Jeep JL Death Wobble

G

Gasbuggy

Joined
Aug 26, 2009
Messages
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Location
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Figured the forum would like this. My girlfriend has a JL Wrangler MOAB that she bought new in 2019. I remember when we met thinking her car being under warranty was a big plus. Having decided from past girlfriends that women in Subarus and Jeeps were generally dealbreakers. I just don't have the time for vehicles that need more repair work than my entire fleet combined. Extra annoying, their strong sense of faux reliability would lead them to believe their issues were unique, or worse, that it had something to do with me working on them..
Marketing is effective.

By my instincts were strong. "It's still a Jeep" "You'll end up working on it..." My subconscious nagged. It only had 30some thousand miles. She's a doctor, she'll probably trade it in soon. Within months I'm trying to diag a random misfire that the dealer tech couldn't figure out.

Lately shes been complaining about it acting funny on the same stretch of highway, something with it feeling unsettled and some back and forth in the steering. I thought, not death wobble. It has highway tires on it. Totally stock suspension. The only off roading this jeep has done is pulling into a stone driveway, what could possibly be worn? But, after asking to be driven on the road where it does "it" it is in fact some light form of death wobble and after some reading, this isn't uncommon.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago I went to the dealership with her and upsold her on a 4 year additional bumper to bumper warranty for it. So not my problem.
 
Last edited:
Gasbuggy said:
....Having decided from past girlfriends that women in Subarus and Jeeps were generally dealbreakers....
Click to expand...

UNLESS they know how to work on their own vehicle!

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OK... I guess i don't understand the strong aversion to working on the girlfriends truck... she's probably thinking she will end up cleaning your house or having to diagnose all you and your friends little coughs and scrapes... :LOL:

Or was this just a humble brag that the GF is a doctor? :ROFLMAO:
 
My DD is a 2020 JLU Rubicon - no death wobble … it has several hundred miles in 4WD …
Maybe her Jeep needs to go up on an alignment rack …
 
There have been recalls related to death wobble. They will generally only put a new steering stabilizer on, which masks the real issue hiding somewhere in the suspension
 
svtrit said:
There have been recalls related to death wobble. They will generally only put a new steering stabilizer on, which masks the real issue hiding somewhere in the suspension
Click to expand...
It’s been in a small percentage of solid axle vehicles forever - just now the Wrangler still has them and most have gone to IFS. As an owner who loves the JL - I’d suggest not owning them if you don’t get off the pavement. These remain solid for a reason - but are a long ways from an old K1500 in simplicity … they are complicated …
 
svtrit said:
There have been recalls related to death wobble. They will generally only put a new steering stabilizer on, which masks the real issue hiding somewhere in the suspension
Click to expand...
+1

The issue on the JLs is usually the balljoints, it's a known issue and the factory balljoints are weak. The death wobble has been known by Jeep guys for years to be caused by worn steering/suspension components, and is usually exacerbated by a lift and larger tires. Since the JK/JL Wranglers come stock with larger tires than any Wrangler has had before, it makes sense that the problem rears its ugly head sooner.

I don't remember which balljoints are the fix, but I know there are plenty of threads on the Jeepforums about it. The dealer will just put the stock ones back in, or replace a non-problematic steering stabilizer and the issue will return.
 
jeepman3071 said:
+1

The issue on the JLs is usually the balljoints, it's a known issue and the factory balljoints are weak. The death wobble has been known by Jeep guys for years to be caused by worn steering/suspension components, and is usually exacerbated by a lift and larger tires. Since the JK/JL Wranglers come stock with larger tires than any Wrangler has had before, it makes sense that the problem rears its ugly head sooner.

I don't remember which balljoints are the fix, but I know there are plenty of threads on the Jeepforums about it. The dealer will just put the stock ones back in, or replace a non-problematic steering stabilizer and the issue will return.
Click to expand...
Simple translation = oscillation in steering components = put it on a rack … Might be an easy find 🤷‍♂️
 
4WD said:
Simple translation = oscillation in steering components = put it on a rack … Might be an easy find 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
Yup, there are many components that can cause death wobble. Most of the threads about it on the jeep forums start with "what should I replace to cure it?" and there is no simple answer. The answer is get the front end off the ground and start pulling on things checking for play and testing joints with a pry bar.
 
Here is a list of components that actually cause death wobble in live axle / coil sprung front suspensions:

1. Tracbar
2. Tracbar
3. Tracbar
4. Tracbar
5. Tracbar
6. Tracbar
7. Tracbar
8. Tracbar
9. Tracbar
10. Tracbar

Actual death wobble is the axle itself moving side to side. It's an oscillation caused by failure of the lateral link that manifests itself in the axle steering itself left/right very quickly on it's own as severe bump steer.

