andrewmp6

A leaf spring 4x4 can have it when the king pins/ball joints wear out.No matter what you have it in you will become religious really fast.

Cleman Simpson

LOL, I have owned about a half dozen four wheel drive pickups and driven another fifteen or twenty company owned four wheel drives with hundreds of thousands of zero maintenance miles on the odometers, and I have never encountered anything even remotely resembling the GC death wobble of my 04 WJ Laredo. it induced instant terror. I was on my way home after just purchasing it, cruising along at 70 mph, when with no warning at all it just went totally insane. I slammed on the brakes and struggled to keep at least one hand on the useless steering wheel and was positive the jeep was going to break in half while shedding all four tires and do an end over end cartwheel, exploding into a massive fireball. My only comforting thought was that at least the factory seat belts were totally inadequate to keep it from ejecting my smoking corpse before I would be totally incinerated. I used all of the available highway before I finally got it stopped, including the oncoming traffic lane and both shoulders.

If I had enough money with me after purchasing this death trap I would have called a wrecker to complete the 40 mile trip to my house. But I didn't so I limped two more miles to a tire shop along the route and had them pull all four wheels and run them on a spin balancer while I watched. One front rim was bent a little so I put on the spare and made it home not exceeding fifty mph with only a couple more episodes of death wobble, neither of which was as severe as the first one due to my slower speed. I really find it hard to believe the government has not forced jeep to recall these vehicles and update the front ends with a safer design.

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

:r ofl:

Mr. Pink

worn out parts cause death wobble, its not the manufactures job to replace old worn out parts, it's the consumers. you can not hold Jeep responsible for a product that is out of their warranty.

NewKindOfClown

What Mr. Pink said. And every vehicle with a straight front axle is susceptible to it; not just Jeeps.

ReadyToMount

Correct. New vehicles don't have death wobble. Poorly modified vehicles will have negative driving characteristics. Worn stock or lifted suspensions will create problems. Bad handling, extreme cases can cause "Death Wobble". Maintenance is key.
All vehicles can have it. I have an '02 Beetle that is getting almost death wobble level shake on the driver side front wheel. Luckily independent suspension leaves it isolated to the one side.

NewKindOfClown

Then you're incapable of driving. Death Wobble makes the front end shake, but it doesn't cause you to veer off course. I've experienced it in several vehicles, and it also happens in heavy duty trucks. It rarely causes accidents.

Please enlighten us how you propose to redesign one of the fundamental aspects of an existing platform. Include plans for the XJ, MJ, ZJ, WJ, TJ, JK, and the new JL. Quadralink steering was used in over 10 million Jeep vehicles, and DW is incredibly rare on an unmodified Jeep.

dave1123

"Some people you just can't reach!"

Fred/N0AZZ

As we all know there is one thing that can 'Not Be Fixed" here is an example of one.


My 04 WJ with 212,000 mi. stock front end and drives like a dream. But I have it serviced and checked often.

jeepbanger7

I had the same problem and changed the steering damper and steering stabilizer and haven't had issue since

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

andrewmp6

A steering stabilizer only mask the problems.Like said its from wore out parts that need to be replaced.And a lot of people i know think car maintenance is oil brakes and tires only.

dave1123

While I was up at my mechanic's shop the other day, he had a guy with a 95 Toyota Avalon leave his car for a wheel bearing and get the brakes checked. The bearing was so bad, the brake pads were GONE! I mean not even in the caliper! The inside of the wheel had grooves where it had rubbed on the caliper and the bearing came apart in pieces when he took the wheel off! I don't understand how he could be driving that and not notice!

BTW, the other side was almost as bad.

ReadyToMount

If I were to guess. They were probably too busy texting?

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

Just keep turning the radio up louder to drown out the noise.