
Mine was great for almost a year and about 15k miles, then I noticed the steering wheel shake while acelerating onto the highway and hitting a bump. It was probably 30 degrees out. As others did, I lowered pressure (Running 315 KO2s) to 30 and that helped, but it became more and more consistent when hitting bumps at around 50-55mph. I took it in and they ordered a new steering stabilizer. The new one is worse than the original.

Is there any news on a TSB? I'm looking at trying out the Fox 2.0 steering stabilizer or the Falcon 2.1 or 2.2. I just don't want to drop that kind of money into it. I'm waiting until warmer temps to see what happens. Other than this shake, my steering feels pretty good.

Has anyone tried the Fox or Teraflex Falcon stabilizers?
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Principal Skinr said:
Mine was great for almost a year and about 15k miles, then I noticed the steering wheel shake while acelerating onto the highway and hitting a bump. It was probably 30 degrees out. As others did, I lowered pressure (Running 315 KO2s) to 30 and that helped, but it became more and more consistent when hitting bumps at around 50-55mph. I took it in and they ordered a new steering stabilizer. The new one is worse than the original.

Is there any news on a TSB? I'm looking at trying out the Fox 2.0 steering stabilizer or the Falcon 2.1 or 2.2. I just don't want to drop that kind of money into it. I'm waiting until warmer temps to see what happens. Other than this shake, my steering feels pretty good.

Has anyone tried the Fox or Teraflex Falcon stabilizers?
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Please do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on TeraFlex crap. The Fox stabilizer is nice but there has to be something else going on. You really shouldn't need a steering stabilizer at all if things are dialed in. What I can tell you is that with just a new track bar alone, the sensation I've been feeling is SIGNIFICANTLY better. ALSO, I've been doing some more checking and think I might have found another culprit. I don't want to jump the gun on this so I'll be sure to report back once I know for sure.
 

P

Principal Skinr

Member
wayoflife said:
Please do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on TeraFlex crap. The Fox stabilizer is nice but there has to be something else going on. You really shouldn't need a steering stabilizer at all if things are dialed in. What I can tell you is that with just a new track bar alone, the sensation I've been feeling is SIGNIFICANTLY better. ALSO, I've been doing some more checking and think I might have found another culprit. I don't want to jump the gun on this so I'll be sure to report back once I know for sure.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Eddie. I'll also check over the track bar and other suspension pieces. The alignment seems fine, but I may do that just for good measure. I drove it for a year and took it to Moab and it never had an issue until this winter, with the old stabilizer. The new one was immediately worse than the original.

What track bar did you use? I've hesitated on an adjustable because my axles are lined up nicely without it. Maybe it loosened up? I'll check it out and also will wait to see what you've discovered. I'm running the Mopar lift with 315 KO2's, btw, and like I said, it was perfect until December. Everything feels/looks tight, but Maybe I need to torque it all down.
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Principal Skinr said:
Thanks, Eddie. I'll also check over the track bar and other suspension pieces. The alignment seems fine, but I may do that just for good measure. I drove it for a year and took it to Moab and it never had an issue until this winter, with the old stabilizer. The new one was immediately worse than the original.

What track bar did you use? I've hesitated on an adjustable because my axles are lined up nicely without it. Maybe it loosened up? I'll check it out and also will wait to see what you've discovered. I'm running the Mopar lift with 315 KO2's, btw, and like I said, it was perfect until December. Everything feels/looks tight, but Maybe I need to torque it all down.
Click to expand...

If you can hold out a bit longer, don't replace anything yet. I'm not 100% sure the track bar needs to be replaced - more that maybe it's helping to mitigate the sensation being caused by something else. Like you, what I'm feeling mostly happens when it's cold out and it's far from being death wobble. This tells me that it's NOT one of the usual suspects like a track bar or ball joint that's going bad. Still waiting on parts to know for sure.
 

WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
wayoflife said:
If you can hold out a bit longer, don't replace anything yet. I'm not 100% sure the track bar needs to be replaced - more that maybe it's helping to mitigate the sensation being caused by something else. Like you, what I'm feeling mostly happens when it's cold out and it's far from being death wobble. This tells me that it's NOT one of the usual suspects like a track bar or ball joint that's going bad. Still waiting on parts to know for sure.
Click to expand...

I can’t wait to see your results. I changed my track bar right away when mine first started doing it. In my head it seemed to make a minor difference right away, but that was short lived. Just hoping you try 1 change at a time so we can narrow down the exact problem.


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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
WiscoHR said:
I can’t wait to see your results. I changed my track bar right away when mine first started doing it. In my head it seemed to make a minor difference right away, but that was short lived. Just hoping you try 1 change at a time so we can narrow down the exact problem.


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Click to expand...

That's exactly what I've been doing, taking baby steps so that I know what actually fixes the problem. I apologize for being reluctant to say what the problem might be but I just don't want to get people to buy stuff they don't really need especially when all I have are ideas for now.
 

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