The panhard bar / tracbar / lateral link has two purposes. 1 is to prevent bump steer as the axle moves up and down throughout suspension travel by keeping the draglink attachment point a constant distance from the end of the pitman arm. In a LHD vehicle, as the axle moves up, it will move slightly to the right. As it goes down, it moves slightly to the left. It's an arc.

It also provides lateral mounting for the axle. To keep it centered under the vehicle.

IF the tracbar and drag link are not at the same angle (caused by someone throwing aftermarket lift parts at it without supporting mods or worn out bushings / mount brackets / components) *any* movement in the front suspension be it up/down or left/right will feed back through the steering wheel.

What happens with actual death wobble is you hit a bump, or an out of balance tire hits the right resonance and the axle moves. Okay - normal. The problem is, when that happens, instead of the tracbar taking the load and keeping the right knuckle an exact distance from the pitman arm, it doesn't ... And you feel it through the wheel.

So - you hit a bump. Slop in the tracbar bushing. The axle moves straight up instead of up and to the right. That pushes on the draglink. Your hands are on the wheel, and you feel a bit of feed back. But what that also does is steer to the right a bit. Now the axle starts to turn right. But because the bushing has slop in it, instead of the vehicle turning, the axle moves over. Now it's pulling on the drag link and you feel the steering wheel tug to the right. But because you have a hold on the wheel, the weight of the axle and the vehicle pushing on it, cause it to push on the drag link ... rinse, lather repeat.

I've had a few jeeps that death wobbled. You either slow down or mat the gas pedal and power through. For a period, my Cherokee would death wobble at 55. If it triggered, I'd speed up to 60 or slow down to 50.

You can balance the tires to maybe prevent the trigger. People do steering stabilizers to prevent the bump steer portion. That's minorly successful.

Ultimately, death wobble can ONLY be a failure of the lateral link.

I don't know about the Ford trucks, but in the Dodge trucks and Jeeps, the mounts are comically undersized. Every death wobbling Jeep I've worked on that still death wobbled AFTER putting on a new tracbar or bushings was from the axle side mount egging out. The mounts are like 1/8'' sheet metal. Terrible design.

It's either a mount, a bushing or there is a drop pitman arm / relocated tracbar bracket causing the bump steer.
 
I’ve been on Jeep forums over 20 years and as said above the track bar mounts are the prime suspect. Replacing the steering stabilizer if it’s not leaking won’t do anything. We have a 98 Grand Cherokee 4.0 owned since new on 30”x9.5-15 tires no lift stock springs and Bilstein 4600 high pressure shocks. 181,000 miles never had DW. We also have a ‘17 JK Wrangler Unlimited on 265/70-16 tires (30.6”) all stock suspension @ 82,000 miles no DW.
Not a fan of anything higher than 2” or 50mm lifts and Load Range E tires on Wranglers. The higher you go and the stiffer & heavier the tire the worse it seems.
 
I'll tell you the story about death wobble on one of my Jeeps. Before I get into it, let me say that I've had two '96 Cherokees, a '98 Grand Cherokee, and a '99 Cherokee, all with the 4.0 engine. I'm not a Jeep fan by any means, it's just that all of these vehicles (with the exception of the '98 Grand Cherokee) just kind of "fell into my lap" and I purchased them without seeking them out.
The one Jeep of mine that had the death wobble was a '96 Cherokee. This one was my favorite. It had the manual transmission. It also had the complete front end rebuilt replacing everything that moved. A lot of the replacement parts were made by Deeza, back in the day when they were the darling name on this group. The other parts used were Spicer. While it did get some off-brands elsewhere, I used no junk parts on the front end. Also, I used factory recommended tire sizes on all of my Jeeps. There was no huge tires or body lifts of any kind.
And on this one particular Jeep that had the death wobble, the only cure was replacing it with a new steering stabilizer. The old units that got replaced had no leakage. To each his own.
 
LouC said:
I’ve been on Jeep forums over 20 years and as said above the track bar mounts are the prime suspect. Replacing the steering stabilizer if it’s not leaking won’t do anything. We have a 98 Grand Cherokee 4.0 owned since new on 30”x9.5-15 tires no lift stock springs and Bilstein 4600 high pressure shocks. 181,000 miles never had DW. We also have a ‘17 JK Wrangler Unlimited on 265/70-16 tires (30.6”) all stock suspension @ 82,000 miles no DW.
Not a fan of anything higher than 2” or 50mm lifts and Load Range E tires on Wranglers. The higher you go and the stiffer & heavier the tire the worse it seems.
Click to expand...
The aftermarket companies say try all 😷 these first:

48A72BC1-3A97-430B-9E37-FF8BC36FB6CA.jpg
 
DuckRyder said:
OK... I guess i don't understand the strong aversion to working on the girlfriends truck... she's probably thinking she will end up cleaning your house or having to diagnose all you and your friends little coughs and scrapes... :LOL:

Or was this just a humble brag that the GF is a doctor? :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
My wife is a nurse and I'm always working on her cars in turn she always tells me what my problem is 🤣
 
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