I just bought a 2015 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a 2.5 inch lift sitting on 35s. Engine is a 3.6L.

I have a serious death wobble that I never knew until I hit a pothole after I bought it "AS IS."

anyone else ever experience this if you have the same year jeep

and what did you fix?

 

You need to focus in on the front track bar joints and bolts, and then the ball joints. these are the absolute most common things when it comes to DW. With vehicle off, have someone sit in the front seat and turn the steering wheel back and forth while you sit in front of the jeep and observe the front track bar at the frame-side mount. you should see no real movement there besides some possible flexing in a bushing. front TB bolts should be no less than 125ft lbs.

jack up front axle, support on jack stands, put shovel under front tire and step on shovel handle which will create upward pressure under the tire. you should see no movement where the knuckle meets the C by the upper BJ. if you hear anything or see that knuckle moving up/down (anything other than what you could call "flexing" due to the pressure) then you need new ball joints.

 

I like to take it one step further. I had wear in multiple joints. I did the normal "look and feel" and found a bad drag link joint, but that was just the first layer of the onion. I found that by putting my hand on each joint while the steering wheel is moved back and forth quickly, I could tell exactly if that was the bad joint or if I was feeling a different bad joint just transmitting through the linkages. In other words, if you feel it more on one side of a joint than the other, that joint is suspect. Do that with all of the joints - taking care not to get caught in the moving parts of course. In my case I identified a bad track bar joint and a bad tie rod joint too - all confirmed after I removed the parts.

The point is you might have multiple joints with a little play adding up to a big death wobble. You might "fix" the wobble by finding the worst joint, but the others will start rapid wear on your brand-new joint if you don't fix them too.

...and while you have the front up on jack stands, grab the top of the wheel and give a few good push-pulls. Sometimes steering ball joints are worn such that they are relatively tight up and down, but you can feel the slight back-and-forth looseness.

The other thing to look for is how much the steering box flexes when the steering wheel is moved back and forth. You might be surprised how much it moves independent of the frame. I put on a sector shaft brace and my steering never felt tighter.

Finally, the JK linkage from the steering wheel to the steering box has a spline joint that is notorious for giving a "click" to the steering. Under the hood you will find the steering linkage that has a rubber boot in the middle. That's the culprit. What I did is to break the boot free at the firewall side, slide it down a bit, and fill the joint with that nasty, sticky fifth-wheel grease. I slid the boot back up and secured it with a screw-type pipe clamp. The grease makes everything very quiet and lasts for years. Not a death-wobble contributor, just another noise playing with my OCD impulses.

 

Turned out it was the upper and lower ball joints. When I replaced them I dropped the knuckle and now my abs light and traction light is constantly staying on the dash? Any tips?

 

I'd say it's the wiring, tone ring, or tone ring sensor. If you don't have an OBD2 reader and app, now's the time to invest in one.

Make sure all wheel speed wiring connectors are pushed in tight.

Look for any fault codes. That might help you zero in on a damaged speed sensor.

Clear all fault codes and go for a ride. It would also help to remove the battery wire from the negative post for about 30 seconds and reattach it. If you get the fault back, it's for real.

Next jack each front wheel up one at a time. You don't want the differential to be rotating the other tire as you try this step. Locate the speed reading on your OBD2 app and watch the speed as you spin the wheel. You should see some change. If you see it on one wheel and not the other that's your problem.

I'd guess if you dropped the knuckle, you damaged the sensor. If you dropped it from high enough you might have damaged the tone ring. Let's just hope its the wiring or the sensor. Look at some YouTube videos for how to replace the sensor. It's a bit of a PIA, but probably no worse than what you just went through with the ball joints.

Good luck!

 

Yup, the most obvious thing here would be stretched the senor wiring when the knuckle was dropped. those wires are pretty thin gauge under all that insulation/protective coating.

Code reader that can read the ABS module should display a code that pinpoints it. If you don't have one, Jscan app and BT dongle is well worth the money if you plan to own that jeep for any period of time.