JK Death Wobble

[Ron in PA]

Did anyone experience the death wobble in a JK Wrangler Jeep. I did, The front wheels wobble and the steering wheel wobble to. It's going to the shop to get fix.
Update on post #18

[tradbear55]

Very common on jeeps. Puckers you up when it happens at highway speeds.

[smoked turkey]

Yes mine would do it when you went over railroad tracks. It was an eye opener. That was a long time ago but I seem to recall I replaced the tie rod ends and it fixed it. Mine was on an old Chevy Blazer, 1969 model if I recall correctly.

[sundog]

My first vehicle was a '46 Willys CJ2A. Steering dampner (looks a little like a shock absorber) fixed the death wobble. I sure miss that Jeep.

[Artful]

On a CJ5 - yes indeed - makes you sit up and take notice.

[HtNRun]

On a jk, it's going to depend on what factors are involved. My TJ boiled down to uneven tire wear, my WJ (grand cherokee) it's tire wear combined with ball joints.

In newer jeeps, steering damper "usually" has little to no effect one way or the other.

I suggest going in somewhere that does a free steering and suspension evaluation, and free tire balance and rotation. They should give you a good starting point in your diagnosis. (Keep in mind, many places have little better than shade tree mechanics doing the evals, so it at its core is only a starting point.)

Don't know where you're located, I am in utah and can recommend places here that I trust. Otherwise, the topic gets beat to death (no pun intended) on JeepForum.com

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if I can help more.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[adcoch1]

Ah yes, the old death wobble. A combination of worn tie rod ends, bad ball joints, and too high of a center of gravity with inadequate shock absorption... A few of those things you can do something about. Also make sure your tire pressure is the same in both front tires. It helps.

[Geezer in NH]

Regular upkeep and inspections find that before it gets too bad.

Front ends wear out, especially in the rust belt.

[opos]

My first vehicle was a '46 Willys CJ2A. Steering dampner (looks a little like a shock absorber) fixed the death wobble. I sure miss that Jeep.

I too had a '46...crawled the Colorado mountains year round...no idea how many deer and elk came home with that old guy...always tell a true mountain jeep by the cans and spare on the tailgate and not on the sides...if on the sides they got torn off pretty quickly by rock and tree rubbing while climbing...
I mostly towed it to the mountains before unhooking it and heading out...we did a shock mount to stop the wobble and never had problems....great memories...picture is in the 60's on Berthoud Pass in Colorado during the summer months..little family drive.

195152

[Kraschenbirn]

+1 on the tire wear. Developed a really interesting front end vibe around 40-50 mph in my old TJ. Rotated tires and it went away...for a while. When it started to come back, new tires and shocks cleared it up. Was still good when I sold it 24K miles later.

Bill

[LUBEDUDE]

My first vehicle was a '46 Willys CJ2A. Steering dampner (looks a little like a shock absorber) fixed the death wobble. I sure miss that Jeep.
My first vehicle was a 47' Jeep with a 327 in it. I went through so many transmissions and engine repairs that I could have probably paid for a new '69-70 Muscle car.

[birch]

I got caught in a lightning storm above the treeline on Berthoud Pass a few years ago. That is one I will never forget!


Very cool picture

[funnyjim014]

Yep. My cj7 with 6.5 lift and 35s gets it bad if I go over something wash boarded. Just have to slow it down and coast out out of it. It's a 79 with manual steering and manual breaks....yep its closer to a tractor than a car

[Bzcraig]

My first vehicle was a '46 Willys CJ2A. Steering dampner (looks a little like a shock absorber) fixed the death wobble. I sure miss that Jeep.

Had a '49 CJ3A with a 283 I too miss, with steering damper.

[rond]

I have an 02. I drove in the back way on the mud road to my place after a heavy rain. Started to town a few days later, when I got to the pavement and up to speed the jeep tried to shake itself apart. Went home and looked underneath, big clumps of dried mud in all the wheels. Took about an hour to hose everything off.

[Mk42gunner]

I had a 93 YJ that had death wobble bad. After replacing literally every wear part on the front end, including springs, I came to the conclusion that mine was caused by inadequate damping by the shock absorbers.

Unfortunately I could not find shocks that would last more than about one hundred miles before giving up the ghost.

I ended up trading it to a mechanic friend for a fairly junky Explorer, but at least it would stay on the road. That was important because my daughter was almost sixteen and I did not want her driving anything dangerous.

I do miss the 22-23 mpg 4x4 though, I keep thinking about another one, but the death wobble has me very cautious about that front end design.

Robert

[bbs70]

I've had 3 jeeps in the past.
80 CJ, 87 , and a new 04 Wrangler.
Never had a problem with death rattle.
But 2 months ago on I-44 in Mo, I did notice a new Jeep doing 70 and all of a sudden the front wheels started shaking violently, he slowed down a little and it stopped
I thought it was just something wrong with that vehicle, apparently I was wrong

[Ron in PA]

Update, Steering Dampner and 4 new shocks fixed the death wobble. Thanks to all for your input. Ron

[Alstep]

Have a '69 GMC pickup that would shimmy uncontrollably between 38 & 45 mph. Dealer installed a shock absorber between the tie rod and axle housing. That solved the problem. Still use that old pickup to plow my driveway. It's in sorry shape now, but will it ever push snow. Starts great when it's 10 below.

