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06-03-2017, 07:10 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,125
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Death Wobble Twice In An Hour
I towed our 2015 Cherokee for a couple thousand miles, and not one instance of the Death Wobble. Got our 2016 Grand Cherokee in March of 2016 an towed it a couple thousand miles and no issues. Thought the problem must be vehicle specific. Guess again. It happened twice within an hour. Both times I was making a slow left hand turn onto a bumpy road. Once I realized what it was, I just stopped and re-started. Don't know if it will go the harness route to the fix or not.
__________________
Bill & Denise
2014 Bay Star 3103 - 5 Star Tune, CHF, Magne Shade
2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara
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06-03-2017, 07:28 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 769
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We dumped the Jeep and bought the Buick Envision. Nice ride, all the bells and whistles and town at any speed. Never another jeep. We had the death wobble so bad it destroyed the Demco hitch point on the car.
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06-03-2017, 07:36 PM
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: western NC mountains!
Posts: 4,106
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I'm really surprised that Jeep has not developed the ability to resolve this chassis/suspension issue with the brand. I had an '07 JK 4 door, and eventually it started doing the same while just driving it. When you're doing 60 mph, down hill, in the center lane of a 3 lane interstate, with other vehicles all around, and the 'death wobble' starts, it can be dangerous, and at least very unnerving. I would never pull it behind my coach!
My '14 Fiesta has never had a 'death wobble' in towing it over 60,000 miles... thank you Ford : )
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06-05-2017, 05:29 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 458
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1 episode of "death wobble" in my wrangler and I couldn't get to the dealer fast enough to dump it!!
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06-05-2017, 08:59 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Murfreesboro, TN
Posts: 345
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what is a death wobble? Towing a Jeep, about 5000 miles so far, a lot more expected.
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Michael & Wendy
2014 Entegra Aspire 42DEQ
2017 Chevy Tahoe Z71(hers)
2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited(his)
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06-05-2017, 09:50 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Ford Super Duty Owner Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Central california
Posts: 123
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bamaspiveys
what is a death wobble? Towing a Jeep, about 5000 miles so far, a lot more expected.
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There has been many posts on this, as well as the dealer fix.
Has anyone tried the bungee fron steering wheel to seat bottom fix? I think I saw that on a jeep Cherokee 2016 forum.
__________________
2020 Riverside Retro 169R TT
2019Jeep Grand Cherokee
Equalizer 600/6000 E4
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06-05-2017, 09:57 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DFW, Tex-US
Posts: 6,196
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Not all jeeps do it...
we've been towing ours for 30k+ miles and we are the second owner...
__________________
'11 Monaco Diplomat 43DFT RR10R pushed by a '14 Jeep Wrangler JKU. History.. 5'ers: 13 Redwood 38gk(junk!), 11 MVP Destiny, Open Range TT, Winn LeSharo, C's, popups, vans, tents...
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06-05-2017, 10:03 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,383
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Do the new jeep have hydraulic or electromagnetic power steering? Heard you have to keep the power steering circuit energized on newer cars with EM power steering. Lots of conversation about DW in Jeep World. Alignment and wheel balance can be a major issue for Jeeps that are towed--especially if they have been modified with raised suspensions [camber and caster issues]. Tire imbalance can also be an issue with larger tires based on abnormal wear from towing.....Lots of things to consider...... Still love my Jeep......
__________________
Old Scout
2015 IH45 Foretravel
2003 Alpine 40' MDTS [Sold]
New Braunfels, Texas
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06-05-2017, 10:42 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Ford Super Duty Owner Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Central california
Posts: 123
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Scout
Do the new jeep have hydraulic or electromagnetic power steering? Heard you have to keep the power steering circuit energized on newer cars with EM power steering. Lots of conversation about DW in Jeep World. Alignment and wheel balance can be a major issue for Jeeps that are towed--especially if they have been modified with raised suspensions [camber and caster issues]. Tire imbalance can also be an issue with larger tires based on abnormal wear from towing.....Lots of things to consider...... Still love my Jeep......
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Most of the posts here refer to the newer jeep cherokees, 2015-16-17 with me steering, jeep has a mod to apply power when towing. I wonder if anyone has tried the bungee fix??
