I love the hell out of my Jeep, but this is a real problem and hopefully this can get some press and force Jeep to design a good track bar setup.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...eam&id=8547340

 

Up here in Canada they are looking into the ram trucks, for death wobble as well. The problem with jeeps is that most people mod them so they can't say for sure stock sucks.

 

Interesting, and thanks for the post. They seem to make it sound a lot more common than it really is though. Hope this video doesn't scare people out of buying Jeeps.

 

Actually, I talked to the guys at the Chrysler dealership here and they said it was actually more common in trucks. They could not recall any incidents or reportings with any of their Jeeps. That dealership installs a lot of lifts on JK's as well....heck, it seemed like every manager and sales rep had a big lifted Jeep there.

 

ok it may seem dumb but depending on where you got your tires / rims and what was used to balance them i had 38's that were balanced with the inner beads they came loose in the tire and i had a terrifing wobble. so that may be an idea to have checked ( blalncing ) if its itereor balanced than take the tire off and role it around and see if some thing is moving around in the tire if its external waighted than it would have to go on a machine. whene the ware the can come out of ballance also. hope you get it figured out.
John

 

They are right, any vehicle with a solid axle is suseptable. There is records of Fords and others, just Jeeps notice it more. I wont lie I hope they find something to cause a recall on this. But at the same time, mine already failed and happened, I upgraded to the teraflex Monster HD trackbar (full factory Jeep before). I feel that anyone who went to aftermarket parts and/or upgraded the 14mm bolts to 9/16 x 3" grade 8 bolts will be turned away by Jeep saying they wont cover warranty/recall work on altered vehicles.

 

Death wobble is simply a result of damaged or worn parts, and or something is out of alignment. No need for a recall, just take your vehicle in for service..

 

Partly true. The track bar ends and mounting holes are prematurely wearing out due to Chrysler using slightly smaller 14mm threaded bolts ion a 9/16 drilled hole and not using shouldered 9/16 bolts. This is causing wallowed out holes from the slight play which gets looser over time. The added stress of having to keep the torque of the 14 mm bolts very tight to keep play at bay damages the joints also.

 

This. DW originates at the track bar. Jeep is full of executives who are either complete idiots or excellent liars. Their response to the reporter in this story is pitiful.

DW is well-documented on stock vehicles. It occurs because Jeep under-engineered the front track bar and the points where it attaches to the frame and axle.

The correct response would be to:

1. Use the right size bolts. This is so simple that it's maddening that Jeep ever did it wrong in the first place.

2. Re-engineer your track bar for enhanced strength where it attaches to the frame and axle.

3. Make it a routine maintenance item to check the track bar bolts for excessive or premature wear.

4. Make the track bar attachment points replaceable or repairable.

Doing all of this would cost Jeep jack sh*t. Instead they try to blame lift kits (which do exacerbate the problem, but still...), tire balance, and steering dampers(!!). Unbelievable.

 

Well, after almost 5 years and 50k miles (and a ton of mods and wheeling) I finally developed DW. I agree, that for the knowledgable, it's easy to diagnose and fix but I used to be a mechanic, I'm a lifelong gearhead and I read EVERYTHING Jeep related. How is someone who just buys it to drive, like any other vehicle, supposed to deal with DW when Chrysler and the dealer network just blow smoke up their respective asses? And, keep in mind that most probably don't maintain their Jeeps to nearly the same extent that some of us do. I rebalance my tires after every wheeling trip, I rotate them every 3000 miles. I check and lube my ball joints and TREs very frequently. I torque all suspension and steering fasteners after every wheeling trip, etc. and I STILL got it. Today, I spent my morning replacing all the 14mm suspension bolts with shouldered, grade 8, 9/16" hardware (thanks Northridge) and in the process, found that the rear hole on the upper front track bar mount was wallowed out by close to 1/8" (this despite gettting torqued correctly and frequently). I welded a 9/16" washer over that hole and finished the hardware install. DW is now gone completely. BUT......Chrysler/Jeep once again have a lot to answer for here. 14 mm non-shouldered bolts in 9/16" holes, soft frame material, incredibly maintenance intensive suspension and steering, overly light components, etc. Serious Jeepers understand and expect these things........the soccer moms and mall crawlers who keep Jeep in business don't.