2004TJ front end wobble

damgoodespresso · 2005-06-23T22:06:06+00:00

OK - the vehicle is a 2004 TJ Sport, 4 wheel discs, limited slip Dana44 Rear, aluminum wheels. 30,100 miles, I've had it since new. Greatcar in every way. I don't offroad it yet, I just drive it in snow andadverse weather conditions.Recently, though, if I drive along and hit a particular type of bump,usually a manhole cover sunk down into the asphault, and with onewheel, usually the driver's side front, a wobble starts in that wheel,travels up the steering column and into the steering wheel and won'tlet go until it either dies out on its own, or maybe I change theposition of the steering wheel and it damps out, or I brake and slowdown. It persists for 2 to 6 seconds, and is quite startling. Notsomething the vehicle has done in the past, ever. It does seem to begetting worse over the last three weeks. It does not do it at all muchof the time.A quick look under doesn't show anything obviously loose or leaking,and pulling at the tire and wheels and steering while they are on theground doesn't seem to show any obvious play.The car is under extended warranty.My questions are:(1) This sure sounds an awful lot like the usual death wobble, but at30,000 miles? Is this normal Jeep steering behavior for this mileage?I've done regular maintenance at the hard use interval, includinglubing the front suspension and steering every 4000 miles, so itshouldn't be neglect... The tires are due for balance and rotate, andI've never had it aligned. But it's driven on-road.(2)Any suggestions on what to look at and wiggle and test to locatewhere the problem is and what to replace? I'd like if possible to beable to pinpoint enough of a problem to get a dealer to actually fixit, if possible. I'm thinking it has to be the stabilizer shock, I'mthinking get the wheels off the ground and move them, looking for playin the tie rod ends and for resistance in the stabilizer shock. Anyspecifics on what to look at to pinpoint the error would be muchappreciated.This news group, by the way has...

Jun 23, 2005 43 Replies

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L.W.( Ãill ) Hughes III 21 years ago

Hi Doug, Nothing that I can think, but treat it like a truck, and know all truckers or pilots are required by law to walk around their rigs looking for anything out of the ordinary. Do that and you will notice your cupping, rust from dry joints, oil from leaking seals, before they become catastrophic. God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O mailto: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com

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damgoodespresso 21 years ago

Thanks, Bill. Good advice.

--doug

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damgoodespresso 21 years ago

Yes you were right. Also one of the aluminum wheels went out of round (or was roginally out of round...)

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extremetjs 21 years ago

Great Job everybody in helping him solve this issue...... The only other thing I can thing of as far as gotchas is the factory stabilizer generally goes bad after 7000-9000 miles.

Larry

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