Dragon5126
New member
the stabilizer is for bad roads at highway speed not for correcting with suspension issues. The problem is the can hide issues while they are easily corrected if you are a mall cruiser,,,
I have tried everything for my death wobble
- Thread starter jessjk2010
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- 2010 death wobble wrangler
Gennybro
Active member
This makes more sense to me!
Utah_jeepster
Super Moderator
Monteman, the problem with death wobble is, it is hard to point at one thing and say change this and it will fix it, without having a good shop, who can help diagnose this you need to do a dry test looking for worn parts, bad tires, or improper alignment set up. Once you lift your jeep, or any live type front axle vehicle you change factory angles and geometry and open your self for the dreaded DW.
The first thing is to do a dry test turning the steering wheel on level ground and see if anything moves. I.E. track bar connection points, steering arms including any type of flexing, steering box flexing? Then the fun part, lift the jeeps front wheels off the ground, and supporting the frame with jack stands, with a long, sturdy pry bar start checking the ball joints, control arms bushings. All of this will tell you if you have a worn part. If everything is good and tight and "nothing" moves then checking the alignment and seeing of any angles are out of factory spec. Most simple lifts don't come with adjustable control arms which rotates the axle and pinion angle back into factory specs. Steering arm angles and connections?
Like this tread has stated its curse of any model year jeep when you change tire size and or lift. If you decide to take it to your local off-road shop, call and question them if they ever dealt with DW and how hard to look into fixing it. If your not satisfied, call another. You can spend tons of money chasing this by going to the wrong shop.
From simple tire size changes (weight), puck lifts to major long arm kits, each change will find the weakest link in your jeep, and DW is just around the corner. But a slow careful examination of your front end components will show you what is broken or needs replacing.
JPNinPA
Active member
Your vehicle still has the issue?
I don't think anyone knew you were still looking for an answer..
Start with a dry steer test and post findings
and post alignment numbers,
proper tire inflation
and road or speed balanced.
Dragon5126
New member
without a hands on there is nothing but opinions on what to try. You should understand that. First off and foremost it could be any combination of two or more things that could cause it. You could have worn tie rod ends, bad ball joints even a slipped belt in a tire. things that are not necessarily obvious, adding together to cause it. Even worse, if the jeep was severely abused and the frame is slightly twisted this would cause it, however this would be found on a front end alignment, as it wouldn't be able to be brought back into spec. Have you kept a list of what you have done so far? How far have you gone on checking it? and have you tried cross rotating your tires ( bias ply method as opposed to standard radial method). these are all important things that NEED to be done. and IF you are taking it in for work are you taking it somewhere that is actually experienced with Jeeps as opposed to "yes we work on jeeps" there is a major difference.
J Smith
New member
You don't give much info, so I have to make many assumptions. (Mileage, normal uses, does it start at certain speeds, what suspension did you add, would be questions I would like to know about) I don't know if the people you have taken it to are true Jeep QUALIFIED, but I will assume not if they haven't fixed it by now. The very first thing you or someone who UNDERSTANDS steering and suspension need to do is crawl under the front while someone turns the steering wheel lock to lock. EVERY joint in the steering must be watched INDIVIDUALLY and then FELT just to make sure. Sometimes you can FEEL something you can't see. This applies to your control arms as well. You hopefully have adjustable control arms.
IF all joints appear and feel tight, check the track bar mounts. The holes can elongate and cause DW. Even a small elongation here is critical. Track bars are the first problem USUALLY. The bolts in the track bar mounts can wear and have a shoulder on them too. If either of these is the problem, have a qualified 4x4 shop over bore the holes and weld in special sleeve that will actually give you more bearing surface than the stock plate from the factory. I would upgrade to a grade 8 bolt too. Check the Control arms for the same thing. They have a tendency to elongate the mount bores and wear the bolts too.
Next, check the ball joints. Many of the alignment shops do a poor job of checking these. These can be a contributor to your DW.
If that doesn't clear things up, check that your wheel bearings are torqued correctly. Having loose or worn wheel bearings allow the wheels to wobble. BTW, take your steering dampener (most idiots call these a stabilizer which it is NOT) loose or off when you are test driving. These damn things hide your problems. I don't even run with one.
Next, if they didn't already give you one, get a print out of the alignment specs when they "aligned" your rig. Check it against the stock alignment specifications. The caster is your critical spec. When you add a lift to any vehicle, the angles on the suspension change. The rule of thumb is to raise your pinion about 1 degree after three inches of lift. 2" lifts USUALLY don't require this, but if it was on the low side to begin with, this can cause a problem. Raising the pinion MIGHT help. The other thing at this point is the toe. Especially if you change the caster, reset the toe to about 1/8" toe in.
When you take it to an alignment shop, ask how many Jeep Wranglers the tech has done. If few or none, go somewhere else. They are just practicing on your dollar. It takes someone with a head full of suspension savvy and EXPERIENCE to cure a DW on a Wrangler. I have fixed some that several other shops have given up on, trust me, if they've not done at least 4 or more times, they aren't your man. 95% of these guys don't know enough about what the hell they are doing to be of any help to you.
