JL JOURNAL : WORKING OUT the WOBBLE - Rancho Adjustable Front Track Bar Install

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Like many of you out there with a Jeep JL Wrangler, built up or stock, we developed a bit of wobble in our steering. It's one that mainly occurred when it's cold out and when driving over uneven pavement or hitting something like a pot hole with just one tire. Now, I should point out that what we've been feeling is FAR from being the infamous "death wobble", the violent and uncontrollable shaking of the entire Jeep and to the point where you can only stop it by bringing your Jeep to a stop. However, I can totally see how someone new to Jeeps might confuse it as being death wobble especially being that it does feel like the beginnings of it. Because a loose bolt or worn out track bar bushing is typically the cause something like this, that's where we decided to start focusing our attention. In this episode of the JL JOURNAL, you'll get to see what the wobble we had looked like and how we were able to work most of it out, if not all of it, simply by installing a new Rancho rockGEAR adjustable front track bar. We hope you find the information in this video to be useful.


I should note that we are by no means suggesting that the source of our steering wobble will be the same for everyone or that installing a Rancho adjustable front track bar will fix whatever you are feeling. This video was made simply to show what we had experienced, what we had tried and ultimately, what got things fixed for us.


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Rancho RS62131 rockGEAR Suspension JL Wrangler Rear Track Bar
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Buying from the links above will help to support this forum and at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! :cool:
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
Man these vids are super useful. Compile them into one playlist and call it "JL For Dummies." As usual, great content. :thumb:
 

JTCO

Meme King
Good info. I'll certainly look into this if our JT does something similar. Went through years of track bar issues on the WJ. Has to be tight, tight, tight.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Man these vids are super useful. Compile them into one playlist and call it "JL For Dummies." As usual, great content. :thumb:

LOL!! Thank you. Clearly, our videos are far from being click bait worthy but we do hope they may help others out :)

Good info. I'll certainly look into this if our JT does something similar. Went through years of track bar issues on the WJ. Has to be tight, tight, tight.

Agreed. However, in this case, I think the real issue was the bonded rubber bushings were just too soft and allowed for too much movement. At least, that's what it seemed like to us.

Thank you, Eddie and Cindy, you two make the best videos[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

We appreciate you saying as much. I don't think we have the kind of broad appeal that others out there may have but we do our best to share what we've learned :)
 

dixonk

Member
LOL!! Thank you. Clearly, our videos are far from being click bait worthy but we do hope they may help others out :)



We appreciate you saying as much. I don't think we have the kind of broad appeal that others out there may have but we do our best to share what we've learned :)

So safe to say we won’t be seeing you doing any videos in skimpy shorts with your butt hanging out or anything?


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WiscoHR

Member
Great video... I will say I never had it shake as fast back and forth as it did for you with the factory track bar. But, what I have seen even with my Core4x4 track bar has been slower.

After you went to the Rancho in the video, that little jerk you see in the steering wheel after a bump is where I get my issue.

Your JL stops after that first reaction. Mine doesn’t, it oscillates 3-4 times back and forth as it works itself back straight. So I’m wondering if it could be anything else. I’m thinking my draglink might need to be replaced but I’m really lost on where to look next.


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olram30

Not That Kind of Engineer
Great video... I will say I never had it shake as fast back and forth as it did for you with the factory track bar. But, what I have seen even with my Core4x4 track bar has been slower.

After you went to the Rancho in the video, that little jerk you see in the steering wheel after a bump is where I get my issue.

Your JL stops after that first reaction. Mine doesn’t, it oscillates 3-4 times back and forth as it works itself back straight. So I’m wondering if it could be anything else. I’m thinking my draglink might need to be replaced but I’m really lost on where to look next.


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Have you had someone move the steering wheel while you feel with your finger for moving parts? That sucks

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WiscoHR

Member
Have you had someone move the steering wheel while you feel with your finger for moving parts? That sucks

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Not yet. I’m hoping to dig in further this weekend. Been chasing it a while. It was great to see Jim from Dynatrac’s explanations in the last video. Checked all the torque settings today and the toe. Just trying to narrow it down.


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olram30

Not That Kind of Engineer
Not yet. I’m hoping to dig in further this weekend. Been chasing it a while. It was great to see Jim from Dynatrac’s explanations in the last video. Checked all the torque settings today and the toe. Just trying to narrow it down.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
Yeah, I was just going to tell you about that video. Really good explanation on what to look for.

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Deezus

New member
After I lifted my JLUR, I had removed the SS and brackets as it was all beat up. I replaced it with a fox and because I'm still using the stock tie rod I had to use the metalcloak SS relocation brackets. But before I did that, and with SS removed I had a little bump steer and it actually looked like what your video showed. Now with new SS the steering is great and no bump steer. Mine was only when I hit serious bumps, but it looked like yours. I have an aftermarket track bar front and rear with no movement there at all. I really like these videos because it really explains what to look for and how to resolve steering issues. It should be noted that if you don't lift your jeep and run larger tires you probably won't experience these issues.
Don't be confused though, in no way do I believe that a SS will fix death wobble cus I ran without it.... But I did notice, at least on the JL, that it helped with bump steer especially at higher lift on mine.
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