Death Wobble on Stock JL

Viper

New member
Recently I have seen a couple news articles stating that new wranglers were getting death wobble at highway speeds. I too have had this problem, however it is a very simple fix and doesn't require a recall or new part as some of these articles suggested. There are two issues that caused this for me. First, one of my front wheels was out of alignment by a very small amount. Second, my tire pressure was a bit low due to the drop in temperature. Once my wheel was realigned and tires filled, no more death wobble!

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WiscoHR

Member
Recently I have seen a couple news articles stating that new wranglers were getting death wobble at highway speeds. I too have had this problem, however it is a very simple fix and doesn't require a recall or new part as some of these articles suggested. There are two issues that caused this for me. First, one of my front wheels was out of alignment by a very small amount. Second, my tire pressure was a bit low due to the drop in temperature. Once my wheel was realigned and tires filled, no more death wobble!

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Congrats, Welcome to JLWRANGLER


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JTCO

Meme King
There is no way that your tire pressure dropping slightly caused death wobble. I live in a location with extreme temp changes and can’t say I’ve ever experienced this.


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^Agreed. For death wobble to occur, something has to be loose.

I've seen the news headlines and read the articles. Personally I find more value out of fart-lighting videos on YouTube rather than any news media, but I digress.

For those of you experiencing this 'wobble,' what are you experiencing? On the previous models, I have experienced Death Wobble, it blows. It's violent, uncontrollable, and feels like the steering wheel is being ripped from your hands back and forth. I'd rather deal with my ex in a rage after I ran over her dog. Is this what you're experiencing? Or has the media just hyped it up and it's more of a steering wheel shimmy? What are your 'wobble' symptoms?
 

I think people are honestly obsessed with that term now and are over-using it. This is likely do to all the new wrangler owners coming over from large trucks, cars and other SUV’s with IFS.

Now, that said, my steering shakes at highway speed when i hit bumps in a certain way. Its an occilation that def needs to be addressed. My SS is within the date code thats been recalled, but whats the chances of that actually fixing it? Especially with rubi caster being only 4.8 or aomething
Like that...
 

JTCO

Meme King
I think people are honestly obsessed with that term now and are over-using it. This is likely do to all the new wrangler owners coming over from large trucks, cars and other SUV’s with IFS.

Exactly. For those of us that have owned previous vehicles, the dealth wobble was legit. But from what I've seen on the FAKE NEWS, it's not quite the same with the JL.
 

WiscoHR

Member
^Agreed. For death wobble to occur, something has to be loose.

I've seen the news headlines and read the articles. Personally I find more value out of fart-lighting videos on YouTube rather than any news media, but I digress.

For those of you experiencing this 'wobble,' what are you experiencing? On the previous models, I have experienced Death Wobble, it blows. It's violent, uncontrollable, and feels like the steering wheel is being ripped from your hands back and forth. I'd rather deal with my ex in a rage after I ran over her dog. Is this what you're experiencing? Or has the media just hyped it up and it's more of a steering wheel shimmy? What are your 'wobble' symptoms?

It’s not death wobble. I’ve been fighting the feeling for a while. It’s more of a steering wheel wobble back and forth. No need to slow down to make it go away. It’s not violent or scary. It’s just damn annoying. I drove with it for over a month. New track bar got rid of 90% of it. Jeep drove great until it got cold out then went to shit.

I’m running 5.8 degrees caster, steering is spot on. After track bar replacement it’s now just bump steer. Steering wheel will bounce back and forth once or twice then done. I still think it’s the steering box causing the issue but it’s easier to give everyone a new steering stabilizer to hide it.

The track bar is definitely one of the issues. I could move the bushings around in my hand when I took it off. The one I put on almost stopped the wobble all together but it’s clearly still there just slowed down now.


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JP223/3USA

Member
Recently I have seen a couple news articles stating that new wranglers were getting death wobble at highway speeds. I too have had this problem, however it is a very simple fix and doesn't require a recall or new part as some of these articles suggested. There are two issues that caused this for me. First, one of my front wheels was out of alignment by a very small amount. Second, my tire pressure was a bit low due to the drop in temperature. Once my wheel was realigned and tires filled, no more death wobble!

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Welcome to Jlwrangler and I’m assuming this must be your first Jeep. Previous jeep model owners including myself would have loved to air up our tires to solve the death wobble. Death wobble aka 8.5 earthquake on wheels will pucker you up and having you pray to the moon gods.


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WiscoHR

Member
Exactly. For those of us that have owned previous vehicles, the dealth wobble was legit. But from what I've seen on the FAKE NEWS, it's not quite the same with the JL.

My JL has the shake. Is it death wobble? No. More like bullshit annoying steering wheel shutter. But that’s not as catchy as death wobble.

I was at the dealership today to set up appointment for track bar weld recall. Told him that I had bump steer after chasing steering wheel shake and replacing track bar. I said something is still a little off.

Service advisor’s response, “Ok so next Tuesday we will have you Jeep in to perform steps for recall and diagnose death wobble. That’s what we call it.”


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Viper

New member
Just to clarify, my JL used to shake when hitting bumps over 75 mph. I got my front end realigned as it was slightly off, and now there is no shaking/wobbling at high speeds. I just assumed it would be called death wobble but just a more mild version. I also own a 2004 TJ and that definitely shakes quite a bit more.

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Bsimon187

New member
I get a shake each morning taking the kids to school in the first mile or so from the house. After the Jeep warms up a bit more it is gone. Completely weird. This happens if the Jeep is outside or in the garage at night or even if I let the Jeep warm up for 15 minutes before hand.


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darrenroos

New member
It’s not death wobble. I’ve been fighting the feeling for a while. It’s more of a steering wheel wobble back and forth. No need to slow down to make it go away. It’s not violent or scary. It’s just damn annoying. I drove with it for over a month. New track bar got rid of 90% of it. Jeep drove great until it got cold out then went to shit.

I’m running 5.8 degrees caster, steering is spot on. After track bar replacement it’s now just bump steer. Steering wheel will bounce back and forth once or twice then done. I still think it’s the steering box causing the issue but it’s easier to give everyone a new steering stabilizer to hide it.

The track bar is definitely one of the issues. I could move the bushings around in my hand when I took it off. The one I put on almost stopped the wobble all together but it’s clearly still there just slowed down now.


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Where does the 5.8 caster put your pinion angle? Could it be your driveline vibrating?



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As soon as i saw “replace defective Steering Stablizer” i called BS. You should be able to negotiate bumps without occilation without one . Something else at play here. At the end of the day an SS is just a dampener... It seems to happen when i go over one section of expansion joints that are at an angle. At 70mph. A LOT of vibration.
 

olram30

Not That Kind of Engineer
Just to clarify, my JL used to shake when hitting bumps over 75 mph. I got my front end realigned as it was slightly off, and now there is no shaking/wobbling at high speeds. I just assumed it would be called death wobble but just a more mild version. I also own a 2004 TJ and that definitely shakes quite a bit more.

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What did they align? Just your toe?

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