Steering dampener failed on 2022 Rubicon

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SCB

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I just bought a 2022 rubicon and I’ve only had it 1.5 yrs and the stabilizer is bad. Heard from a friend this is a jeep issue for years. I drive my snowmobiles to Canada and up north. Should I sell my jeep? I need it to be reliable. I don’t want to be on icu roads and the wheel shake like to was. Tires are good and so is alignment.
SB
 
SCB said:
I just bought a 2022 rubicon and I’ve only had it 1.5 yrs and the stabilizer is bad. Heard from a friend this is a jeep issue for years. I drive my snowmobiles to Canada and up north. Should I sell my jeep? I need it to be reliable. I don’t want to be on icu roads and the wheel shake like to was. Tires are good and so is alignment.
SB
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Welcome.
First of all, this is a TJ forum.
Second, a worn-out stabilizer is not causing your shake.
Fix the actual problem and you'll stop wearing them out.
 
So what you're probably experiencing is what we call death wobble. Search these forums, Google and YouTube.

Post some pictures of your front end and tell us a little bit about any troubleshooting you've done and we'll see if we can give you some decent advice.

That being said death wobble often gets confused with vibrations...the more we know the more we can help.

-Mac

P.S. This forum is for TJs...made from 1997 to 2006. @Chris might want to move this to the Other Jeep forum.
 
Rickyd said:
This,don't listen to these other guys! Your jeep is seriously flawed!!
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The dealer is ordering a steering dampener but a mechanic told me jeep has had this issue forever and can’t fix it. I don’t want to get stranded in the winter. Advise please?
 
SCB said:
The dealer is ordering a steering dampener but a mechanic told me jeep has had this issue forever and can’t fix it. I don’t want to get stranded in the winter. Advise please?
Click to expand...

Smartass comments aside. You have a solid axle vehicle. If the tires aren't balanced perfectly and are concentric(round) with wheels that are true you will get shake in the front end and or steering wheel.ranging from mild to I'm going to die!

Other loose components like a track bar,links,wheel bearings or balljoints will allow that energy to be stored and released in a manner that can be frightening.

What is your jeep doing? Is the damper leaking a bit of oil? Is it shaking?

People without knowledge on this subject will throw steering dampers at solid axle vehicles and pray it works.and it might even work for a little while til the damper is blown again.

My uncle has a jl rubicon on 35s that he wheels hard. He doesn't blame his steering damper when it shakes
 
macleanflood said:
So what you're probably experiencing is what we call death wobble. Search these forums, Google and YouTube.

Post some pictures of your front end and tell us a little bit about any troubleshooting you've done and we'll see if we can give you some decent advice.

That being said death wobble often gets confused with vibrations...the more we know the more we can help.

-Mac

P.S. This forum is for TJs...made from 1997 to 2006. @Chris might want to move this to the Other Jeep forum.
Click to expand...

Hi it’s at the dealer so can’t give you any pictures. On 4 separate occasions the wheel started to shake and turn right left right left really hard like I’m on a jagged road. Once I pulled over it stopped but now I’m afraid to drive with my boat or sleds. Just want to know if I should sell. The tires were recently rotated and the alignment is good. Dealer says steering dampener.
 
SCB said:
Hi it’s at the dealer so can’t give you any pictures. On 4 separate occasions the wheel started to shake and turn right left right left really hard like I’m on a jagged road. Once I pulled over it stopped but now I’m afraid to drive with my boat or sleds. Just want to know if I should sell. The tires were recently rotated and the alignment is good. Dealer says steering dampener.
Click to expand...

Research death wobble. Steering damper is a bandaid
 
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Rickyd said:
Smartass comments aside. You have a solid axle vehicle. If the tires aren't balanced perfectly and are concentric(round) with wheels that are true you will get shake in the front end and or steering wheel.ranging from mild to I'm going to die!

Other loose components like a track bar,links,wheel bearings or balljoints will allow that energy to be stored and released in a manner that can be frightening.

What is your jeep doing? Is the damper leaking a bit of oil? Is it shaking?

People without knowledge on this subject will throw steering dampers at solid axle vehicles and pray it works.and it might even work for a little while til the damper is blown again.

My uncle has a jl rubicon on 35s that he wheels hard. He doesn't blame his steering damper when it shakes
Click to expand...

It’s not shaking a little it is shaking the entire vehicle and has occurred four times. Otherwise it is smooth as can be. Just started a couple weeks ago.
 
SCB said:
I just bought a 2022 rubicon and I’ve only had it 1.5 yrs and the stabilizer is bad. Heard from a friend this is a jeep issue for years. I drive my snowmobiles to Canada and up north. Should I sell my jeep? I need it to be reliable. I don’t want to be on icu roads and the wheel shake like to was. Tires are good and so is alignment.
SB
Click to expand...

1. Wrong forum

2. Read my thread on death wobble, a lot of that will carry over to any general solid axle.

3. If you had bigger tires put on, are they balanced properly? Not good enough… PROPERLY. That was my issue. That along with a bad track bar angle and control arm bushings. Your bushings are likely fine, but that’s an example. What possibly happened is a poorly balanced tire or a tire missing a wheel weight was rotated (as you stated) to the front and is now causing the oscillation.

4. Why sell it? It’s under warranty lol. I get you’re stressed. But if I sold every vehicle that had an issue that left my head scratched, I swear I’d be at the title bureau every couple of weeks…
 
Some Jeep JLs have a legitimate issue with the factory steering stabilizer. I believe there was actually a recall done on the pre-facelift JLs.

Before the recall, our local dealer was replacing them under warranty with the Rancho equivalent.
 
PNW_LJ said:
Some Jeep JLs have a legitimate issue with the factory steering stabilizer. I believe there was actually a recall done on the pre-facelift JLs.

Before the recall, our local dealer was replacing them under warranty with the Rancho equivalent.
Click to expand...

He still has an underlying cause of DW or shimmy though, correct?
 
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PNW_LJ said:
Some Jeep JLs have a legitimate issue with the factory steering stabilizer. I believe there was actually a recall done on the pre-facelift JLs.

Before the recall, our local dealer was replacing them under warranty with the Rancho equivalent.
Click to expand...

So, they fixed it with a bigger Band-Aid? :unsure:
 
LONGJP2 said:
So, they fixed it with a bigger Band-Aid? :unsure:
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images (1).jpeg
 
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