Having a hard time with death wobble 2020 Gladiator

Limpinlobster

Limpinlobster

Member
Having a hell of a time with death wobble. I've tried going through the list of checking the steering components, ball joints, etc... Here is a list of what I've done to try and solve this and hopefully some of you can help me out.

2020 Gladiator Rubicon 12,000 miles
4" Rockrawler lift adjustable upper control arms
New Synergy drag link, tie rod, trac bar
fox steering stabilizer
Just had aluminum steering box replaced with factory steel box at dealership a few days ago.

I've had the caster adjusted a few times, a full alignment, and had a few shops try to check it out. Balancing my tires helped, but it will still go full death wobble. By the way, I have the infamous milestars, not by choice.

Happens when I hit small bumps going about 40. Would hate to have it happen on the highway.

The next thing I'm going to try is getting the lower control arm drop brackets, then getting new tires.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
For now, I would try reinstalling your factory steering stabilizer.

What does your alignment look like now in terms of numbers?

If you have the means, I would check your ball joints to see if they are worn. I have had JK ball joints go out in as little as 4k miles.
 
Also, if you don't care about wearing out your tires, I would set your toe OUT a bit. This should help mitigate DW but at the cost of your tires. Granted, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they aren't what is instigating your DW.
 
I don't have the paper from the dealer, they did an alignment when they replaced the steering box. I can put an angle finder on the axle real quick. I haven't touched the ball joints yet, I'm sure I checked it, but I'll jack up the front and see if there is any for and aft movement on the tires.
Thanks Eddie
 
Limpinlobster said:
I don't have the paper from the dealer, they did an alignment when they replaced the steering box. I can put an angle finder on the axle real quick. I haven't touched the ball joints yet, I'm sure I checked it, but I'll jack up the front and see if there is any for and aft movement on the tires.
Thanks Eddie
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What I'd like to know is what your toe is set at as well as caster.
 
Limpinlobster said:
Having a hell of a time with death wobble.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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wayoflife said:
For now, I would try reinstalling your factory steering stabilizer.
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I would also definitely recommend reinstalling the OEM stabilizer. A member here went through months of death wobble on his JL and it started after he installed a Fox stabilizer and finally stopped after he removed it. The other thing I would check is the bolt torque on all steering links and the Track bar.
 
Here is the ground on the passenger side .7
and passanger side top of the C reads 8.3. same as the driver side

comes out to 7.6
 

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WJCO said:
I would also definitely recommend reinstalling the OEM stabilizer. A member here went through months of death wobble on his JL and it started after he installed a Fox stabilizer and finally stopped after he removed it. The other thing I would check is the bolt torque on all steering links and the Track bar.
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I was having the problems with the factory steering stabilizer, and tried to band aid it with the fox one. It did help suppress the jerky motion over bumps, but not enough. I could still try to throw the factory one back on.
 
HighwayTrout said:
These dudes already put you in the right direction. Grab a torque wrench and while your torquing everything up front to spec check wear items like your ball joints.
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Will do, might be a while before I can get to checking the torque on everything, but I haven't touched the balljoints yet. I did buy it used with 5000 miles on it, so who knows how the person before me was driving.
 
OverlanderJK said:
How many miles on the rock krawler lift? Are they still using those crappy joints?
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I got the version of the lift that isn't using the crappy ones, I barely have 1000 miles. No noise or squeaking of any kind. I was having a little bit of death wobble before I got the lift installed, but not to the point that it caused full on death wobble. It had a budget boost when I first got it.
 
Limpinlobster said:
Will do, might be a while before I can get to checking the torque on everything, but I haven't touched the balljoints yet. I did buy it used with 5000 miles on it, so who knows how the person before me was driving.
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Limpinlobster said:
I got the version of the lift that isn't using the crappy ones, I barely have 1000 miles. No noise or squeaking of any kind. I was having a little bit of death wobble before I got the lift installed, but not to the point that it caused full on death wobble. It had a budget boost when I first got it.
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Wonder if ball joints are shot. Bet that’s why the other guy got rid of it. Couldn’t handle the death wobble.
 
Limpinlobster said:
I got the version of the lift that isn't using the crappy ones, I barely have 1000 miles. No noise or squeaking of any kind. I was having a little bit of death wobble before I got the lift installed, but not to the point that it caused full on death wobble. It had a budget boost when I first got it.
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My first instinct was that it had to be the aluminum steering box, but I just had it replaced and it's still wobbling. It does feel better driving on the freeway though. A lot of the steering wander and dead spot is gone.
 
I'll check back in as soon as I can get a toe reading, Y'all have probably helped out a bunch of people with this multiple times. Greatly appreciated. I'll get it as soon as I can.
 
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