[cainttype]

Tire wear, steering damper... shocks, tie-rod ends, ball joints... More or less the order I check on my TJ.
Any good tire/alignment shop should be able to check all of that in minutes. Luckily I have one I trust that will do it for free.
A recent SERIOUS 47-50 mph "death wobble" was eliminated with new tires after a new damper reduced about 1/2 of it... I see new shocks in the not-too-distant future.

[shoot-n-lead]

Had Jeep's..CJ and YJ...none of them ever had it. BUT, we had a '64 Ford pickup with a straight front axle, when I was growing up...it was terrible. Daddy got tired of it doing it and we replaced the kingpins...problem solved.

[Lloyd Smale]

Very seldom the steering dampner shock causes it. Usually tie rods, ball joints. Rare cases the normal shocks. In some cases it doesn't take a lot of wear either. Ball joints and tie rod ends that if a guy was checking by hand and eye would look fine can be worn enough to cause it. Lifts don't cause death wobble. They can cause vibration from incorrect drive line angles but not death wobble. Now larger tires that go with the lift put more stain on the steering components and add to the problem. Even if you take your stearing stabilizer shock right off you shouldn't have death wobble if everything else is fine. Your stearing will get a bit more darty but it shouldn't shake. If replacing the steering stabilizer shock makes it go away its just hiding a problem that still exists.

[merlin101]

Update, Steering Dampner and 4 new shocks fixed the death wobble. Thanks to all for your input. Ron

No it didn't, it just masked the problem. Somewhere in the front suspension is at least one worn part. I would start by checking the ball joints then tie rods drag link and last the play in the gear box itself. Any competent alignment shop can diagnose it and repair it.

[ghh3rd]

I may have experienced that in my Chevy S10 years ago. I drove to the end of the block to see my son off to school on the bus. Rather than turn around I decided to back up. There was no one around, no obstacles so I hit the gas and started moving backwards rapidly. The truck suddenly started shaking and turning from one side to another as I pulled the wheel back and forth to counter act it. I finally hit the brakes hard and slid to a stop in an arc, winding up with me parked in a neighbors yard with their brick mailbox a foot from my window. All of this happened in a few quick seconds.

Never again!

[garym1a2]

I had a death wobbie in my 2001 Dodge 3500 4x4 while carrying 2 round hay bales in the bed and hit a small bump at 55 mph I nearly lost control, ended in the grass on the oposite side of the road. I just had a lot of front end work the truck the week before. They did a poor job and the bolt was very loose on a part.

[Petrol & Powder]

I can't specifically comment on the JK but any 4WD with a solid front axle can suffer from the dreaded "death wobble".
My old TJ Jeep never developed the death wobble.

I had real time with the death wobble in a 95 Dodge 3/4 ton. It was a reoccurring issue with that truck and it almost got me killed on I-95 one afternoon. Most of the time the death wobble in that vehicle was attributed to the track rod. The track rod had a ball joint on one end and a simple bushing on the other. One or both of those joints would wear and the truck would develop the death wobble when I hit a bump. Usually replacing the track rod would fix the issue. That truck had a steering stabilizer (damper) but that never seemed to affect the occurrence of the death wobble.

Sometimes the death wobble can be caused by worn tie rod ends, ball joints, shocks or other worn front end components.

Some people claim that a little more toe in will help prevent the death wobble oscillation from setting up but I'm not convinced.

The death wobble can be a frustrating problem to cure and often the diagnoses is more elusive than the repair.

[William Yanda]

I saw this happen to the car in front of us Friday. The driver slowed and pulled to the right as we passed. Scary!

[Petrol & Powder]

If you think it's scary to watch you should get the experience from inside the truck !

[ghh3rd]

If you think it's scary to watch you should get the experience from inside the truck !
+1 things nightmares are made of.

[flint45]

Yea its a scary thing when it happens,1980 ford f-150 4x4 lemon would do that all the time after a bump or railroad track had to put on dual stabilizers to fix that problem then sold the truck to get rid of the rest of the problems.

