Will a bad steering STABILIZER cause the death wobble, common with jeeps? I've replaced everything (shocks, coil springs, tires and recently aligned), everything except the stabilizer, no problems until yesterday, bad wobble going up the freeway onramp and again about 65 mph on freeway. After coming to a complete stop I proceeded as normal (no wobble). Kinda scary when flying down the freeway and all of a sudden it feels like the front tires are coming off, with no place to pull over! That explains why its called the Death-Wobble...:|:|
I would double check everything. A steering stabilizer is not a cause nor a fix for death wobble. You have something worn somewhere. I would start with the track bar. Crawl underneath and have someone turn the wheel side to side. Pay close attention to the axle side. You should have absolutely 0 play in your track bar. You need to do this with the Jeep on the ground.
The stabilizer isn't to prevent DW; with a good front suspension and steering there's no DW even with no stabilizer. Best a new stabilizer can do is mask the symptoms.
Hmmm, ok thanks. Guess I will take it to the jeep doctor. $$$ The reason I thought it might be the steering stabilizer is because I had a 91 yj wrangler that developed a wobble, I replaced the steering stabilizer and the wobble ceased, sold it shortly thereafter. What is the purpose of the steering stabilizer, I'm guessing its just to make it steer a little better and not really necessary correct??
It's to damper steering vibrations. The wobble indicates you have a worn component, out of balance tires, etc. something isn't right in your front end. putting a new stabilizer on will only mask the problem for a short while and just lead to further problems down the road.
I've had worn steering ball joints and knuckle ball joints and didn't get death wobble, all the death wobble problems I had were to do with the track bar either worn bushings or loose bolts.
Soooooooo....you back from the mechanic yet? How'd it go?
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