Jeep Death Wobble observed

[4wd]

Usually worn parts exasperated by big tires and/or more offset and/or a lift. Guys will put 35 or 37 inch tires on new wheels with a 4-6" lift without upgrading the steering components. Even without offroading the stock parts are overpowered and get sloppy. And guys doing the lift in the garage don't always get the front geometry right. CW is scary.

I modified when younger - it never ended. That made for an easy choice. The Rubicon came with 285’s - but bumped up to 315’s with OEM suspension - if anything it drives the same on the road - but noticeably better in sand. Don’t even air down …

Not going down the modification vortex - already have boats and RV’s to waste money on

 

[AZjeff]

No, lifted with the Mopar 2.5" lift and upsized to 35" tires. Done by the dealer, but death wobble doesn't discriminate.

A friend bought a new 2018 JLU Rubi and had that lift put on and 35s then went to 37s a couple of years ago and has over 85k on it with no DW (yet). It doesn't see dirt much.

 

[Cruisin'n5thgear]

A friend bought a new 2018 JLU Rubi and had that lift put on and 35s then went to 37s a couple of years ago and has over 85k on it with no DW (yet). It doesn't see dirt much.

The aftermarket lifts may be better than the Mopar ones, to be honest. And the JLs need less lift to take bigger tires, too. Best wishes for many wobble-free miles.

 

[wtd]

Years ago, I saw a Jeep Wrangler that was experiencing the death wobble as it drove down the road. It was wild to watch. A friend of mine had it happen to his then fairly new 2017 Ford F350. They replaced the stabilizing shock which fixed it.

 

[D60]

My old '90 Bronco did it, but it was SAS'd with a KP 60 front and leafs. Preloading the KP springs with 3/16" washers seemed to help.

My '11 F350 did it bone stock, esp with a trailer unweighting the front a bit. New Bilstein steering stab cured it 100%

My '19 JLUR did it bone stock. I skipped the V41 recall and installed a steering stab from a 2nd Gen Ram. Problem solved.

Of note, it doesn't have to be high speed violent -- but it usually is. There was a dip in my small town that would set it off at 25mph EVERY TIME in my JLUR, and that was more like a dog wagging his tail at medium speed.

Few understand IFS can experience similar but for very different reasons. KL Cherokees can be terrifying at highway speeds with blown (and I mean blown) front struts. As the wheels pogo stick vertically, steering wheel feedback is inevitable and it gets into a cycle of near self-perpetuation. First gen (95-04) Tacos get massive bumpsteer with blown front struts.

The world's a scary place I guess

 

[Astro14]

I was driving down the highway today when I saw a Jeep Gladiator suddenly dart over to the shoulder after experiencing what I assume was the "death wobble." I watched the front end violently shake in my rearview mirror. A few minutes later, the same Jeep caught back up to me, and it happened again right next to me. I'd heard about death wobble but I'd never actually seen it in person. I was honestly surprised by how violent it was. The whole front end was shaking so hard it looked like the driver was barely able to keep it under control and thankfully, no accident occurred. I can only imagine how scary that must be from behind the wheel. The tires looked to be larger/wider than OEM.

So, has death wobble.

Pulls over.

Resumes going fast in order to catch you.

Has death wobble again?

Talk about a flat learning curve! Must be a Jeep thing…

 

[demarpaint]

So, has death wobble.

Pulls over.

Resumes going fast in order to catch you.

Has death wobble again?

Talk about a flat learning curve! Must be a Jeep thing…

I'm thinking it's a can't fix stupid thing......Opinions will vary.

 

[BC1]

My old '90 Bronco did it, but it was SAS'd with a KP 60 front and leafs. Preloading the KP springs with 3/16" washers seemed to help.

Very surprised by this. First I have heard of DW with leaf springs. Researching years ago, the coil spring oscillation was the reason it continues to get worse until you slow down.

 

[KrisZ]

The guy must have a super heightened survival instinct, similar to this sheep I bet

 

[D60]

Very surprised by this. First I have heard of DW with leaf springs. Researching years ago, the coil spring oscillation was the reason it continues to get worse until you slow down.

It's all about caster.

 

[Samurai1225]

My 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee blessed me with the famous err infamous "death wobble" after I ran over the base of a traffic cone on the expressway. It can be and was quite terrifying. That Jeep was one of the worst vehicles that I have owned - A complete money pit.

 

[dfarr67]

Had a solid axle blaser that did this once to me after I bought it. Never pinned it down but it got all new shocks/stabilizer and nerver had an issue after that. Scarey as hell and this was on a residential street.

 

[bdcardinal]

My '11 F350 did it bone stock, esp with a trailer unweighting the front a bit. New Bilstein steering stab cured it 100%

Few understand IFS can experience similar but for very different reasons. KL Cherokees can be terrifying at highway speeds with blown (and I mean blown) front struts. As the wheels pogo stick vertically, steering wheel feedback is inevitable and it gets into a cycle of near self-perpetuation. First gen (95-04) Tacos get massive bumpsteer with blown front struts.

