How to fix this?!?!?! Had to drive it 40 miles home like this. Couldn't go over 40 mph out this happened. My brother followed us in his gladiator, his daughter took this video. Look at the entire front end at around the 15 second Mark. I've never experienced death wobble like this.... I thought we were going to die. The truck originally had 33" mudders on it but we or the stockers on because the boggers were dry rot. Not sure if an alignment will fix this. What do I look for? It has 1ton steering and upgraded heavy duty everything.

 

Here's the front end with the 1 ton steering

 

Can a mod delete this thread? I didn't realize the was death wobble as I've never experienced it in the 11 Jeeps I've owned. Searching death wobble threads now.... Thanks

 

Keep the thread alive that way maybe someday there's enough info around that people actually stop and fix whats causing it.

 

My 79 f150 did that. Was worn out steering components.
tie rods.
Just no need to try and steer when that is happening. Just slow brake.

 

It's not an unsolved mystery. It's a common symptom that can have many causes. It's like saying "one day we'll figure out what causes foot pain", but there are probably hundreds of causes for pain in your foot.

Pick the front end up and lightly and SLOWLY shake the front tires side to side. (If you're moving the steering wheel, you're pushing too hard) Nothing should move. If it does, replace it. Get a long pry bar and pry upward on the tires slowly and repeatedly. Check the ball joints for play. If it moves, replace it. If everything looks fine and nothing moves, replace the control arm bushings. And of course, once you replace stuff in the steering or suspension, get it aligned. Death wobble cured.

 

The front end is brand new, less than 100 miles on everything. The guy I bought it from went to 1 ton steering and replaced every component on the front end this is a list of everything he replaced on the Jeep before I picked it up. He replaced all the ball joints with heim joints, not sure if that is causing some of it because you can grab the Trac bar and twist it and it'll twist up and down on the bearing with no effort at all. That's what a heim joint does but not sure if it's a good thing on a Jeep that can suffer from DW. The Jeep was also never aligned after he replaced everything. The stock tires that I'm driving on in the video are mismatched pieces of crap. Two are light truck tires two are bald passenger car tires. I'm sure that didn't help at all. I already ordered new wheels and 35's and after they are balanced and installed I'm bringing it to have it aligned at a place that builds off road trucks. I'll ask them if the heim joints are good or should I go back to a ball joint. Three been in business for over 20 years doing only lifted truck things so I think I can trust their opinion. Hopefully that'll cure the issue cause I bought this for my son to drive when he gets his licence in a month but I'm not sending him out in this Jeep until it's fixed completely.

 

How can you replace all of the ball joints with heim joints? I have never heard of that before.

With everything being brand new there is a chance that something came loose or wasnt torqued properly. Check everything and check everything again.

 

Hmmm so a symptom of human error is death wobble.

 

Looks like the tie rod ends might be heim joints.

Take a pic of your control arms. I suspect the PO neglected to change the bushings. Also, how much lift is that?

The alignment will have a lot to do with death wobble for sure. Just see about getting some closer pictures of things before wasting time on an alignment. If you have to replace parts, do it BEFORE the alignment. Otherwise, you'll do it again.

 

The Trac bar, tie rods, pitman arm and drag link are all heim joints. I'll check the control arm bushings tomorrow.

 

I'll check the control arm bushings tomorrow. It's a 4.5" lift from what I've been told

 

Sorry about the delay, I bought a new gladiator the day after I made this post and the Cherokee got pushed to the side for a few days. I finally got back at it today. The control arm bushings looked brand new, no wiggle in anything, the heim joints are all tight and everything that should be greased is. I installed new 35's today and even without an alignment the death wobble seems to have left. An alignment will happen sometime next week hopefully but until then I'm very happy with the way she drives and looks.

 

Pretty much every time I've gotten death wobble, it was from worn out crappy unbalanced tires. Glad to hear it's coming together!

 

Normally gladiators and cherokees don't live at the same address, very nice.

Glad tires fixed it. Normally its a quad chrome steering stabalizer set the guys recommend to fix the wobble.

i would venture a guess that out of balance tires are kicking off death wobble through other warn or improperly installed or adjusted parts..

Im going to balance beads in all my rigs since weights means the tires will soon not be balanced..