Death wobble in brand new JLU?

[Westtown Willy]

One of my neighbors brought home a brand new JLU a few weeks ago & I ran into him yesterday for the first time since then so I stopped to chat for a minute. As we were talking he mentioned that he had taken it on a road trip recently and experienced the infamous “Jeep death wobble” on the highway when he hit 65mph ; said it repeatedly occurred between 65 & 70. I’ve never experienced death wobble but I’ve read about it & from what he explained it sounded like it. Nevertheless I was surprised & told him that can’t be, it’s brand new & to my knowledge death wobble is related to older, worn parts & maybe made worse by modifications. Now I’m wondering if that’s correct?

By the way it's stock.

 

[Jack72]

One of my neighbors brought home a brand new JLU a few weeks ago & I ran into him yesterday for the first time since then so I stopped to chat for a minute. As we were talking he mentioned that he had taken it on a road trip recently and experienced the infamous “Jeep death wobble” on the highway when he hit 65mph [emoji3166]; said it repeatedly occurred between 65 & 70. I’ve never experienced death wobble but I’ve read about it & from what he explained it sounded like it. Nevertheless I was surprised & told him that can’t be, it’s brand new & to my knowledge death wobble is related to older, worn parts & maybe made worse by modifications. Now I’m wondering if that’s correct?

By the way it's stock.

I’m no expert on DW but I did fight it for almost two years. Having said that, it may be a very pronounced “vibration” he’s getting. I’ve read that JL owners are experiencing that which may or may not be a form of DW.

Either way, he’s best advised to get it to a dealership for warranty work ASAP to track it down. And unless he’s lucky and has a reputable dealership he’s working with, he’ll probably have to be insistent that they figure it out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Artemis]

Have you driven his? I've heard the stories. But almost all of them are from people who have never owned a Jeep. They assume any shimmies must be DW. If it were a true DW, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be so keen on repeatedly repeating the situation.

But, people on the forums swear that replacing the steering stabilizer fixes it. Shrug. Placebo effect...

BTW, mine is awesome and nothing but smiles!

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

Death wobble is death wobble. A vibration that reoccurs at the same speed is a tire out of balance.

I see you're in Pennsylvania, I'm in Ohio. Based on the weather we've been dealing with his tires could be properly balanced but just getting ice, snow, and or other salty crud stuck to the wheels will throw them off balance.

My son has a YJ and no death wobble. Every time I see him come home with snow packed wheels from off roading I ask him if he's going to get those tires balanced. He says they don't need balanced , the vibrations will stop when the snow falls out. Then we laugh a little.