Death wobble on a 2008 jeep wrangler. Vehicle has a predictable vibration between 55-60 MPH. On one occasion, the vehicle shook so violently that it took the steering wheel out of my wife's hands. She was going around 55 MPH around a curve. On a second occasion, I was slowing down to take an exit ramp. Slowing from 75 MPH to around 60 MPH and entering the exit ramp curve, the steering wheel was almost shaken out of my hands. On a third occasion, at around 60 MPH on a straight road with no bumps, the jeep began to shake violently and again pulled the steering wheel out of another drivers hands. The minor vibration happens everyday between 55-60 MPH. The dealership says nothing is wrong. I have replaced the steering stabilizer with a rancho heavy duty stabilizer. Vibration went away for about 500 miles. I religiously do a 5 tire rotation and balance. No change. I have had a 4 wheel alignment completed. No change. Jeep will not drive the vehicle. They say if there is a vibration to have the tires balanced and the front end aligned. When I tell them that has been done, their reply is that it was not completed properly and they would do it for $300. I am getting to the point of selling or trading it in since I cannot fix the issue. I am almost ready to try to replace ball joints, but at 47,700 miles and no suspension or engine modifications. The jeep has never been off-roaded, never been mistreated. What now? Jeep also offered to replace the ball joints, pitman arm, tie rod ends, sway bar end links, etc. For a nice sum of the $2500. Ouch.
2008 Jeep Wrangler 2-DR 4x4 suspension complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 29 of 29, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2008 jeep wrangler began to violently shake. Automobile is unmodified. Very difficult to control under these conditions.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 jeep wrangler safari. The contact stated that when the vehicle reaches 45 MPH the front end starts to shake. When the contact tried to slow the vehicle down the shaking becomes worse. The contact mentioned that the track arm broke from the vehicle when he tried to slow the vehicle down. The contact was able to merge to the side of the road without having an accident. The contact had the vehicle towed to the dealer and was told that the front brackets and axle needed to be replaced. The dealer stated that they would also have to add two additional brackets to re-enforce the axle. The failure mileage and current mileage was 40,000. The consumer stated the death wobble became so severe, it actually blew off the axle brackets that held the track arm. Updated 12/03/12
I was driving approx. 55 MPH, when my 2008 jeep wrangler began to shake violently. Braking, I pulled to the side of the road to check for a blown tire. I walked around the jeep and saw nothing wrong. As luck would have it, I was in front of a jeep dealership. I pulled across the highway and left the jeep for inspection and repairs. The following day I was contacted and told that I had experienced the "death wobble". I was told I needed to replace the steering damper shock, lower control arms and damper brackets. Then I had to pay for tire rotation and wheel alignment. I have found plenty of complaints on the internet about this problem. After reading some, I am afraid it could still happen again. I am considering selling the jeep. I think that jeep owes the jeep owners a recall. These repairs cost my $650.00. I have owned 5 jeep wranglers, I won't buy another one, unless jeep makes this right!!
Experienced the notorious "death wobble" again today. This has happened plenty of times to me, but today it was the most severe and worrisome. The vehicle shakes and rattles so much that I expect pieces to fall off. Other cars pull up to me on the highway off ramp (where it often happens on our bumpy massachusetts roads) and ask if everything is okay. I'm not sure if I would buy this jeep again. They really need to fix this. Articles online seem to suggest that it is the stock track bar, and if so, why won't chrysler just replace them?
2008 jeep wrangler sahara stock. Violent wobble. "death wobble" while traveling at highway speed, 60mph, I crossed over an expansion crack for a bridge. The front end of the jeep began a violent wobble back and forth until slowing down to approximately 10 MPH. This wobble almost contributed to a head on collision with a tractor trailer in the opposing traffic due to an almost complete loss of steering capability. The problem happened again at the same speed after another small bump. This is an extremely dangerous situation. After researching the problem further, there are endless factors that trigger the wobble. Each problem may be fixed, but it will only provide a temporary solution. The wobble itself cannot be fixed under most circumstances, you can only fix what sets it off. The problem has been documented multiple times on the internet. It was also displayed publicly on the news, however chrysler has not been held accountable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 jeep wrangler 2-dr 4x4. While driving approximately 45 MPH over a road bump, the front end of the vehicle began to violently vibrate. The contact decelerated to 10 MPH which caused the failure to stop. The malfunction recurred whenever driving over uneven road surfaces or bumps at speeds between 45-60 MPH. The authorized dealer and manufacturer were notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.
