Jeep came out with a fix for the death wobble

[MaryB]

Turns out the steering stabilizer gets air in it at cold temps causing issues.

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/jeep-wr...ath-wobble-fix

[tomme boy]

Jeeps are not the only ones that this happens to.

[Bookworm]

That's the first thought I had - Jeep ain't alone.

I know that Dodge (now Ram) had a similar problem, that usually manifested in the 3/4 & 1 ton 4x4. Mostly it occurred after some consumer modifications - jacking it up, new (heavier) wheels/tires.
Some have partially remedied the problem by increasing the caster, and I wonder if that isn't the real-world solution.

It seems to me the steering stabilizer is just a band-aid from the get go, the makers didn't want to spend the engineering to actually fix the underlying problem.

[Lloyd Smale]

im not buying. For one ive owned them since 1981 and never had a death wobble. Ive seen it happen though and have seen it happen on jeeps with even double gas stearing stablizers. Bottom line is the problem is blown way out of proportion and 99 percent of the time its when someone puts a budget lift and tires bigger then 35 inch without using heavier stearing components, drop brackets and address drive shaft angles. The other cause is worn out stearing gear because of the abuse of going off road especially with tires that would wear out a 1 ton heavy duty set up. I even drove my 2000 tj for a month without a stearing stabilizer. I took it off because it blew the oil out and ordered one and because of ot at work didn't have time to change it. Never once had death wobble even with it blow out or even without it even being there. Comical thing is there claiming only 2018s and 19s are having the problem. If anything the tj versions were hands down the worse offenders and it happened in Arizona desert temps as much as it did in Canadian winters. There just deflecting and pretending to have found solutions no doubt to try to impress the judges in that class action suit. Stearing stabliizers help a straight axle vehicle track down the road with a bit less hunting around and absorb some of the vibrations due to out of balance tires and probably even death wobble. They help hide it they don't prevent it from happening.

[6bg6ga]

The Jeeps I owned CJ5, CJ7 years ago had what was called bounce steer. You would hit a bump and it would wobble. This was remedied by installing a shock type device for about $25-30. In todays world we have to cry about everything.

[Mal Paso]

I agree, it's BS. I actually had a tie rod fall off, fortunately at 25 mph. 04 Dodge 3/4 4X. At the time only the left tie rod was under recall and this was the right side. I got rid of all the Mopar steering linkage right then. They pressed the ball into a cup and peened the lip to hold it and hung it upside down with the weight of the linkage on that peened lip. The steering box was junk too. They finally came up with a good one after 2 aftermarket boxes came out. I wouldn't call it a death wobble but the shakes I got were ALL from the Steering Box.

[metricmonkeywrench]

OK folks time to remove all assumptions.. My 99 Ram 2500 and my sons Jeep Cherokee both suffered from the dreaded death wobble. There is no pucker factor worse than hitting an expansion joint or pothole at 65 mph and having the front end feel like the wheels went instantly square.

BOTH VEHICLES WERE BONE STOCK. period hard stop- no lifts or oversized tires.

I purchased the RAM new off the lot and our state has an inspection program so no bad ball joints or tie rods to blame as they were replaced as necessary. Shocks and stabilizers were replaces on a routine basis, yet the condition was still in the wings. If your in tune with the handling you could feel the flutter in the steering wheel and knew it was coming on and time to look for the faulty part. In the life of the vehicle I replaced numerous trackbars, stabilizers and even the steering box after a particularly bad episode damaged it. Routine oil changes included someone in the drivers seat rotating the steering wheel back and forth to see if anything was loose or moving when it was not supposed to.

The major issue is with the geometry of the suspension and track bar/steering linkage, with the steering stabilizer playing in as well. For what ever reason as the trucks got older and the suspension loosened up the issues became worse and thousands of dollars have been spent across the community to find the fix.

[truckjohn]

99% of the time - this is an issue with tires that aren't balanced or have problems with being out of round. Alignment can somewhat make a difference in the severity of the wobble - but the wobble always starts with unbalanced tires.

My experience is that this problem is worse with tires that have deep treads and generally crops up as the tires experience end-of-life. I believe it's due to the fact that there is out-of-roundness in the body of the tire under the treads. They generally make sure the tires finished outside tread runs true - so they run nice and smooth when new.

[tomme boy]

It does not come from unbalanced tires. That would cause the tire to bounce up and down. Not like what is known as the death wobble. That is side to side.

[Petrol & Powder]

I had to deal with the "death wobble" on a 3/4 Dodge 4WD.
That truck had a solid front axle with coil springs and trailing arms and a track rod to locate the axle laterally. Because the steering box is attached to the frame rail, if the axle moves sideways (closer or farther) from that steering box it will also cause the wheels to deflect right and left. Once a resonance is set up that rapid left/right deflection of the front tires will continue until the truck slows down to a point that breaks that cycle.

That "death wobble" had nothing to do with the balance of the tires and the suspension was totally stock. No oversized wheels and tires, no funky springs, no lift. On every occasion it was worn joints on the ends of the track rod that allowed the axle to move sideways.

