This has been a very irritating issue. I have spent a numerous amount of time and money to attempt to resolve this issue. Nothing has seemed to work. I have replaced all the shoes, tie rods, trac bar, steering stabilizer, and have done alignments and balance every couple/few months. I have almost wrecked my wrangler numerous times when hitting a bridge or pothole. This is completely unsafe and I have exhausted almost every route to have this fixed. Having been a Jeep owner all my life and relying on my 1987 Jeep Laredo (Ol' Faithful) when my 2003 TJ is acting up, I feel Jeep should be considerate of their customers and want to resolve this issue. While this issue is not a simple fix and no one can pin point the exact problem, I feel Jeep should exhaust every possible effort in order to resolve this issue.
Problem started just before 100,000 miles and continues to occur every time the Jeep gets around 55mph. It shakes violently, from side to side until I slow down to 35mph. It has nearly caused a wreck several times. I have changed the steering stabilizer, constantly check the tire pressure and have had the tires rotated and balanced several times.
Bought this Jeep new. This (DEATH WOBBLE) started about 5 months ago. All thou Jeep is aware of it they choose to ignore it (until someone can not regain control and dies) This is pretty sh*tty on JEEPS part.
I understand this is a big problem,,I have had shocks,struts,sway bar links and steering shaft replaced. I have also gone thru 2 sets of tires, numerous alignments and balancing rotations. Nothing fixes this problem. When is Jeep going to step up and take responsibility and fix this. Until you experience this Death Wobble you just can't understand just how violent it can be. The only solution I have found is drive under 50 miles per hour.....
Around 50-55 MPH, I would get a sudden vibration in the front end and the steering wheel would start shaking violently. I would slow down to about 30 MPH and then the vibration would stop. This once happened when I was going through a tunnel with traffic right on my back bumper and I had to drive it through the tunnel with the front end shaking almost out of control instead of slowing down. My dealer said it was a tire problem and they rotated and replaced tires. That didn't help so they balanced the front tires again. Then they replaced the steering damper ($188.30) which seemed to help reduce the problem but it didn't cure it. Then I replaced the tires, thinking maybe the tires were out of round or defective. That didn't help either. The last place I took the Jeep, they replaced some suspension part and did an alignment but that didn't help either. Until I checked this site and saw the term "Death Wobble" I thought I was the only one with the problem. I may try to upgrade the shocks next but would appreciate any advice or suggestions.
I've been dealing with the 'death wobble' now for several years, just didn't know it. We have continually tried to balance tires, buy new tires, get the front end aligned, all to no avail! Between 51-53mph my Jeep shakes so bad it feels as though it will just fall apart! Taking it tomorrow to a new mechanic see if he can help. But now I'm worried about the cost!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
This has been a very irritating issue. I have spent a numerous amount of time and money to attempt to resolve this issue. Nothing has seemed to work. I have replaced all the shoes, tie rods, trac bar, steering stabilizer, and have done alignments and balance every couple/few months. I have almost wrecked my wrangler numerous times when hitting a bridge or pothole. This is completely unsafe and I have exhausted almost every route to have this fixed. Having been a Jeep owner all my life and relying on my 1987 Jeep Laredo (Ol' Faithful) when my 2003 TJ is acting up, I feel Jeep should be considerate of their customers and want to resolve this issue. While this issue is not a simple fix and no one can pin point the exact problem, I feel Jeep should exhaust every possible effort in order to resolve this issue.
- Joseph C., Louisa, VA, US