Death Wobble

[Big monk]

Truck has a 4.5 rancho lift with dual shocks up front, and traction bars up front. I'm running 325/18s and its having a lot of problems handleing. Sometimes I wont even hit a bump and the front end let's go and starts shaking sometimes to the point I have to point it to the bar ditch because I can't control it. I've had all 4 tires re balanced and alignment done and everything seems to be fine. I know a steering stabilizer will help some but out of all the lifted trucks I've had none of them have done it except for this one. Any suggestions?

 

[Blowby]

Look into this!

 

[BlueWaffle]

Tie rod ends, track bar bushing, and ball joint time!

 

[Big monk]

Tie rod ends, track bar bushing, and ball joint time!

Kinda had a feeling it could have been something like this. Those expensive/pita to do?

 

[91turbogsx]

If the track bar ball joint has the tiniest amount of play it will get the death wobble. I'd look there first along with the bushing. Aside from checking the obvious tie rod ends or bad ball joints.

 

[Denver]

Check the wheel castor first. Steering stabilizers are a band aid fix. What brand tires are you running?

 

[dirtboy25]

I've been battling the same symptoms. I have no steering stabilizer, new ball joints, everything is visually ok and tight. It's frustrating that nothing I do helps it.

Problem is I have a leaf sprung truck, not a coil sprung truck like the 05-12.

Are there any fixes like this out there for me?

 

[Big monk]

Check the wheel castor first. Steering stabilizers are a band aid fix. What brand tires are you running?

I'm running hankook mud terrians. And Il be the first to admit I have no idea where or what the wheel castors are, pretty much never messed with the front suspension before besides rotor and brake pad change. wned:

 

[91turbogsx]

I've been battling the same symptoms. I have no steering stabilizer, new ball joints, everything is visually ok and tight. It's frustrating that nothing I do helps it.

Problem is I have a leaf sprung truck, not a coil sprung truck like the 05-12.

Are there any fixes like this out there for me?

The track bar is really hard to check on the truck. I had the steel bushing spacers on mine actually oval out. They just clunked but I never got a death wobble.

How is your alignment?

 

[91turbogsx]

I'm running hankook mud terrians. And Il be the first to admit I have no idea where or what the wheel castors are, pretty much never messed with the front suspension before besides rotor and brake pad change. wned:

Wheel castor is something you can't check without an alignment rack. Properly anyways.

 

[dirtboy25]

The track bar is really hard to check on the truck. I had the steel bushing spacers on mine actually oval out. They just clunked but I never got a death wobble.

How is your alignment?

I have receipts for ball joints and alignment from the previous owner done about 5-7k miles ago. My tire wear is even and it tracks straight. There are no problems until i hit 65+mph... By 70mph your vision starts to blur because of the shaking.

Sometimes it is smooth rolling but if I'm on an older road that has some bumps it's terrible.

 

[91turbogsx]

I'd just check every front end component. They all if bad can create a death wobble. How are your shocks? Curious if you just getting a constant bounce.

 

[dirtboy25]

I'd just check every front end component. They all if bad can create a death wobble. How are your shocks? Curious if you just getting a constant bounce.

I'll check things out. It won't take any time to unbolt a few things and just check thing up close.

Shocks look newer, I'd say 30k miles but they'll be getting an upgrade soon.

 

[Denver]

I'm running hankook mud terrians. And Il be the first to admit I have no idea where or what the wheel castors are, pretty much never messed with the front suspension before besides rotor and brake pad change. wned:

Wheel castor is the front to back tilt of the wheel. It like forks on a bicycle. The forks aren't straight up and down they are angled. They are angled to straighten out the wheel as your moving foward. If they were straight up and down it would be very hard to keep the wheel straight and stable and would cause death wobbles.

 

[Big monk]

Well finally got time to run it by a buddies off road shop. We put it on the lift and took the front tires off, and no where near the weights on the rim that should have been. 20 mins later we lower it back down and test drove it. No where near the play it had before. He said i was lucky I didnt roll the truck as bad as it was off. Still getting a dual steering stabilizer kit and some parts upgrading.