Originally Posted by supton
Had a new-ish looking Jeep pass me this morning, only to slow down. I thought it odd, then realized a front wheel was shaking--then realized it was both, and that was why he had slowed down. I stopped to make sure he was fine, he was, he'd been driving it as a rental for the last day.
It wasn't a Cherokee, it was... Wranger? dunno, not a Jeep fan. Not one of the FWD things but a regular 4x4 setup, but not one of the upscale ones either.
Anyhow, death wobble or just flogged rental?
Either or both. You can get death wobble in brand new factory setup rigs that have no wear (and don't have a design defect), and of course a worn rig can have death wobble.
IIRC, there *were* a couple recent lawsuits about the Wrangler, alleging that recent versions have a design defect that causes death wobble and FCA released an updated steering damper to 'fix' it. I didn't ever look into the issue far enough to see if it was a "we're going to bandaid it with this damper" fix, "the damper is needed and will actually permanently correct it" fix, or if it was "there isn't a problem with the system, we're fitting a damper to make you idiots shut up" kind of fix.
Originally Posted by PowerSurge
Death wobble. Common with Jeeps and Rams with 4x4 and solid front axle.
It's pretty common in any solid front axle setup, some more than others - but it can affect IFS vehicles too. 4Runners like mine have a highly stressed lower ball joint setup that can cause death wobble when it wears. Uppers too, but they're less likely.