Death wobble

[Ozymandias]

With 2" there is nothing you need to do, leave it alone. Just do the Thuren Alignment.

 

[SnoKing]

I had a steering box brace, the 3rd gen track bar conversion and cranked in more caster on my 2001.5. 14 years of ownership of that RAM and never had DW.

 

[Beck]

I had a steering box brace, the 3rd gen track bar conversion and cranked in more caster on my 2001.5. 14 years of ownership of that RAM and never had DW.

How can I figure out how much to bring the toe in,
Just experiment ? Will I need an alignment each time I mess with the toe? I am not experienced in this at all, obviously.

 

[BigPapa]

A fellow I work with was telling me about a death wobble problem he'd seen in a few Ford Explorers he'd repaired. He said the return hose was so short that it would set up a fluid pressure "feedback" loop if he hit a bump just right. He said it felt like the front wheels were coming off, classic death wobble. He put a longer return hose on them and fixed the problem.

I was wondering if anyone else had heard of this and if it MIGHT apply to our trucks?

I was skeptical and told him I was. He's our steering and suspension "specialist" at the bus shop. He's been repairing steering and suspension problems on cars, trucks, and HD trucks and buses for almost 40 years. He was not happy that I questioned what he was telling me, so I'm sure he's telling me the truth.

 

[AEdelheit]

A fellow I work with was telling me about a death wobble problem he'd seen in a few Ford Explorers he'd repaired. He said the return hose was so short that it would set up a fluid pressure "feedback" loop if he hit a bump just right. He said it felt like the front wheels were coming off, classic death wobble. He put a longer return hose on them and fixed the problem.

I was wondering if anyone else had heard of this and if it MIGHT apply to our trucks?

I was skeptical and told him I was. He's our steering and suspension "specialist" at the bus shop. He's been repairing steering and suspension problems on cars, trucks, and HD trucks and buses for almost 40 years. He was not happy that I questioned what he was telling me, so I'm sure he's telling me the truth.

I could see a rack bad pinion system being more susceptible to hose issue but I have dealt with fixing alot of DW on these trucks and never seen anything like this. I guess nothing is impossible but I highly doubt it.

 

[petersonj]

I was skeptical and told him I was. He's our steering and suspension "specialist" at the bus shop. He's been repairing steering and suspension problems on cars, trucks, and HD trucks and buses for almost 40 years. He was not happy that I questioned what he was telling me, so I'm sure he's telling me the truth.

I applaud you for asking the question and expressing your skepticism even though you were talking to a very knowledgeable man. I would have done the same. He may very strongly believe what he is saying, but that does necessarily mean it is a truth. However, I would not disregard that information, as it could very well have value and could be a truth.

I was wondering if anyone else had heard of this and if it MIGHT apply to our trucks?

I have not heard of this with regard to our trucks, but I recently watched a video from a shop claiming that death wobble for our trucks was caused by the directional control valve in the power steering gear box. The general idea is that the rapid back and forth motion of the steering wheel was sending short bursts of power steering energy that kept the death wobble going. There was more detail in the explanation, but I am skeptical of this for a death wobble cause. My main reason for my skepticism is that there was no mention of the feedback part of the power steering gearbox control valve, which (to my knowledge) all power steering gearboxes have. But again, I don't rule out the possibility, however I still remain skeptical.

- John

 

[KeithADavis]

To original poster: beck - did you get this figured out on your truck?

My years of wrenching on vehicles have always pointed at either the track bar or ball joints for death wobble causes. Most of the time the track bar, or on a lot of Jeeps I've worked on, the frame bracket that the track bar attaches to has the joint mounting hole all wallered-out.

For checking your own toe-in or out setting yourself:
drive a large nail into a board at a 45-degree angle
jack up the front of your truck so you can spin the tires
set the board with the nail up to the tire so the tip just touches the tread and spin the tire in the direction away from the tip of the nail so you create a scribe line completely around the tire. do this to both tires.
put the truck back on the ground and center the steering wheel.
take a tape measure and a helper and measure from one tire scribe line to the other on the front of the tires parallel to the ground. write down the measurement.
do the same at the back side of the front tires - scribe line to line, parallel to the ground. write down that measurement.
subtract the 2 measurements and the difference is your toe measurement. Now depending on if the front side measurement is larger or smaller tells you if you are toe-in or toe-out. Smaller = toe in

You can use the adjuster sleeve on the tie rod to adjust this.