The world's a scary place I guess

I felt it when I first got my F-350. I put on a Bilstein damper and haven't felt it again. Gotta say feeling it in a dually was a code brown moment. What is funny is one of the shops tried to get into a screaming match with me when I said to just put on a Bilstein and that would fix it. Apparently according to him the Bilstein being gas charged (his words) makes it pull.

Also what is funny is I keep seeing a kit to add one to my Silverado. I need to redo the front end because it likes to play Harlem Shake when I hit potholes, and was wondering if that was actually a thing on a 2WD truck.

 

[MCompact]

I installed an AEV/Bilstein steering damper on my 2021 JLU. I really like it.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

I rented a 2020 Wrangler in 2021 with 15k miles on it. Bone stock. It drove fine around town and on the highway but if I drove faster than 75mph the death wobble would start. Specifically if the surface was uneven and there were highway had sweeping curves. Didn't seem to do it in a straight line.

Not sure if the rental was beat on but it drove fine and the tire wear was normal....just shook like heck faster than 75mph. That was fun on the CA highways....

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Had it on an XJ once - bad wheel bearings. on my JL I had a shimmy - but not full on DW. It's DW if you have to come to a near stop to stop it. Too many people think DW is any shake. My shimmy in the JL was fixed by new tires.

 

[BC1]

Had it on an XJ once - bad wheel bearings. on my JL I had a shimmy - but not full on DW. It's DW if you have to come to a near stop to stop it. Too many people think DW is any shake. My shimmy in the JL was fixed by new tires.

Yes DW will not stop until maybe 15 MPH. If you did not stop and check your tires and pants the first time you experienced it, it was not DW.

 

[Hohn]

While traveling thru Little Rock,Ark on the Interstate many years (mid 90s) ago I saw a Dodge Pickup do this. It was very, very violent. I will never forget it. LOL

I had a Ram 2500 and had it happen to me once. It is quite appropriately named. The truck had under 40K miles on it, I'd replaced the garbage Track bar design with a hemijoint setup and still has stock 265/75r16 tires when it happened. The only other suspension mod was skyjacker D25 coils as a "leveling kit". Bilstein 5100s in place at the time.

Still had the DW. But it was just that one time, triggered by a particular bump I hit at an underpass on the west side of Cheyenne. It was brutal but it never happened again other than that once time.


There's a lot of debate about what DW really is, but it's essentially a low-frequency, high-amplitude oscillating resonance in the suspension. Real DW is just a coil spring thing-- 5 link front ends are notorious for it. Thus the 2nd gen Ram trucks (1994-2002) and several Jeep generations are infamous for getting it. Somehow the Single-radius arm front suspension used by Ford seemed far more resistant to it than the dual arm design Chrysler was using.

There's no one cause of death wobble. It's a system-level phenomenon. It doesn't automatically mean you have bad ball joints or not enough caster or bad tie rod ends or a worn track bar or whatever. But any one of those can be the item that puts you over the edge and go from not having DW to having DW.


Really high end racing shocks all but cure DW in almost all cases because they have hugely different damping curves between compression and rebound. You need that especially on a truck designed for carrying things, since it will be vastly over-sprung and under-damped in rebound when its empty.

The rebound on my old Ram was so violent that an impact that wasn't even strong enough to compress the front end to near the bump stops was plenty enough to launch driver and occupants out of the seats and into the roof when the essentially-undamped rebound would occur. If not for seatbelts, serious neck or head injury was a possibility.

 

[QwikKota]

Ours did it without zero suspension modifications and stock wheels and tires. It's freaking scary at 75mph in heavy traffic. Only solution is to slow way down. I did not want to get rid of it after only 4 years but it was one of the factors.

 

[QwikKota]

My old '90 Bronco did it, but it was SAS'd with a KP 60 front and leafs. Preloading the KP springs with 3/16" washers seemed to help.

My '11 F350 did it bone stock, esp with a trailer unweighting the front a bit. New Bilstein steering stab cured it 100%

My '19 JLUR did it bone stock. I skipped the V41 recall and installed a steering stab from a 2nd Gen Ram. Problem solved.

Of note, it doesn't have to be high speed violent -- but it usually is. There was a dip in my small town that would set it off at 25mph EVERY TIME in my JLUR, and that was more like a dog wagging his tail at medium speed.

Few understand IFS can experience similar but for very different reasons. KL Cherokees can be terrifying at highway speeds with blown (and I mean blown) front struts. As the wheels pogo stick vertically, steering wheel feedback is inevitable and it gets into a cycle of near self-perpetuation. First gen (95-04) Tacos get massive bumpsteer with blown front struts.

The world's a scary place I guess

The dealer replaced our steering stabilizer (they stated it was leaking) as well and it helped for a few months but it eventually came back. There is a dip on an interstate flyover here that caused it at certain speeds around 55mph but not every time. Most people who modify Wranglers and wheel state it's not the stabilizer though but may not be relevant to a stock suspension Jeep.

I have also seen it happen violently to an older Cherokee on I-10 but that vehicle was pretty clapped out. I would not be shocked if it had blown struts, pun intended.