Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) High speed rattletrap - feels like truck is coming apart...

[USMCBay]

In my 97 Dually - when I hit a bad spot in the road my truck starts to pull all the tires off the ground in opposite corners... what the HeII?? Is this linkage or shocks. I have to slam on the brakes and come down to about 20 - 30mph to get it to stop. I mean VIOLENT!!!



What is going on? I just want to fix it right the first time.



#@$%!

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

You have the dreaded Death Wobble. . . quite a few threads on the subject if you do a search. Worn steering components, shocks and steering damper can contribute to it.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Start with the easy first. Have someone wiggle the steering wheel back and forth while your under the front end looking at all of the tie rod ends, track bar, steering gearbox etc. My truck is starting to do the same and I got lucky by just replacing the track bar and putting a new steering stabilizer shock on it. