Death Wobble

[Bayrat]

After years of running Jeeps, I finally get to see the "Death Wobble" in a Wranger. Someone on the Jeep forum filmed it, scary!!! This has been happening a lot on both stock and lifted JK rigs. Never occurred on mine except for minimal tugging.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwiv23dL ... =quicklist

[stjames151]

You gotta see it on a HMMWV on the freeway at 80-85. I ended up drifting across 4 lanes of traffic and luckily onto an off ramp.

[PhilD]

DW invariably happens from badly installed or worn components. Loose track bar and control arm bolts are a common cause, as are worn tie rod ends or drag link ends. If everything is installed correctly and in good condition there is no reason to have DW.

This happens to just about solid axle vehicles. It happens to Jeeps a lot as many of them are modified. I certainly haven't heard about it happening on the JK more other Jeeps though, in fact I'd say it happens a lot less and in nearly every case it is due to a bad install, bad components, or just crappy steering/suspension geometry.

[Bayrat]

Can't really say relative to the older model Jeeps, I have had them all and never had it on any of them, however, it seems to be posted an awful lot on the JK forum. Other than a few IFS vehicles, all of mine have been solid front axles and I have never had that occur. Perhaps the bad install and poor maintenance is the culprit.

[stjames151]

My brother gets this quite a bit on his 3/4 ton suburban on long down hills with a lot of weight on board. They say its compounded by the abs system, but nothing to worry about. We documented it several times with the dealership and hope to never have to prove them wrong or someone gets hurt.

[PhilD]

Perhaps the bad install and poor maintenance is the culprit.

Nearly every time. Usually something as simple as a loose bolt, but sometimes is more complex and is a result of bad geometry.