planman

Death Wobble is extremely rare for properly maintained jeeps.

Maintenance should include retorquing the suspension components after every major off roading trip and retorquing the front trackbar bolts at every oil change interval. It also includes rotating your tires at every other oil change interval, and fixing your alignment if it is out due to bending a drag link or tie rod while off roading. It includes fixing things that are damaged or broken right away, and not driving the jeep when things are worn, loose, or broken.

For any jeep that has had Death Wobble, if everything is inspected and fixed at once, and the jeep isn't driven until then, as long as the jeep is properly maintained, the return of Death Wobble is extremely rare.


It only takes about an hour or so to do a thorough inspection of the front end using my written inspection checklist. Sometimes people aren't as thorough as they need to be, and they have to repeat the inspection more than once to find everything.

Usually, what happens is that jeeps are not maintained, they are damaged while offroading, or aftermarket parts are improperly designed or installed, and the jeep experiences Death Wobble.

However, the owner of the jeep continues to drive the vehicle and experiences multiple episodes that end up destroying multiple front end components.

They take it to someone who is incompetent or not thorough, and they get a new steering stabilizer, balance the tires, and maybe get an alignment, instead of fixing the source(s) of the problem. Since the true source(s) of the problem aren't fixed, they continue to damage components, and eventually, the new steering stabilizer fails prematurely.

Then, they maybe read my thread, watch my videos, or take it to someone who is mildly competent or a little more thorough, and they fix some of the parts that are damaged--i.e. destroyed lower ball joints, ovaled out trackbar bracket holes, or maybe the drag link end at the steering knuckle.

However, without fixing everything, the jeep continues to get driven and the newly installed components wear out prematurely, and the Death Wobble returns.

Then, out of complete frustration, they sell or trade in their jeep. (Maybe someone who knows what they are doing buys the jeep at a huge discount and simply fixes the problem(s).)

I bought a great jeep from a guy on the forum who was simply tired of "chasing his tail." 9/16" bolts, new brackets and braces, upgraded tie rod and drag links, new track bars, new ball joints, dual steering stabilizers, multiple alignments, different tires, new unit bearings, drag link flip kits, etc. were replaced over the few years he owned the jeep. Because not everything was addressed at once, he had a persistent shimmy/wobble. I don't know that he ever experienced violent, rip-your-front-end-apart Death Wobble. The second to last things were replacing feathered tires and installing a dual stabilizer to suppress the shimmy/wobble enough to sell it. He gave me a pretty good deal--about $4,000-$5,000 less than retail.

In the end, the last problems were that the ball joints were bad (his second set of stock ones), and because the ball joints were bad, the alignment was bad (causing the feathered tires). I did a thorough inspection. I parked the jeep and waited till I could spend an afternoon and installing Synergy ball joints and resetting the alignment. I've owned the jeep for 3 years since then and have had no problems.



The sad part is that if jeeps were simply properly maintained, if the dealer techs were trained how to do a thorough inspection, and/or if aftermarket parts were properly designed and installed, the Death Wobble would almost never happen, and people would be able to really enjoy their jeeps...or Ram Trucks, or any other vehicle with a front coil suspension with a trackbar and a solid axle.


So, long answer is, if everything is repaired and the jeep is properly maintained, the chance that the Death Wobble will ever return is very low.