Death Wobble appears and gets solved

[TRodney]

On the way to work, I cross a railroad that is on an angle. Lately, I have noticed that my tires had the tendancy to bounce a couple of times every time I cross this track. But, on Friday morning, my truck got into this "Death Wobble" situation. Boy was that a wake-up call!! I was traveling about 60 MPH and had to slow to about 25 MPH before it stopped. It felt like the tires were bouncing about 8-10 inches alternating between the left and front tires.



So I searched everything on this site about the Death Wobble and concluded that the one thing that most people did was replace their tires. Since, my tires are almost wore out, I have already put an aftermarket adjustable trackbar, already replaced the front hubs, and already replaced the steering gear box, I decided that the most likely culpret was the tires. I replaced my old Goodyear RTS 245/75R16 tires with BFG AT KO 235/85R16.



Haven't had the slightest indication of any tendancy to bounce or any Death Wobble since I put the new tires on. I do believe that there are some other components that have some wear that I will replace, but it seems that my old wore out tires was my main culpret in allowing the Death Wobble to appear.



Later,

Tim

 

[TRodney]

10 Ply Tires can be the culprit

I just brought my truck into the alignment shop to get it checked out. The owner said that everytime he has seen this problem, it has always been caused by a separated belt in our 10 ply tires. He suggested never running below 60 lbs of air because of the additional heat. He also recommended to go with a lower rated tire if not needed for towing. He has only seen this problem with the 10 ply tires. I will let you know what my specifications are on my front-end when I get them.



Later,

Tim

 

[Strick-9]

Thanks, we'll be waiting!



-Chris

 

[BPINE]

I think there might be some merit to the tire inflation thing. I always lower my tire pressure to 40 in the rear for a better ride and maybe that,s not a good thing. Both sets of tires seem to have a problem after 15 or 20 k. My death wobble hasn't came back either after new tires and it was getting really bad. I also replaced the links as well and it did make it feel tighter.

 

[TRodney]

Got the numbers on my truck

I gave the specs, that were identified on this web by Brent, to the alignment guy and he said that some specs were not adjustable. He said he would check the front-end and give me my current numbers. He gave the following and said that they were within specs:

camber=0. 0

caster=2. 0

and tow was within specs.



The numbers Brent provided were -. 10 for camber and 3. 2/3. 5 for caster.



I would like to know more about these numbers. Are my numbers good??



BPINE:

Were did you get your new links?? I tried looking at the Rancho web site with no luck. Haven't been able to find the article that talked about them yet.



Thanks,

Tim

 

[SteveH]

Hi TRodney,

I think your death wobble is a little different from the ones we discussed in our earlier posts. Mine has had all new shocks, new stabilizer shocks, front end stabilizer bar, steering column all the way to the steering wheel, new tires with high speed balancing all around, driveline balanced, new u-joints, and about everything else checked that hasn't been replaced. All bushings are tight, ball joints are good, caster/camber is good and I still go into the death wobble at about 82 mph. We're disconnecting the rear drive line tomorrow and I'll drive with only the front for awhile and see if it still occurs. I'm glad yours was so easy to solve, but the tires aren't the cause of the wobble I have.

Steve H

 

[BPINE]

Your kinda right Steve, the more I think about the 10 ply tire thing I'm not so sure anymore. I have a few buddies that have half tons that do it and they don't have 10 ply tires.



TRodney, My Rancho links I got from a 4wd shop they are the stock length for an unlifted truck. I will see if I can find the part # do you have a 1 ton?

 

[SteveH]

Hey BPine,

The last two days my truck has been a "front wheel drive" with no drive line hooked up to the rear end. We couldn't get it to go into the death wobble even once and had the smoothest ride I have ever had in it. Twice the rear drive line was hooked back up and both times the wobble re-occurred at about 80 mph. This narrows the search down at lease from the transfer case back. All the front end parts replacements were good for me but were really not needed because the problem seems to be in the other direction. They are now thinking it is the harmonic balancer on the driveline itself. Not all models had this little contraption. Anyway, I will have a new driveline tomorrow and we'll see what happens after that. A guy who does professional racing is going to measure the angles of the rear axle also tomorrow, he thinks it may be related. We'll see and I'll post an update.

Steve H.

 

[BPINE]

Interesting Steve I'm sure you will let us know the results.