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Death Wobble

Jeep owners feel the need to take a perfectly engineered vehicle and stretch it, accessorize it, give it tires that it wasn't made for, then beat the snot out of it on a regular basis. This can cause things to come loose, and sometimes loose things will wobble. There is a phenomenon called a Death Wobble, which sometimes happens to Jeeps as they are being driven, usually between 40 and 45mph. The steering wheel will shake violently with a side-to-side motion, sometimes strongly enough to move you into adjacent lanes of traffic. The only way to stop the shake it is to slow down to a crawl and limp home. After you get home and get your clean underwear on, it will be time for some detective work.

Death wobbles happen when your vehicle's suspension system is out of line. One part is loose and shifting around, which causes another part to store and then release the resulting energy. Imagine two kids on a trampoline. One kid jumps and lands, which forces a second kid into the air. Then the second kid lands on the trampoline, forcing the first one up again. Now imagine that there are about a dozen other kids on the trampoline besides the two main jumpers. They aren't jumping exactly, but they are having a good time bouncing around on the fabric. This is your Jeep in a death wobble. Finding the source of your death wobble will require you to identify both jumpers and then find out who jumped first. As you can imagine, car parts are even less cooperative than boys in trouble, so your tie rods are not going to squeal on the control arm bushings. While the potential causes are too numerous to explore in this article, there are a few usual suspects you should check right away.

Anything made of rubber is a prime suspect. Rubber wears out quickly, and can store and release energy very well (think about the trampoline). If you have lifted your Jeep but haven't had an alignment since, that could also be a cause. While the guys at the shop are checking the alignment, have them look into the wheel balance and castor angles as well. Tie rods and other pieces of steering linkage are also common causes of wobbles, as are leaf spring bushings.

Death wobbles are nasty experiences, and when they happen, the cause or causes should be mercilessly hunted down and fixed. Knowing your jeep will help you to identify the trouble areas. If you can't identify the problem and stop the wobble, you may need to call on some professionals and re-tune your entire suspension system.