Jeep Wrangler 4-DR 4x4 jerking problems

Filed Oct 24, 2014 · Transmission · TX

Transmission pops violently out of first gear upon acceleration causing the vehicle to lurch and pause/stop suddenly. This has been going on for years with increasing severity and occurrence. The vehicle, when in first gear, is most often in the middle of turning or crossing an intersection. This has been going on for years with increasing severity and occurrence to the point we felt it dangerous so we finally took it to a dealer. Despite it being known issue for this make/model, jeep refused to help fix the problem citing the age of the vehicle and warranty expiration.

Filed Sep 24, 2012 · Steering, Suspension · 94,000 miles · CO

The past couple years I've noticed my jeep having a wobble while crossing 60mph, below 57 it stopped above 63 it stopped. I had new tires and balance completed. The wobble was still present. While driving down a 4-5% grade on state route 285 (4 lane divided highway most of the way) I touched the brakes and the front end started to violently wobble.. Enough to rip the steering wheel from my hands. This almost put me into oncoming traffic. The wobble finally stopped at 25mph. The tires chirped in tune to the vibration. I have to assume from loss of contact with the road. The vehicle jerked side to side during this wobbling. Once stopped I checked under the front end and only noted that my stabilizer was now leaking fluid and was bent. This happened around july 18th with my 8 year old in the vehicle. Once I was able to get the vehicle back to town I took off the old track bar, did this due to the overwhelming number of posts on the internet. I took off the original bar and noted the back side of the upper and lower brackets "hollowed out" or oblonged. I removed the track bar and placed the bolts back into the mounts and wiggled them to assess if the mounts were out of round. I noted the bottom back mounting hole had approx. 1/4 inch of movement and the top back mounting hole had 1/8 inch of movement. I am currently seeing a jeep certified mechanic to have stainless steel washers added to the brackets to eliminate the source of the shaking. The mechanic stated this is a known issue that the brackets were made thinner then previous years. He also stated the "washer" fix is also a known solution to this issue. However I noted there isn't a smooth pivot surface on the bolts they are threaded and ate into the steel insert in the track bar bushing. I expected to find a bolt with a smooth surface for the bushing to ride on and threaded end for the nut.

Filed May 24, 2011 · Steering · 47,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 jeep wrangler 4dr 4x4. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the contact encountered a bumpy road and the vehicle began to jerk violently. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer one year ago for the similar failure and the steering damper was replaced. The contact was in the process of taking the vehicle to an authorized dealer for the most recent recurring failure. The approximate failure mileage was 47,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed May 24, 2011 · Suspension · 17,000 miles · NY

2009 jeep wrangler x-unlimited (completely stock) with 20k miles. This is a notorious problem that has been labeled the "death wobble" by many other jeep owners after a simple google search, as well as horrific youtube videos. At highway speeds, a pot hole or bridge joint initiates a horrific wobble in the front end. Countless incidents over the last 3k miles where the steering wheel begins jerking left and right and tires begin hopping on the road. The wobble forces you to have to immediately slow down as low as 30 MPH or even almost stop to eliminate the wobble. Although we have not been involved in an accident due to the wobble, it is extremely likely to happen someday. Slowing or stopping suddenly on a three lane highway when other motorists are not anticipating any need to stop or slow will result in a rear end collision. If unable to safely slow down, continuing driving with the wobble will likely result in loss of control of the vehicle. Extensive research on this topic concluded that there is no known fix. Many have experienced temporary improvement by changing various front end components but the wobble returns. A jeep engineer stated "it is not a jeep issue it is more of an issue related to the fundamental architecture of a solid front axle suspension systems". A very common problem, onset at 17k miles on our jeep and as low as 6k miles on other jeeps, is a jeep problem. Based on accounts of many other owners, dealing with a jeep dealership is a very long process of many expensive repairs, with no end result and the problem still exists. This is a serious problem that I feel needs the attention of a higher entity before the number of property damage or worse, personal injury accidents climb as a result of this 'non-jeep' problem.