__________________
2020 Riverside Retro 169R TT
2019Jeep Grand Cherokee
Equalizer 600/6000 E4
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06-05-2017, 10:45 AM
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 356
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can`t make this stuff up
This is not a vehicle specific problem all four wheel drives are capable of this and when it happens at speed it can scare the crap out of you. And the only way to stop it is to stop or drastically reduce your speed. Take it to a dealer and they will tell you that your front end is out of line or front shocks are worn out or the tie rods at worn or the ball joints need replacing. My 2000 Ford explorer front end was worn out so I replaced all of the above and it has happened to me twice now at speed. Wife won`t drive the car now of course this had to happen while she was passenger. Took it to dealer and they finally admitted some do it most don`t and spending another 2000 dollars on the front end may not fix the problem. I have Ford 350 diesel for towing and it has never done it, We have 6 Ford 350`s at work (retired Government) and one of the trucks do it on a regular basis. It has been to the motor pool many times and they have replaced everything movable on the front end an it still dose it. It all ways seems to happen when you are going around a very shallow corner and hit minor bumps in the road around 40 mph and boom! The Death Wobble, slam on the brakes, slow down and it goes away. I have heard of this issue for many years and the only real fix is to put 2 (not 1 like the factory) steering shocks of significant size on the truck. Tried to tell them this at work and they wanted to do a 2 year compatibility study before any modifications from factory specs. where done done.
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06-05-2017, 10:54 AM
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 356
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can`t make this stuff up
Here is a Ford doing the same thing. It starts around 1:03 minutes on the video. You can see it started right after he hit the bumps in the road on the bridge, there seems to be a lot of opinions on how to fix this. th
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06-12-2017, 02:25 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Oregon
Posts: 2,728
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The Toad Death Wobble can be cured if you take the time to stiffen up all of the joints in your Tow bar setup.
There should be NO play in the Tow bar to Receiver, if so add a Quiet Hitch;
If you have a Drop down or Up hitch you want no play in it also; add a Quiet Hitch.
The Base Plate setup should be one that adds a cross member for strength (Roadmaster does)
The Tow bar must be as close to level as possible when the MH is at normal ride height(applies to DPs due to air bags):
The Tow bar should not be pulling up on the front end of the Toad, this unloads the front end of the toad if it does.
Basically measure the height of the front end of the Toad to some point before hooking up and then measure it again after you have hooked up and the MH is at ride height. If that number goes up then you are unloading the front end of the Toad and that is bad.
Follow all of this and you should not have any problems unless your tires are out of balance.
__________________
Retired Navy Submariner
2014 Itasca Sunstar 35F; 5 Star tuned; 2014 Jeep Cherokee TrailHawk
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06-12-2017, 11:50 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,125
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperGewl
The Toad Death Wobble can be cured if you take the time to stiffen up all of the joints in your Tow bar setup.
There should be NO play in the Tow bar to Receiver, if so add a Quiet Hitch;
If you have a Drop down or Up hitch you want no play in it also; add a Quiet Hitch.
The Base Plate setup should be one that adds a cross member for strength (Roadmaster does)
The Tow bar must be as close to level as possible when the MH is at normal ride height(applies to DPs due to air bags):
The Tow bar should not be pulling up on the front end of the Toad, this unloads the front end of the toad if it does.
Basically measure the height of the front end of the Toad to some point before hooking up and then measure it again after you have hooked up and the MH is at ride height. If that number goes up then you are unloading the front end of the Toad and that is bad.
Follow all of this and you should not have any problems unless your tires are out of balance
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I hate to disagree with you, but I must. Every piece of my tow setup is rock solid and tight. I towed a 2015 Jeep Cherokee year before last and never had a problem. I towed the 2016 Grand Cherokee last year and never had a problem. There have been no changes to the Grand Cherokee since last year. I thought I was going to be one of the lucky ones. No such luck. In both cases, I was starting out and making a left hand turn onto a bumpy road. It's the only time it has done it. It has never done it at speed. Only when first staring out. It only seems to occur if the car has Electric assisted "power steering. Jeep has identified both the cause and cure. The cause is the lack of tension on the steering components of the "Electric Assisted" steering. Their fix is a harness addition to the 2014 and up Cherokee and the 2016 and up Grand Cherokee. This harness adds a switch that is used to energize the "Electric Assisted" steering during towing. The addition of this "fix" will probably necessitate the addition of a battery charge line from the coach.
__________________
Bill & Denise
2014 Bay Star 3103 - 5 Star Tune, CHF, Magne Shade
2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara
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06-12-2017, 01:33 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
American Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 344
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I have to agree with Bpoland. Everything is fine with my tow bar and baseplate. Even went with the newer Roadmaster baseplate. Still had death wobble. If anyone has any information from Jeep on the fix please let me know. I have given up on my local dealer. All they'll tell me is "we can't duplicate problem".
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