Can't find cure for death wobble

[KevinO]

I have 85k on the truck. Have 315 BFG's on pro comp 6005 17x9 wheels. Just replaced all ball joints, put Bilstein's on, new steering stabilizer, DSS bracket and Solid steel adjustable trac bar and have had 2 alignments both shops say everything on front suspension is tight. What should I check next I'm running out of idea's other than changing tire brands. I have rotated tires and have them at max PSI. I have done searches just wondering if others have replaced everything to find the same results.

 

[Bob4x4]

Borrow a set of tires to try.



Bob

 

[LCartier]

start with more castor (+4 to 5)... then change out trac bar with an adjustable one, with that levelling kit your front axel is most like off center (pulled to the left about an inch, so your dog tracking) worked on mine.

 

[SSalzer]

Are your BFG's load range D or E? I vaguely remember reading that losing the D rated tires for an E will fix the Death Wobble... .

 

[brods]

Listen to Bob4x4. A guy had DW on three different trucks and it turned out he moved the same set of tires and rims from truck to truck. It is safe to say that in his case the tires and rims were a major factor in his DW problems. Also I remember reading where over inflation can cause shimmy due to the tire riding on the center of the tread, so you might want to figure out the proper inflation pressure for your setup rather than running max pressure.



Everybody screams for more castor, but Nth Degree, a aftermarket suspension company started by Jeep engineer, had a section on DW on their website saying that lifts and large tires need LESS castor! Go figure. Also keep in mind the stock alignment settings are for stock size tires and rims. Different width and offset rims with oversized tires change things and may need different settings for toe and whatnot. Start with the stock settings and try adjusting things from there. How are your tires wearing?



Hope you find whats causing your DW, it is a complicated issue with many causes and no magic bullet fixes.

 

[JonKing]

A new steering box fixed mine and several others.

 

[cerberusiam]

Forget borrowing tires, toss the BFG's and find a better tire. Those tires are the root of all evil and the devil incarnate with death wobble!



Have you done a lift? Springs or ???? Trackbar? Even your rims are suspect if they are not back spaced correctly.

 

[Regcabguy]

Forget borrowing tires, toss the BFG's and find a better tire. Those tires are the root of all evil and the devil incarnate with death wobble!



Have you done a lift? Springs or ???? Trackbar? Even your rims are suspect if they are not back spaced correctly.

My sentiments exactly. They wear like iron,look cool,but are not precision built. Discount Tire and BFG abandoned me on my vibration problem which began and ended with the mounting and subsequent dismounting of BFG 285-75-16 KO's on my '99. Toyo solved my problem.

 

[Yo Hoot]

TOSS THE BFG'S!!!!

I tried everything. As soon as I changed tires it stopped entirely.

 

[jelag]

If you draw a line through the center of the King Pin (ball joints) to the ground, and a second line through the center of the tire to the ground, these two lines are to meet at a factory standard, and on a lot of vehicles both lines fall into the same point or within a 1/4" apart.....

This was called "king pin inclination (KPI)" years ago and the pressures exerted on the suspension if this angle was off, would cause excessive wear in the suspension part. . Ball Joints, tie rod ends, cross links etc. When this dimension get off the force exerted to keep the wheels straight ahead can almost double and the forces can do excessive damage. .

Any time you mess with the diameter of the tire or the wheel offset you develop these problems. I'd suggest you find an alignment man who's been doing work in the industry 40+ years and have him look. . Today most guys use computers and if it falls in the specs, and they can set the toe and let it go for your $50..... There happy... The old timer should be able to suggest a fix... In most cases these guys own their own shop and don't do tires... just charge a lot of money to understand whats wrong, and fix it. .

Remember the chrome offset wheels and baby moons back when... . and the parts and bearing wear on the old ball bearings...

I own 3 - 3500 duallys and a 5500, the 3500's all run 225/70/19. 5" tires and wheels. When I had the wheels designed we paid really close attention to KPI and one of my trucks now has 260K miles with the stock parts still in the front end... for that matter all the trucks are still stock... . just one has lots of miles pulling a 22K lb trailer... BTW - the 19. 5 we use is 3/8" taller than the stock 17" so we stay within the limits with the wheel we use...

I don't let an alignment shop touch them unless I see bad tire wear. . We run new tires on the front and re-caps on the back... we do not rotate them and get close to 100 K on the steer axle and 100K miles on the drivers... the caps have 20% more thread when new!!

There is one other angle called toe out on turns that is also messed up with larger tires and wheels as well... .

Hope this helps... .

 

[Paddy McMahon]

I have a KORE suspension and Race steering stabilizer under my Dodge and have found that after multiple alignments including increasing the caster and wheel balancing attempts the issue of DEATH WOBBLE correlates directly to the tire pressure. I can replicate death wobble any time by running my BFG 285/75/17 AT's lower than 55 punds in the front of the truck and hitting potholes at (over 65mph) freeway speeds. Increase the front front tire pressure beyond 65lbs. and it goes away. I have had multiple shops look over my suspension and tires to resolve this-three different shops say it is directly related to the amount of flexure in the sidewall of the tire and is compounded exponentially by the speed at which the tires are spinning (speed of vehicle) when the bump or pothole is encountered. Alas, this problem did not happen with the last set of Toyo Open Country E rated tires in the same size as I am currently running. This is just my experience in the past 60,000 miles and three sets of tires. Good luck.

 

[KevinO]

Thanks for all the help. I am leary of running the tire pressure up beyond the manufacture specs. I am swapping wheels and tires with a buddy that has his stockers to see if it replicates. There is a very good alignment shop in town but he doesn't want to set appointments, I will just have to leave it and see if that helps. Where is everyone getting there Toyo's from if that is my next step.

 

[wyosteve]

Despite all the naysayers, I've had 315 BFG's on my truck since the day after I drove it home and haven't had any hint of DW. Put 60k miles on the first set and now on my second. I don't disagree in some instances it could be the tires, but to make a generalization that BFG's are the problem seems ignorant to me.

 

[BZieg]

I would adjust the castor to -10 degrees or so. That is what I run off-road trucks at, keeps it straight at high speeds. When you look at the knuckle with the tire off, you want the angle of the knuckle facing the rear of the truck, it is done by adjusting the control arms, the have ecentrics on them, easy to do. I wish i could post pictures for you.

 

[KevinO]

Bought a dual stabilizer going to put it on tonight and see what happens. Toyo 285/75r17's are on backorder and not available for months. I'm going to try one thing at a time to see what fixes it. Thanks for all the ideas to try till it's gone.

 

[Regcabguy]

Toyo fan.

Despite all the naysayers, I've had 315 BFG's on my truck since the day after I drove it home and haven't had any hint of DW. Put 60k miles on the first set and now on my second. I don't disagree in some instances it could be the tires, but to make a generalization that BFG's are the problem seems ignorant to me.

Glad you had good luck with BFG's but... . just try Toyos out of curiousity. They come with a thirty day buyback. The ride quality and handling over BFG's will surprise you.

 

[GCross]

As several others have mentioned your tires maybe the problem. It seems like most of the other posts on this site relating to DW had to do with 315 BFG's.



-George-

 

[ronman]

Don't discount the wheels either!! I've seen hub-centric aftermarket wheels on cars that are a touch too large in diameter and they float on the hubs causing untold vibration!

 

[Regcabguy]

It's the tires.

 

[SNoyes]

Well if you haven't heard it enough... Guys on the other Cummins site have also discussed this. There were about 10-15 guys that were running the BFG 315s that had DW, replaced the tires and it went away. Obviously there were guys on there with no problems, guys on there with other problems beside the tires. Just was a significant theme...