A steering damper can help prevent that resonance from setting in but the real problem is the axle moving sideways in relation to the steering gear.

[Petrol & Powder]

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

[popper]

60F is COLD? Well, gets them off the bad boy list anyway.

[MaryB]

Don't shoot the messenger LOL just posting what they claim! I know it is an issue in solid axle trucks, my GMC Jimmy did it once in awhile, usually on washboard gravel

[MrWolf]

My 97 Dodge Ram 4x4 2500 HD had the same issue. Mine had the V-10 which Dodge finally admitted that the front end could not support the extra weight. They put in HD dampners supposedly which did fix the issue. Sorry don't remember much more from then as I was pursuing lemon laws as was not fun cruising in left lane and hitting a numb and next thing on the shoulder on right side.

[Lloyd Smale]

probably why when I researched which lift kit to buy for my jk about every recommendation include replacing the front and rear track bars with heavier duty ones. Even so its a rare occurance. My last jeep a 2000 tj had a 120k on it when I gave it to my granddaughter. It had a 2 inch lift and 31s. It never did it once and shes put another 20k on it and it never happened to her. that said it was maintained and if something was worn it was replaced. Ive had jeeps for almost 40 years and had at least a dozen straight axle chev pickups and never once had it happen to me in probably a million miles. Im not saying it doesn't happen. Especially if your the type to fix your vechicle when it falls apart.

I had to deal with the "death wobble" on a 3/4 Dodge 4WD.
That truck had a solid front axle with coil springs and trailing arms and a track rod to locate the axle laterally. Because the steering box is attached to the frame rail, if the axle moves sideways (closer or farther) from that steering box it will also cause the wheels to deflect right and left. Once a resonance is set up that rapid left/right deflection of the front tires will continue until the truck slows down to a point that breaks that cycle.

That "death wobble" had nothing to do with the balance of the tires and the suspension was totally stock. No oversized wheels and tires, no funky springs, no lift. On every occasion it was worn joints on the ends of the track rod that allowed the axle to move sideways.

A steering damper can help prevent that resonance from setting in but the real problem is the axle moving sideways in relation to the steering gear.

[6bg6ga]

I think its more of a question of worn parts contributing to the problem. My CJ5 had a problem for a short time that was corrected by the replacement of some worn parts. Any play can contribute to this condition and its not an out of balance problem as I ran unbalanced tires on my CJ5 while I was waiting for the tire company's new spin balancer to be delivered (many years ago).

[psychodad]

My daughter recently borrowed our 96 Cherokee (stock) just under 100,000 mi. Hit an expansion joint at 70 mph on the interstate when it went into a Death Wobble. Scared her half to death. She had to slow to 35 to get it to stop. It did it one more time before she made it back home. At least she knew what to expect the 2nd time. I went ahead and bought a new track bar and steering stabilizer to install first chance I get. That'll be a start and hopefully will fix it. She has a '19 JK lifted with 33 or 35's. I don't want to be anywhere near that thing when it goes into a wobble.

[KCSO]

For me the death wobble came as I went into the dealer to write the check! Then it hit again at the Co Clerks!

[EDG]

I have seen that wobble in older jeeps when I was working at Ft Wolters towing helicopters during the Vietnam war. The govt contractor hired dozens of teenagers to tow helicopters off of the pad to the hangars for post flight maintenance. Most flying was done during the day and we towed on 2 shifts at night. We beat those jeeps to death drag racing in the dark. Many of them had loose front ends that would wobble simply from the slack in all the tie rods and suspension joints.

[Petrol & Powder]

I think there's some misunderstanding about the term "death wobble". If you ever experience it, you will instantly know what it is and you will never forget it.

It comes from a solid front axle moving rapidly side to side (not up and down), it sets up a resonance and becomes a bit self sustaining.

A solid front axle with leaf springs will do it if the shackles are worn but the solid axles with coil springs are far more prone to the death wobble than the leaf spring designs.

It is a very misunderstood suspension problem. The axle moves sideways in relation to the frame but the steering box doesn't move. That relative motion causes the steering gear to turn the front wheels left or right and when everything rebounds, the steering gear turns the wheels the other direction. Once that resonance is set up, it continues on its own and it is a rapid shaking.

LLoyd, my Dodge didn't develop the death wobble until it was about 12-13 years old. The truck was well maintained but the track rod was a weak design from day one. It had a round bushing with a bolt through it on the axle side and a ball joint on the frame side. The rod itself was not stiff enough for the forces involved. The replacement track rods were not all the same. The cheap ones would fix the problem for a few months and the good ones for about a year. When the truck hit 17 years there were enough other problems that I was done with the entire truck. If I had held onto that truck, the next track rod was going to be one of the heavy duty, re-buildable track rods from Geno's Garage. The factory design just wasn't very strong; even when completely stock.
My father had an old Power Wagon with leaf springs and it never developed the "death wobble" despite far more age and abuse. I think the coil spring design on the Chryslers (and that includes the Jeeps), just wasn't as strong as it needed to be.