I smashed my Steering stabilizer while wheeling last weekend.
First experience with Death Wobble on the way home. Only one instance.
Retorqued the tracbar, tie rod, drag link and swapped to my street tires for the drive into work and had to pull over 10 times during the 45 mile drive. Lowered the air pressure for the drive home and the jeep was less prone to DW, but on the 3rd wobble the Front Tracbar Bracket ripped off the axle.

Had the jeep towed to the dealer where they informed me that my 3/36 warranty expired 900 miles ago. Towed the JK home and there she sits until I can reweld and brace the bracket.

I've read the options on the need for a steering stabilizer, but I thought I would share my experience.
Needless to say I have one on order.

 

i would bet there was something else going on besides your steering stabilizer causing the problem. i don't think just your SS being smashed would cause that severe of DW.
i'm sure others will have more info on this and respond soon.

 

I didn't think the SS was that critical, but a mechanic friend of mine swears that it is vital. I laughed when he was concerned about me driving on the road without it. After the bracket failed, he was laughing at me.

The tie rod is a little bent up, giving me more toe in but that should make the jeep track a little straighter at the expense of a little tire wear. The TREs seemed to be solid.

I'll take a harder look at everything this weekend. Maybe there was too much slop in the TREs.

 

Only had the DW once. Had my SS off because I stripped the threads on the upper bolt when
putting on a new heavy duty one. Hit bump in road at 40mph and DW. Also had a bad lower
right shock bushing that was bad. Had local garage put on new SS and new bushing and
no more DW ever!!!

 

I almost guarantee you it wasn't the SS... there are several threads on here regarding the fact that the SS does nothing but limit steering jitters and bump steer. It might limit the effects of DW, but not cause it or stop it.

I'm no steering expert, but to me a bent tie-rod would cause DW. If your wheels are toed too much, traction/weight shifting from wheel to wheel would cause the steering to shift so the wheel with the most traction tracks straight... then the weight would shift back, and forth, etc etc, causing the resonating wobble.

 

sorry to hear about the problems you've been having but seriously, there is no way your smashed steering stabilizer would have been the cause of all your death wobble. however, being that your steering stabilizer does share a common mount with your track bar at the axle, it more than likely suffered a fracture or tear when you smashed the stabilizer. this may not have been easy to spot even if you were looking for it but with the mount compromised, it would have allowed your bracket to flex AND THIS would have given you death wobble. of course, had you found the crack then and there, it would have been an easy fix. unfortunately, it was missed and driving with it only caused more episodes of death wobble and they eventually led to the total failure of the mount. trust me, there is no way that a steering stabilizer would have prevented this.

 

no offense, but your mechanic friend doesn't know what the heck he's talking about. it's because of mechanics like him that i decided to learn how to work on my own jeeps over 10 years ago and why this forum exists today.

 

I couldn't disagree more. JK's are very sensitive to having tight steering. I do work on these and have seen this on others as well as my own. I also smashed my SS and had to drive home with out it. What a frustrating ride home! My TJ would have never had a problem like this, but the JK had DW almost every time you cross an expansion joint in the road. I came home and replaced the SS and have never had the problem again.

 

you can disagree all you want but you wouldn't be right. likewise, if you really have worked on other jk's, i sure as heck am glad it wasn't mine. i have run my JK that is sitting on a 5" lift and 37's without any steering stabilizer for about a month and without any problems. IF you have your suspension and steering dialed in and all the components tightend to the proper torque settings and all the bushings are in good shape and don't have any mounts that are compromised - you should not have any death wobble.

as far as not having anymore death wobble after installing your new steering stabilizer goes, all you have done is masked it and you're kidding yourself if you really believe that you've fixed your problem.

 

No fractures or tears in the bracket, but there was a small "dent" in the bottom portion of the tracbar mount where the bent SS shaft contacted it. Difficult to believe that it would have allowed more flex but it is pretty thin metal.

To your point that you drive on 37's with no SS, when driving home from the desert on 35's, I only experienced the DW once in 100 miles. Right from the start when it was cold out. Maybe more slop in cold TREs? The big soft tires are more forgiving of road imperfections? More centrifugal force with the larger tire/rim? Don't know the real answer, but some one made up the saying Bigger is Better for some reason.

With the little rock hard 225s @ 35psi, any looseness in the steering system made it even more susceptible to DW. The SS would have dampeded the initial impact that started the oscillation. Masking or accounting for the slop in the system.

My fix will be to rebuild the bracket so there is no chance for flex, install a SS, and go back to being a happy jeeper.
Also need to check the frame mount as well. Hopefully no stress cracks. Anyone broke on of those yet?