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Stock-ish mostly 08 JKU Rubi death wobble

Paragon

Member #42 if by Bus
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
122
Messages
2,091
Loc
Jackson, MS USA
My daughter's 08 JKU Rubicon apparently has a slight tendency for a death wobble at the same place on the interstate.

Wife was driving it and texted me all freaked out after it did it her. (texted cuz I was in meeting). She assumed something broke. It was right before her exit so pulled off and drove slowly to the house. Later, I asked where it happened, and I remember there is some big huge whooptedoo dips in the interstate and figured it must have been death wobble.

Daughter comes home and wife says something to her and she said it's happened to her. Wife was like WTF, I nearly died and you didn't mention to your dad that this happened? She said she thought she handled it well and she just thought it was a jeep thing going over the whoops.

So, no lift. Wrangler tires, IIRC. Everything suspension is stock, prolly most OEM as I don't remember doing anything to it yet (after 14 years). 2 to 3 pretty big dips back to back at 70mph induced death wobble and I suspect it was at a slight angle of attack from what both said. Like driver's side tire led over the humps first, slightly.

What do I need to look at. I could not replicate on 2 tries. It takes too fucking long to get back on the interstate where this happened.
 
Paragon said:
My daughter's 08 JKU Rubicon apparently has a slight tendency for a death wobble at the same place on the interstate.

Wife was driving it and texted me all freaked out after it did it her. (texted cuz I was in meeting). She assumed something broke. It was right before her exit so pulled off and drove slowly to the house. Later, I asked where it happened, and I remember there is some big huge whooptedoo dips in the interstate and figured it must have been death wobble.

Daughter comes home and wife says something to her and she said it's happened to her. Wife was like WTF, I nearly died and you didn't mention to your dad that this happened? She said she thought she handled it well and she just thought it was a jeep thing going over the whoops.

So, no lift. Wrangler tires, IIRC. Everything suspension is stock, prolly most OEM as I don't remember doing anything to it yet (after 14 years). 2 to 3 pretty big dips back to back at 70mph induced death wobble and I suspect it was at a slight angle of attack from what both said. Like driver's side tire led over the humps first, slightly.

What do I need to look at. I could not replicate on 2 tries. It takes too fucking long to get back on the interstate where this happened.
Click to expand...

death wobble in bone stock JL I rented last summer was easy to cause to repeat. I think it had less than 8k miles on it. I think it's a Jeep thing.

On SuperDuties, the thing to check is usually the track bar... Not sure on Jeeps.
 
same, track bar usually.

But could also be balljoints or loose control arm bushings.

My Dad's Rubi the steering box went bad but that caused alot of wandering.
 
change balljoints, tie rod ends and panhard bar bushings / rod ends

after 14 years it wouldn't hurt anyways
 
Like stated above ball joints and or track bar/ panhard bar bushings. With vehicle running have another turn the steering wheel back and forth a small amount while looking at the bushings.

Ball joints and tie rods can be harder to diagnose and should be replaced.
 
Agree with everyone above. Steering tie rods or track bar.

Ignore or remove the steering dampener for diagnosis it can mask the wobble but can not fix it.

Check the alignment too.

Mine was a worn steering box but that should be the last thing you check as it is least likely and most expensive but it does happen.
 
FLUX said:
Like stated above ball joints and or track bar/ panhard bar bushings. With vehicle running have another turn the steering wheel back and forth a small amount while looking at the bushings.

Ball joints and tie rods can be harder to diagnose and should be replaced.
Click to expand...
This. Watch all the bushings/joints for play. One of them is moving/loose.

Ball joints: Jack the tire up just off the ground, shove the Jack handle under the tire and pry up. Camber change means bad ball joints.
 
14 years. How many miles? 10k miles garage kept is a lot different than outside
 
I wonder if anyone has played with caster split and how it affects the wobble. Ifs cars/trucks run more caster on the drivers side to prevent wander. Im guessing the caster is same both sides on jeeps stock? I know probably nobody likes offset balljoints but on a stocker its prolly NBD. We have an alignment machine at work and i do a few here and there so i think im hot shit
 
Jmmorriso said:
I wonder if anyone has played with caster split and how it affects the wobble. Ifs cars/trucks run more caster on the drivers side to prevent wander. Im guessing the caster is same both sides on jeeps stock? I know probably nobody likes offset balljoints but on a stocker its prolly NBD. We have an alignment machine at work and i do a few here and there so i think im hot shit
Click to expand...
Caster split is mostly for road crown correction but yeah, they're the same side to side stock, no way short of the offset balljoint to change that on a late model Jeep as far as I'm aware.

All the alignment tricks in the world won't fix worn out parts, and worn out parts are what makes death wobble.
 
anything loose in the front-end can cause it... in addition to what's been mentioned above...wheel bearings, tires out of balance, etc.

Good luck, may have to let it get worse before the cause shows its self.
 
Gal in my office just went over this with her 2008. Told her all of the above (track bar, ball joints, tre's, steering box etc) she took it to the stealership and they said it was the tires. Now, her tires were junk, but i was sceptical. Sure enough, new tires and an alignment and she is good to go.
 
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