Filed Sep 8, 2010 · Driver assistance, Suspension · 33,600 miles · TX

I bought my 2009 jeep wrangler around october, november 2009, used with about 16,000 miles from world car nissan with a one hundred thousand mile warranty. The jeep came with an after market lift kit of approx 4 inches with 33 inch toyo open country tires "rancho shocks, sky jacker lift" world car told me the jeep came like this originally from the dealer. World car encouraged me to take the jeep and test drive it for a couple of days. After returning the jeep I told them that I liked the jeep but it had handling issues on the road. While test driving the jeep on normal roads I noticed the jeep would track hard and pull to the left and to the right almost causing me to run off the road on multiple occasions. World car said they would check out the front end alignment and balance the tires. I purchased the jeep. When picking up the jeep they told me they took care of all the problems. Jeep assured me the handling issues were due to the lift and larger tires. About two weeks later leaving work I turned a corner and my right front tire started klunking and wobbling. The right front tire was missing 4 of 5 lug nuts and had one broken stud. Only one lug nut was holding my tire on. The jeep had to be towed. World car gave me a loaner car, repaired the problem, with no apology and no explanation. Around july 2009, I drove to port arkansas texas, I drove to the beach. I only drove in the normal traffic lanes no four wheeling. The next week on friday while driving down ih 35 the vehicle suddenly jerked to the left almost causing me to have an accident. On saturday I noticed the right rear shock hanging down.the upper shock support pin was broken off. Jeep accused me of four wheeling and abusing the jeep, they repaired it at no cost to me. Some times the traction control system comes on pre-maturely while making corners making the jeep hard to handle. Now the esp bas light came on and stays on. On jeepforum.com esp bas failure appears to be a common problem.

Filed Sep 28, 2007 · Electrical · 200 miles · CA

My jeep stalling at all speeds !! Esp light will flash and car will began to jerk and stall. This problem appears very dangerous since it is not predictable. I have also noticed a knocking sound when this happens . I have read that the transmission is also being affected. Will chrysler address this issue before people get killed ? Dealership says there is no fix for it yet......please help !!!!!!!!

Filed Jun 30, 2007 · Engine · 8,400 miles · NY

My 2007 jeep wrangler sahara unlimited has now stalled twice at highway speed. The stall is momentary, approximately two seconds, and the vehicle quickly resumes normal operation. There is an initial "lurch", then all of the indicator lights on the dashboard light up, then operation resumes. It seems very dangerous and it is very alarming when it happens. On one of my two occurrences I was traveling at 70mph on a freeway, which could have resulted in a very dangerous situation. After my first occurrence I described the problem to my dealer and the response was that it was normal operation of the cruise control (obviously they did not interpret my description properly).

Filed Jun 20, 2007 · Electrical, Engine · 3,200 miles · VA

2007 jeep wrangler sahara stalled unexpectedly on two occasions while driving at low speed. The first time in early march 2007 it was pouring rain and I went through a big puddle which sent water under the vehicle. The car cut off and all the dash light lit up, and the seat belt went off. The car started back up in about 2 seconds by itself. I have assumed the water shorted out for a few seconds and thought nothing else of it. The second time it happened was on june 10, 2007. We were slowing down at stop light and it just cut out. The dash lights came on , the anti-skid light and another red light) I though the car behind us rear ended us because there was a little jerk , rear tires locked. We had to restart to car. It started right up and we continued on. I haven't been to the dealer yet. I was researching the problem on the internet and saw there had been 53 reports of the same thing happening so I figured I should report it also.

Filed Jun 7, 2007 · Engine · 16,412 miles · VA

The problem has occurred three times now. The first time was about 2 months after purchasing the jeep on interstate 95 on cruise control at about 70mph. The jeep stalled, radio cut off, everything went blank, and rapidly deaccelerated. Then the whole dash lit back up, it restarted on its own and the rpms went way up them resumed as normal with a jerk back into gear. I nearl was rear ended by a truck tailing right behind me who honked, slammed brakes and jerked around me. I took it to the dearlership for an oil change and reported the problem. They told me there were no other reports on tsb and the computer found no problem, nor could they duplicate it so it must have been "working it's kinks out". I took it home. About two months later it once again did the same thing in stop and go traffic at about 25 MPH on interstate 495. This time I had to put it in park, people honking and cursing and restart it. I didn't take it in because I feared the same response. The third time about about 2 months later when my husband was driving me and guest from england on interstate 95 again, not on cruise control at about 65 MPH. It repeated the action from the first incident. It's been there four days now for the second try at correction with no update and failed returned calls from the service manager on an update.

Filed May 9, 2007 · Electrical, Engine · 8,850 miles · FL

I was driving toward a red light, and slowing down at 35 MPH, I and had my father in the vehicle when the radio shut off, there was a slight jerk in the vehicle, all the lights on the dash came on, and then everything continued like normal. I had 1/8 of a tank of gas, and it was 87 degrees out. This was the third time that my vehicle stalled. The last time I was reversing out of a space, and damage was caused.