JK Death Wobble

[olddude]

The wife and I flew out to Tacoma to visit Granddaughters. Every time we make the trip we try to see different parts of the country. This time we decided to fly into Reno and drive over to Lake Tahoe. So, I rented, you guessed it, a Jeep JK. Beautiful county, we really enjoyed the drive but leaving Reno going down the freeway at about 65 mph all at once we got the dreaded Death Wobble. My wife was driving and it scared the crap out of her. She slowed down and it stopped. Finally we got to a place that we could pull over. I checked the front tires, everything looked good. Then she said the adjustment handle for the steering wheel was not locked down tight. That must have been it because it never happened again. She was ready to take the Jeep back to the rental facility but I talked her out of that.

I don't know why the steering wheel adjustment handle not being tight would cause that but I can think of no other reason. 

[Smokeyyank]

Fiat........

 

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2019/08/10/jeep-death-wobble-fix/1969368001/

[Pete M]

death wobble can strike without warning and hit at random times.  it's a complicated oscillation that develops and gets out of control between the front tires.  chances are slim that anything you could have changed would have caused or prevented it.  

[derf]

I've had death wobble in my JK twice.  First was worn ball joints and tie rod ends.  Second time was control arm and track bar bushings.  Each time I upgraded to better components.  I find it laughable that FCA claims a steering stabilizer will fix it.

 

There's a good chance you'll experience death wobble again if you experienced it once.  The steering wheel adjustment could have contributed.  But it wouldn't be the cause. There are several other things that are probably marginal and they will only get worse over time.  The track bar bolt is notorious for hogging out the hole on the axle side bracket.  Ball joints are always a contributor, as are tie rod ends.

[JMO413]

They are replacing the steering stabilizer in the recall beacuse they were defective. There is air in the fluid of the stabilizer. Just FYI

[olddude]

19 hours ago, derf said:

I've had death wobble in my JK twice.  First was worn ball joints and tie rod ends.  Second time was control arm and track bar bushings.  Each time I upgraded to better components.  I find it laughable that FCA claims a steering stabilizer will fix it.

 

There's a good chance you'll experience death wobble again if you experienced it once.  The steering wheel adjustment could have contributed.  But it wouldn't be the cause. There are several other things that are probably marginal and they will only get worse over time.  The track bar bolt is notorious for hogging out the hole on the axle side bracket.  Ball joints are always a contributor, as are tie rod ends.

This was a 2019 Jeep, a rental, I think it had about 4000 miles on it...but it will not happen again because I am going to keep on driving my 1989 Comanche that has never experienced the Death Wobble  The last time I remember experiencing this was in a 31 Chev coupe, we called it a shimmy and it would happen every time we crossed a set of railroad tracks

[derf]

16 hours ago, JMO413 said:

They are replacing the steering stabilizer in the recall beacuse they were defective. There is air in the fluid of the stabilizer. Just FYI

That may be true.  But a bad steering stabilizer will not cause death wobble.  A good one won't fix it.

 

FCA issued a TSB that basically indicated the fix for complaints of death wobble was to replace the steering stabilizer.

 

https://autorepairdenvercolorado.com/repsponse-to-chrysler-fiat-tech-bulletin-on-jeep-death-wobble/

[JMO413]

16 minutes ago, derf said:

That may be true.  But a bad steering stabilizer will not cause death wobble.  A good one won't fix it.

 

FCA issued a TSB that basically indicated the fix for complaints of death wobble was to replace the steering stabilizer.

 

https://autorepairdenvercolorado.com/repsponse-to-chrysler-fiat-tech-bulletin-on-jeep-death-wobble/

I understand all of that and have read the actual Chrysler recall I work at a dealership. It's their fix not to say it will actually fix anything. Normal recall in my eyes.