Last, when you are checking for loose joints, remember that a little here and there add up to a big movement. Just because one joint has just a little in it, don't forget that. An accumulation of little movements add up to DW. I've seen guys replace one joint and no DW for a while, and then it's back. They didn't chase the gremlin far enough.
DW is seldom a "here's your problem" fix. Sometimes, but seldom. And these guys that tell you to balance or rotate your tires, don't listen to them. If your steering and suspension is in good working order, you can have some shimmying or vibration, but never a DW. Tires can trigger a DW, but they are NOT the cause... EVER!!
Good luck.
IF all joints appear and feel tight, check the track bar mounts. The holes can elongate and cause DW. Even a small elongation here is critical. Track bars are the first problem USUALLY. The bolts in the track bar mounts can wear and have a shoulder on them too. If either of these is the problem, have a qualified 4x4 shop over bore the holes and weld in special sleeve that will actually give you more bearing surface than the stock plate from the factory. I would upgrade to a grade 8 bolt too. Check the Control arms for the same thing. They have a tendency to elongate the mount bores and wear the bolts too.
Next, check the ball joints. Many of the alignment shops do a poor job of checking these. These can be a contributor to your DW.
If that doesn't clear things up, check that your wheel bearings are torqued correctly. Having loose or worn wheel bearings allow the wheels to wobble. BTW, take your steering dampener (most idiots call these a stabilizer which it is NOT) loose or off when you are test driving. These damn things hide your problems. I don't even run with one.
Next, if they didn't already give you one, get a print out of the alignment specs when they "aligned" your rig. Check it against the stock alignment specifications. The caster is your critical spec. When you add a lift to any vehicle, the angles on the suspension change. The rule of thumb is to raise your pinion about 1 degree after three inches of lift. 2" lifts USUALLY don't require this, but if it was on the low side to begin with, this can cause a problem. Raising the pinion MIGHT help. The other thing at this point is the toe. Especially if you change the caster, reset the toe to about 1/8" toe in.
When you take it to an alignment shop, ask how many Jeep Wranglers the tech has done. If few or none, go somewhere else. They are just practicing on your dollar. It takes someone with a head full of suspension savvy and EXPERIENCE to cure a DW on a Wrangler. I have fixed some that several other shops have given up on, trust me, if they've not done at least 4 or more times, they aren't your man. 95% of these guys don't know enough about what the hell they are doing to be of any help to you.
Last, when you are checking for loose joints, remember that a little here and there add up to a big movement. Just because one joint has just a little in it, don't forget that. An accumulation of little movements add up to DW. I've seen guys replace one joint and no DW for a while, and then it's back. They didn't chase the gremlin far enough.
DW is seldom a "here's your problem" fix. Sometimes, but seldom. And these guys that tell you to balance or rotate your tires, don't listen to them. If your steering and suspension is in good working order, you can have some shimmying or vibration, but never a DW. Tires can trigger a DW, but they are NOT the cause... EVER!!
Good luck.
Hey guys. I have a 2010 jk with a 2 inch lift. I have put on bigger tires, replaced tie rods, steering stabilizer, track bar, and had it realigned multiple times, but the death wobble will just not stop. This is a huge problem for me, considering I travel a few exits on the highway daily. I love my jeep to death and I can't part with it. Please help
Bounty__Hunter
Super Moderator
Probe the control arm bushings with a screwdriver and flashlight, look for tears in the rubber. I've seen this allow DW to happen after I ruled out everything else.
Dragon5126
New member
Sorry J Smith but you are mistaken "BTW, take your steering dampener (most idiots call these a stabilizer which it is NOT" Jeep has designated it a stabilizer going back into the early AMC days and beyond... and as for tires never causing a DW, wrong again, tires going out of round, suffering belt slippage and several other issues are well known for causing this, and not only on live axle rigs it happens on two wheel drive/rear wheel when bad tires are on the front. I fact one of the FIRST steps after alignment is checked is tire rotation. Do not come in here slinging juvenile comments and false statements such as you have, While much of what you stated is true these two false statements especially your "IDIOT" idiom just blew any validity to what you DID have to say out of the water. In fact some of us have been doing this a lot longer than you have been walking
Bounty__Hunter
Super Moderator
Dragon, I tend to agree with parts of what both of you say. While tires can 'cause' death wobble, it's not the loose or worn part that allows a tire shimmy or imbalance to escalate into a full-blow 'out of control' death wobble.
In my opinion there are to factors to DW, the tire imbalance or bump in the road that causes the tire to shimmy, and the loose or worn suspension or steering part that allows that motion to escalate into DW.
Remember, let's not take things personal and attack each other, just provide what you think is useful. If it feels good, you probably shouldn't say it LOL.
In my opinion there are to factors to DW, the tire imbalance or bump in the road that causes the tire to shimmy, and the loose or worn suspension or steering part that allows that motion to escalate into DW.
Remember, let's not take things personal and attack each other, just provide what you think is useful. If it feels good, you probably shouldn't say it LOL.
