Death Wobble (again)

try tires 1st

Tire's often 'trigger' Death Wobble but something else MUST also be loose enough to allow it to develop into full-blown death wobble. Loose trackbar, worn control arm bushings, etc.

Jerry

IsellJeeps wrote:

I have rplaced tires on numerous wranglers due to this and I havent had to go back and do trackbars...stabilizers etc... 99% of the time people dont rotate their tires correctly therefor they cup or get out of round..I buy jeeps all the time where tires are shot and the steering wheel litterally jumps out of my hand when I hit a bump while driving them.... goto 4 wheel parts or tire wheel connection.. buy pro comp all terrains or mud kings and whoaallla no more wobble

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Whatever... but I deal with this stuff all the time and a suspension that does not have a worn or loose part will not allow DW to fully develop just simply a bad tire. Just having a bad tire or tires should NOT cause Death Wobble, sheesh... come on. Replacing tires might get rid of enough of the problem so the Death Wobble goes away but the other part of the equation still remains. Replacing the tires alone just leave the other part of the problem there to come back and bite the owner again if another minor tire problem crops up. You may SELL Jeeps and replace tires but I actually resolve the entire problem... not just replace tires.

IsellJeeps wrote:

lol dont get upset goofy i know your the greatest mechanic alive but a stabilizer wont get rid of the death wobble....lol

I'm telling ya.. I had the SAME problem.

It was my tires. Check those first.

Tim

typical owner... thank you.... your the salesman at 4 wheel parts I am the OWNER... lol ps it is the tires 99.9% jerry

I agree with ISell Jeeps .......... CHECK YOUR TIRES nearly 100% of the time that IS the Problem. best of luck.

Larry

Tires are usually the TRIGGER for Death Wobble, of course, but replacing them is not the entire answer or solution by any stretch of the imagination. If everything on the front-end is tight and up to snuff without loose components like the trackbar, bad control arm bushings, loose ball joints, etc.,, the worst balanced or defective tires in the world will not cause full-blown Death Wobble. Replacing tires that cost anywhere from $500 to $900 or more to fix Death Wobble when they may only be PART of the problem is asinine. I'm glad I'm not a customer of ISellJeeps who just wants to throw money at the problem instead of getting to the true root cause of the problem. I have way too many years of experience with this problem to go along with anyone who thinks replacing tires is the entire fix to a much more complex problem than many understand.

Jerry

extremetj wrote:

Ok, let me clarify MY post.

I had the front end checked out and everything was up to snuff. Then, we moved on to checking tires.. and found that one front tire was bad(the one doing the wobbling), and one rear. Hence, my tire replacement.

Tim

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Jerry always thinks hes the king of it all... I only post to the things I am familiar with and in 15 yrs in the Wrangler business I have never had a Jeep come back for front end problems that I put tires on due to the death wobble... end of thread

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Tim, I don't want to continue beating a dead horse but finding the true root cause of Death Wobble, which is common to more vehicles than just the TJ, is seldom found by a cursory checking out of the front-end. It's hard to find and it is generally a combination of several problems that cumulatively work together to cause DW. It is actually a very complex geometry and design problem that makes this kind of front-end design prone to having DW. It is not just tires by themselves that cause this problem that is actually an industry-wide problem for many brands of vehicles with similar front-end designs. Now if it is just SHIMMY, then yes tires can be the entire cause. But their is a HUGE difference between shimmy and true Death Wobble. Shimmy causes the steering wheel to wiggle back and forth. Death Wobble is a totally different problem that causes the Jeep to feel like it has gone out of control with shaking so severe you can't read your gauges and all you can do is pull over to the side of the road to slow down enough so it stops. Many people think a moderate to even a bad shimmy is the same as Death Wobble so that may be the reason some think that replacing the tires is the cure. But if it is TRUE Death Wobble which is an EXTREMELY VIOLENT problem with the front end that scares the driver half-to-death, replacing tires is NOT the cure. Not even close.

Replacing tires to cure DW is like putting a band-aid on a cancerous skin lesion and pronouncing it cured. It may make the symtom go away but a future small tire problem that should not BY ITSELF cause DW can certainly trigger it again.

That ISellJeeps claims it is strictly a tire related problem that causes Death Wobble shows just how little he truly knows about this subject.

DiezM> Ok, let me clarify MY post.

I have a 03 with 20K miles on my lot SEVERE DW as we speak... when I get back from tire & wheel connection DW will be cured would you like to fly in and watch for yourself??

I agree with you IsellJeeps I had an '03 when it was 6 months old and had the factory goodyear MTR's which and 4000 miles I ended up with DW and found I HAD A BAD TIRE!!!!!! when I got ride of the junk MTR's and switched to a better tire I have never had the problem again.... now there are 30,000 miles on the new tires.

Jerry, I'm not questioning your skills/knowledge/whatever and I hate to prolong this threat any more. But I also hate it when people imply that I don't know the meaning of my own descriptions. So, to clarify:

My wobble was so bad I thought the tire was going to jump up through the wheel well. It was so bad it took the stearing wheel out of my hands. It was SO bad it nearly put me in the ditch from the hwy doing 65mph after I hit a small pothole. It was "extremely voilent" and yes, I was scared to death.. It's safe to say it scared the living sh*t out of me when it happened.

I would call that a friggin death wobble. See my previous posts to find out what fixed it for me.

Tim