[brass410]

death wobble not a rarity on fixed axle front ends (solid axle 4x4) around here most often starts showing up in mid summer early fall More often than not its the u-joints seizing at the steering knuckle they are for the most part no service item( read no grease fitting like in the early years ) This can be said of most factory steering joints tie rod ball joints etc these to can be a problem for death wobble and there are many ways to ck but the only reliable one is disassemble and test rotational resistence (unless they are obviously loose) sometimes they wear a track in the cup that the ball stud sits in and will jam (you cant see this as it is inside the swaged cup) I've spent many frustrating hours trying to track these wobble Gremlins down on many different vehicles over the years in the trade, each one usually manages to show me a new twist. Just this week I had a gmc envoy it had a wobble issue, these are independent suspension with constant velocity axles ( joint runs in continuous bath of lubricant inside of bellows boot) the joint was tight when checked from underneath vehicle (no rotational free play) but when I lifted front end off ground wheels suddenly snapped hard to left with half a turn of the wheel (no engine running) HMMMMM I couldn't straighten them out by turning by hand nor could I rotate the wheel, long story short after removeing spindle assembly The darn CV joint was seized inside the boot which had long ago leaked leaked lube out thanks to under vehicle washing there was no grease stains for a tell tale. This only took about 45 mins to discover this was just a shot in the dark as to which side to start on. point being if you get one of these be patient and thourogh just cause it isn't loose doesn't mean it is good these things will make you crazy!!!!! its a good thing spent powder is like aromatherapy for me or I'd be a raving cussing drinking lunatic vice riddin old miserable mechanic by now!!!!

[Petrol & Powder]

I've never seen death wobble from drive train components such as U-joints but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

The "Death Wobble" is side to side oscillation of the front axle. The entire axle moves sideways (perpendicular to the direction of travel) and because the steering box is rigidly attached to the frame, that pushes or pulls on the steering gear and changes the steering angle of the front wheels; which drives the axle the opposite direction. Once that oscillation gets set up, it tends to perpetuate itself.

Some guy put a Go Pro camera under a Jeep and recorded it. Pretty good example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yvJuhnUYM

[NoAngel]

That is some scary stuff. Glad my FJ is IFS. They say independent is not as strong as a solid axle but it's been hell for stout for the last 10 years. I've had it in some nasty places and it came out like a champ, and still sits on the interstate at 80-90 mph smooth as silk.

If that happened to me on the road I think I'd ruin my drawers. As Bill Cosby said...."First you say it, then you do it."

[Petrol & Powder]

The Independent Front Suspension [IFS] can be very strong. Toyota has been using it on the Hi-Lux (pickup) for many years. Those trucks are operated in some of the worst environments on earth with little or no maintenance and they hold up.
An IFS is far less susceptible to the death wobble because the center portion of the axle is attached to the frame. The control arms can pivot up and down but they can't move laterally like a live axle can.

I don't think Chrysler will ever admit it but I believe the track rod on the coil spring equipped Dodge trucks is too small. I went through 3 track rods and was on the 4th when I finally got rid of my 95 Dodge. Years ago I used a 1977 Dodge Power Wagon with the leaf spring mounted front axle (no need for a track rod) and never had a problem with death wobble.

[robg]

Had the steering damper fail on a 68 vw beetle, nearly ripped my thumbs off at 35 mph .had a few tank slappers on bikes now that's a brown trouser moment.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ron I think some here don't know how prevalent this problem is on jeeps. Especially tjs. YJs and Jks have problems too but not near as many.

[modified5]

Petrol&Powder nailed it.
Track bar. I have replaced tons of these over the years.
The spec for max play is only .020 so it doesn't take much.
If there is ANY visible play in it, replace it.
If it is a high mileage factory unit, replace it.

[Lloyd Smale]

to bad you don't live closer. Ive got a front and rear track bar and shocks and springs that came off of my 2015 willys with just under 10k on them. took them off when I lifted the jeep. Had to do adjustable track bars to center the wheels.

[Hickok]

In my younger days, we used to go "muddin" out in woods. Jacked-up suspensions, gumbo-mudders, a lot of torn up parts and money!:redneck:
Coming back on the hard road, there would be a build up of mud in the wheels that would nearly shake the vehicle apart. Unbalanced to the max!

Scariest thing ever is a "Tank-Slapper" on a motorcycle at high speed. This truly is a death wooble if you don't get it corrected quickly. Pucker factor goes off the meter.:holysheep

[Hickok]

Some are caused by showboating doing wheelies so we will chalk them up to the "squid factor."

But other tank slappers jump at you from out of no where!!! Watch until the last of video for the ultimate death wobble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeNWxHF6uI

[aephilli822]

My first vehicle was a 47' Jeep with a 327 in it. I went through so many transmissions and engine repairs that I could have probably paid for a new '69-70 Muscle car.

mine was a J-2000 with a 283, kept breaking first gear

[aephilli822]

I may have experienced that in my Chevy S10 years ago. I drove to the end of the block to see my son off to school on the bus. Rather than turn around I decided to back up. There was no one around, no obstacles so I hit the gas and started moving backwards rapidly. The truck suddenly started shaking and turning from one side to another as I pulled the wheel back and forth to counter act it. I finally hit the brakes hard and slid to a stop in an arc, winding up with me parked in a neighbors yard with their brick mailbox a foot from my window. All of this happened in a few quick seconds.

Never again!

negative caster, there's a reason the forks on bikes go forward