2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission death wobble, pulling right, etc.

[Flying_gage]

Hey there,

I feel your pain in wallet when it comes to this stuff. Get's pricey fast!

I really believe our springs have something to do with this over time. I have written about this before but will summarize here.

I think over time, our springs lose there respective compression rates as delivered from the factory. They compress further, thereby increasing the spring rate, making the chance for the bounce/wobble more. This is compounded by the shocks losing their effectiveness over time. They lose the dampening ability needed to reduce the bounce/wobble. Factor in stuff wearing over time, and in my opinion this leads to our issues.

I just had new shocks put on and had it realigned and the "toe" was way out of spec. I made sure they check the entire steering components for wear and they found nothing.

I would start at an alignment shop and at the very least find out where your geometry is at. This also points where components are failing.

 

[bubba_zanetti]

Two different things being mentioned here. A truck that pulls while braking either has contamination on the pads or a bad caliper... bleed them, pull them apart clean out any corrosion etc.

The death wobble... constant wander, drift is due in part to the steering system.

I replaced mine (4x4) with a setup from a later model... one bar attaches the two hubs together, and then the steering arm attaches to that bar. The original '96 has a steering arm attached to the right side, and the left side attaches to the lower part of that bar... much lighter components and more room for slop. Doing that made my steering better than new. There are very good writeups here in the forum on the subject.

 

[San Felipe Bob]

Keep the caliper pins/bolts well lubed

I used to lube my Caliper bolts and bushings every time I changed my oil.

(3000 miles).

This stopped all my brake pulling issues and increased the life of the pads by almost double 15k miles to 25k



The easy way to check for caliper drag is to simply jack up the front and give the tire a spin.

You should get at least a couple of rotations with a moderate amount of spin effort.



Here's a link to my you tube vid.

YouTube - Dodge caliper test





I have some good pics and tips in the old readers rigs gallery.





SFB