Jeep Wrangler "Death Wobble"

Hello - Does anyone in @Team_Automotive have experience fixing/repairing the “Death Wobble” on a Jeep Rubicon?

Track bar, tires, alignment, check to make sure your hardware is tight.

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Majority of the time its the tires. Rotate them and see if it goes away.

Is your Jeep stock, or does it have a lift, tires, etc…

Would also be helpful to know what year your Rubicon is.

My ‘18 JL Sahara had it under certain circumstances fully stock. Have not had it come back since the recall work was done.

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Thank you, yeah, I’ve (well, my husband) checked those things as best he can. And an alignment and tire rotation has been done. But, it’s possible that the alignment is out again due to the more frequent wobbles that have been happening.

It’s a stock 2008 Rubicon w/a 1" lift. Currently have slightly larger tires, but about to replace those as well.

At this point I think it’s become a combination of all of these things. We just don’t have the tools and/or experience to do any evaluations or repairs. Most likely taking in for said evaluation & repairs, but happy to pay someone at DMS to check it out and/or do the repairs.

Or do you have any recommendations on a good place to take for repairs? Definitely wanting to avoid the dealerships $$$ :wink:

At DMS we can only work on our own vehicle, but we have many Jeep owners who enjoy wrenching. I know a great mechanic who has saved everyone I’ve sent there hundreds of dollars off quotes they get everywhere else. His name is Berlini and he’s off of NW Highway near 35.

Alignment could be off. For the 1” lift did he do a body spacer? What sized tires? There’s a lot of things that can wiggle out of alignment so it’s just speculation on a forum.

DMS has all the tools and quite a few who are mechanically inclined who might be willing to walk your husband through repairs, but it’s up to him to do the work.

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Adding to @apparently_weird 's comment: Get the quote, then come and folks will help verify what’s legit and and what’s not. While others can’t do the repairs - they can help and instruct, give tips on best places to get parts etc. You could easily save a years dues with the assistance folks give at DMS.

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The JK’s (your year model Jeep)are known for multiple issues. If the tires have been swapped, double check the torque on the brackets. The Trackbar bracket torque is 125 ft lbs. This needs to be done on the ground. Do you know if you have an adjustable trackbar or the stock one? Additionally you can look at both axle & frame brackets. The holes tend to at times get wallered out. I’ve had many friends of mine have this problem. There are a few solutions for it. Make the hole larger & use a larger bolt, this one is not always practical. Another is weld washers. Keep an eye on your welds to the frame & axle as well. They are known to fatigue/crack & break off.

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Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Appreciate the input and will be checking into these probable issues.

@apparently_weird - can you send me contact info for Berlini? Or is this the name of his shop?

Sending you a PM.

steering dampener

1" lift

Check your caster angle. Death wobble in leading arm live axle front suspension is almost invariably the result of insufficient caster angle, which can be brought on by lifting the suspension. The JK only has 4 degrees of caster to begin with, when it probably should have had 6-7 for proper steering control, so once you add even a little bit of suspension lift, you’re screwing yourself.

Given the vehicle age, control arm bushings are also suspect. As they wear, their ability to accurately constrain the axle within the specified caster is diminished, and the natural tendency under load is to reduce caster. Even if the alignment checked out static, it could be down under dynamic loads. There’s only so much adjustment in the control arm cam bolts.

In my experience (I’ve owned 8 solid-front-axle Jeeps) it’s almost never the track bar, and it is literally never the steering damper. (If everything else is in good nick, you don’t even need a steering damper) The deal with the track bar is it controls the axle’s left to right translation, but slop in the track bar usually just results in a loose steering feel on its own. While a bad track bar certainly won’t help matters, its role isn’t related to the steering returning to center, or the damping thereof.

Anyway that’s my helpful post for the year, back to not paying attention to DMS or Talk.

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