Violent, extreme shaking in front end of vehicle ("death wobble") at speeds between 55-60mph. Has occurred about 6 times, but is random and intermittent, with no known precipitating factors. It has happened several times when vehicle was traveling over minor bumps but has also occurred more frequently on perfectly smooth, straight pavement - with no turning, breaking, acceleration. The shaking seems to be in the front tires/axle and continues for 3-4 seconds as I am trying to reduce speed carefully and maintain control of the vehicle. It feels like the front tires are going to fly off in different directions! After the first occurrence, it did not happen again for months, but recently has happened several times. I was told by one garage that it was due to tire balance (which I knew was not the case), but I had all four tires balanced/rotated (at about 42,500 miles). Garage personnel stated this "took care of most of the problem" but suggested I get new tires. Problem occurred 2 more times within a week, before new tires. Have had all four tires replaced. Death wobble has not recurred, but I am absolutely certain it has nothing to do with the tires/balance and that this will happen again without warning. It is terrifying and extremely dangerous, and someone is going to be hurt or killed. I have an appointment at the dealership next week. When I made the appointment, they claimed they had never heard of this problem, so I will provide them with information I gathered in about 20 minutes off various web sites detailing the aptly-named "death wobble." I am well-acquainted with the "could-not-duplicate-the-problem" garage mantra, so foresee a protracted and frustrating battle before this life-threatening problem is fixed.
Death wobble - when I reach a speed of over 45 and hit a rough patch, my front two tires start wobbling uncontrollably. It is extremely dangerous and the only way to stop it is to slow down almost to a stop. I have just 31,000 miles on my jeep (no modification and stock tires). This is an extremely dangerous situation. If my wife had this happen, I doubt she would be able to safely maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road. I took it into the jeep dealership. They put a new steering damper on it and said that would fix the problem. It did not. They recommended that I go to chrysler.
At 50,000 miles the vehicle began to have the death wobble. Problem was found to be caused by badly worn stock ball joints.
Severe vibration in front end of unmodified 2008 jeep wrangler x when hitting a bump on highway. Forced to slam on brakes on highway to stop violent shaking and regain control of vehicle. It started a couple months ago and happens any time I hit a big bump. It happened 3 times yesterday. I googled this and it appears this is a rather common complaint - one that seems to be particularly common in the newer style jeeps at around 20,000-30,000 miles even when no modifications have been made. This is very dangerous and if its this common, chrysler should be forced to address this!
Extreme vibration in the front end brought on by (1) hitting a rough spot in the road and (2) hitting the brakes hard. I now understand that this is referred to as the jeep death wobble. It is, as yet, unrepaired. Vehicle damage is unknown at this point.
Well I have a 2008 jeep wrangler x. When I get to 50 MPH I experience extreme "death wobble" as its often called. My vehicle will shake to the point that it feel like either the axel is going to snap or the wheels will shoot off in opposite directions. It is very scary. Its does it roughly 8 out of 10 times at 50mph. It started after having the jeep for about 4 months and my dealership tried once to fix the problem after they diagnosed it as the front stabilizer. It continued after they replaced that and from that standpoint told me it was the tires and they wouldn't cover new tires after once telling me they had fixed the issue. I now have to avoid the highway in fear of death. It is honestly resembles of a 8 or 9 on the richter scale.
Severe front end wobble causing loss of control when driving above 50 MPH. It occurs 90% of the time when driving above 50 MPH.
When driving over 50mph in my 2008 jeep wrangler if I hit certain potholes or expansion joints on the highway, the whole jeep starts shaking violently to the point where I lose control and drivers around me pull off the road when they see what my jeep is doing. I have to slam on the brakes to get the vehicle to stop shaking and it only does so once I am able to bring it to a complete stop. After researching this issue it seems many jeep wranglers do it. It is called "death wobble" and jeep/chrysler will not fix it. I feel this vehicle is very unsafe to drive my family in.
I have a 2008 jeep wrangler 2 door. I recently noticed the "death wobble" occasionally at around 40 MPH. While driving my young son, all was fine and smooth and then all of a sudden the front end started violently shaking and banging around. It steered itself off the road, luckily into a parking lot, but I was still going about 35 MPH. I had to pull the emergency brake to get it stopped before slamming into a parked vehicle. Upon inspection of the front end, I found that my front trac bar bracket welds had broken from the front axle. Had I been in a curve, the front axle would have slid out from under the vehicle! This would have been catastrophic and would have totaled the jeep and most likely caused serious injuries. I have since spoken to a couple of buddies that have the same model wranglers. They both had the same issue! I called my dealership, but they said they have never heard of this and it must have been a freak deal. This is the same response my buddies got from the same dealership!
While driving my 2008 jeep wrangler at about 35-40 MPH over a rough spot on the road, I experienced horrible front end shake that I could not control until I pulled the car over. I'm very lucky there was nobody else in front or in back of me because I had no control of my vehicle. I looked into this online and have learned it's called the "death wobble" and it's happened to many other jeep owners.
Excessive front end wobble, wheel hop at speeds between 35-65 MPH when encountering small changes in road surface(ie. Slight pothole, expansion joint, rippling of road). Also known as the death wobble among jeep owners and dealers.
My brand new 2008 jeep wrangler x 4x4 began the dreaded "death wobble" (loss of steering control) around 550 miles. Thought I was about to "die". Happened 4 more times until I got it to the dealer. After searching jeep forums and such, I found that 1000s of jeep owners have experienced this problem, with many jeep models. And learned that chrysler does not consider the death wobble an issue. My faith in manufacturers has dropped to the bottom of the pit. This is an exceedingly dangerous problem. I'm going to see what I can do to get this jeep defect on national tv. I am lucky to be alive.
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