Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Death Wobble

[Dave Remillard]

Can any of you describe the sensation and feel of this thing called the death wobble. The reason I ask is that I have a vibration in the rig at 55 MPH and above. Much like a tire out of balance. The tires have been balanced and rebalanced a couple of times and it's still there. Just trying to figure out what can cause this. One other thought is that maybe a tie rod or ball joint is loose and even though a tire is balanced there can still be a little out of round presence, and with a suspension part being loose could magnify this. Just reaching for staws at this point. Any thoughts would sure be welcome.

 

[Rdunkin]

I recently had a pull to the right and worse under braking. The vibration came in at 68 MPH and left at 74 MPH. The next day I had the vibration from 55 MPH on up! It was so bad I stopped and bought 2 u joints on the way to the frontend shop! He could not find anything wrong with caster angle, toe in or 4 wheel alingment. I noticed some mud on the front right caliper, went to the car wash and cleaned the caliper AND the rotor. The rotor had mud inside the cooling vents and the caliper was not able to fully retract. I found it by jacking up the front axle and rolling the tires by hand, feeling for resistance. Have someone push the brake pedal slowly and feel the differance in resistance between left and right. Mine was a "little" harder to turn on the right after the brakes were released. But after washing the caliper and rotor the pull and viberation are both gone.

Good luck

Richard

 

[STeichert]

I Have A 96 2500 4x4 5-speed That Had Major Death Wobble Problems. Whenever We Hit A Cattlegaurd Or Small Bump In The Road, Bridges, Etc. , It Shook So Bad We Could Hardly Stay On The Road. It Wouldn't Stop Until We Stopped The Truck. We Couldn't Steer Or Control The Truck At All. Nothing You Ever Want To Experience. We Replaced The Track Bar, All The Tie Rods And Ends, And Still Didn't Fix It. It Ended Up Being The Stabilizer Shock. The Stock One Only Lasted 2 Months And The Wobble Started Again. We Put On An After Market From Les Schwab 40,000 Miles Ago, And We're Still Ok. The Death Wobble Feels A Lot Stronger Than An Unbalanced Tire, But It's Hard To Explain. Wish You The Best.

 

[JPittinger]

Can any of you describe the sensation and feel of this thing called the death wobble.

If you didn't have to change your shorts or didn't leave finger marks in your steering wheel as your standing on your brake pedal, its not a DW.



Sounds more like a bad u-joint.



JJ

 

[Stmpplr]

Amen to JJ.

When mine did it, it was kinda like running over railroad ties at 70 mph, only the shaking was more side to side. (It would wobble anywhere from 45 on up, even on a "minor" bump). Be sure to check you steering stabilizer. Mine was shot. Aligned the front end, installed a dual front stabilizer and it has been fine for 2 years, no matter what I run over.

 

[McCRam]

I dont think that a tire vibration feels like a bad ujoint vibration. If you still think it could be your tires, it may be that one of them has a flat spot on it, a bulge, or maybe a bent rim. If you have a full size spare, try to figure which corner is worse, and change it out. Good luck, vibrations like that are annoying.

 

[Heepdriver]

You could start by rotating your tires and the vibration if wheel and tire combo related will move to the rear with the tires. if not you know it is the front end somewhere. AS you have it jacked up ck everything. grab the wheel and i mean grab it upper and lower ball joints loose enough with a 7000 lb truck on them at 55 mph may fell kind of tight with 175 lbs of man pushing alittle. ball joint ck up and down on the wheel tie rod ck frt to back. this also cks wheel bearing you may have to have someone look while you wiggle. if not obvious you may have to feel individual parts. wrap your hand around the ball cup end and the component that the stud bolts to and hold tight as someone wiggles given dirrection. this will allow the diagnoisis of small movements, there should be no movement other than pivoting on the axis of the ball.



good luck

 

[JPittinger]

I dont think that a tire vibration feels like a bad ujoint vibration.

I thought the same, but I would have lost a $100 bet because my 'front end' (or so I thought) vibration turned out to be a ujoint on the rear drive shaft. Came on at about 68 mph and left about 72 mph.

JJ

 

[Dave Remillard]

Suspension points check out and rotation has been done. That being said, it's not easily noted if the vibration point has changed. Looks like u-joints will be the next thing to check. I didn't suspect them as they where changed less than 10K miles ago. Thanks

 

[bill threlkel]

Dave

Had the same thing happen check the steering box for play mine had side to side bearing play.

the tdr issue 47 page 152 has dain's steering stabilizer check it out. This is what i did and it worked.

Bill

 

[srenfro]

My buddy and his brother was using my 95 today to haul mulch. They had hauled one load and were on their way back for more, he said they got up to about 60 mph and what it did scared them so bad they pulled off the road, thought a wheel had come off. They said it wouldn't do it under 60 but they tried one more time to go over 60 and they both about crapped their pants.



Anyone know what I should look for.