Jeep handling issues

[Snapdragon]

I will find out tomorrow when I take it out on I-65. .

 

[MCINDIANA]

From my experience with the death wobble on my 2009 Wrangler, there is usually at least couple of issues going on that start the wobble on my jeep which had less than 6,000 miles when it began. The wobble is the most scariest experience I ever had that was caused by a vehicle. The dealership never found the problem other than to change out some parts that were damaged from the wobble. I finally figured it out after a couple of tire rotations. When a certain tire was on the front driver side the jeep would incur the wobble. When that tire was rotated to the back, I had no issues. The tire did not have a balance issue. It did show some unusual wear. It is now the spare. The only other time the wobble occurred was when I had 28 pounds of pressure in the tire caused by cold weather. I hit a bump on the road and the Jeep started to wobble. The only thing I could do to stop the wobble is to stop the Jeep! More jeep owners need to make an issue of this problem with the government so that Jeep will take action before people get killed. I filed a complaint. I believe the newer Jeeps do not have much of a problem with the wobble. See below ...


Google .... Eshoo, Waxman Urge Automaker to Undertake Customer Satisfaction Campaign for “Jeep Death Wobble” Problem

 

[Leo]

MCINDIANA, I had a similar thing with tires. After I replaced the set of tires, I felt a shimmy sometimes, and it kept getting worse. I could not find anything wrong with the front end. I took it to a shop and they looked it over, aligned it and re balanced the tires. The shimmy would come back. That fall I put winter tires and plain wheels on the car, and the shimmy was gone. In the spring when I put the highway tires on, the shimmy came back. The tires looked perfect, balanced perfect, had no axial or radial run out. They were some upper shelf Atlas branded tires from the Amoco Gas Station. Uniroyal was the maker for Atlas. I wonder if Jeep got a bad bunch of tires along the way.

 

[eldirector]

More jeep owners need to make an issue of this problem with the government so that Jeep will take action before people get killed.

With the Government? Sigh....

All solid front axle vehicles are susceptible to "death wobble". It is an artifact of that design. One reason why so many manufacturers have moved to something else. Ford, Dodge, and Jeep all (may) have this issue. The "fix" is usually keeping wear items in good repair, and keeping any adjustments within spec.

The last "death wobble" I dealt with was from a bent control arm. The one before that was a worn track bar bushing. Before that, a completely out of spec alignment. Every time there has been something pretty obvious as the issue. Not yet seen a problem in an otherwise well maintained vehicle. Just my experience...

 

[Snapdragon]

FWIW, the rental I got while my Liberty was in the shop was a brand new Patriot with 7K miles on it, and it handled worse than my Liberty before the repairs.

 

[hopper68]

FWIW, the rental I got while my Liberty was in the shop was a brand new Patriot with 7K miles on it, and it handled worse than my Liberty before the repairs.

Loaner vehicles suck. Had one in November, when I glanced at the plates later on, they expired in September. When I returned it I noticed another loaner with plates expired in August. Yes, I politely told them about the issue.

 

[Ballistix]

I am pretty sure the modern Jeeps fall into this category, it seems that most if not all cars have front end components that are not able to be greased. I know the seals are better, so for a person that would never take the car to get greased, the sealed ones probably last longer. But if a person was disciplined enough to keep up with regular maintenance, the components that can be greased would last a lot longer. For a while front end components had plugs you could unscrew and install zerk fittings. My last 4 or 5 cars could not be greased at all.

Glad Snapdragon is getting fixed up. Lots better to get it fixed now than to wreck a car and have it towed in to be fixed.

Modern steering and suspension components are non-serviceable. They add a plastic liner along with a dab of synthetic grease during manufacture. They are now considered consumables, but are supposed to last 100,000 miles. I haven't seen one of these non-serviceable components come close to that mileage.
Ford states the upper ball joints on their newer trucks are not replaceable. They want you to replace the whole arm. That's a load of crap, I've changed many upper ball joints on their newer trucks, expeditions, explorers and a lot of their cars. I just replaced upper/lower ball joints, hubs, tie rods and speed sensors on our '03 explorer last summer.

There are grease-able components available for any vehicle. I wouldn't suggest the lowest cost parts either. I used commercial components made in the USA. They were only a few dollars more each over the economy brand for a solid made and grease-able part.

 

[lovemachine]

Nothing on my wife's Saturn could be greased. Even aftermarket replacements lacked the fittings. My Jeep TJ and my GMC truck have fittings on pretty much every major joint. I hit 'em with the grease gun at each oil change.

Glad the dragon is getting fixed up and back on the road.

There's nothing to grease on my wife's grand Cherokee either. On my Wrangler, everything up front is now after market, and is just now taking a little bit of grease. Johnny Joints are awesome

 

[lovemachine]

With the Government? Sigh....

All solid front axle vehicles are susceptible to "death wobble". It is an artifact of that design. One reason why so many manufacturers have moved to something else. Ford, Dodge, and Jeep all (may) have this issue. The "fix" is usually keeping wear items in good repair, and keeping any adjustments within spec.

The last "death wobble" I dealt with was from a bent control arm. The one before that was a worn track bar bushing. Before that, a completely out of spec alignment. Every time there has been something pretty obvious as the issue. Not yet seen a problem in an otherwise well maintained vehicle. Just my experience...

Yep. Death Wobble isn't only on Jeeps.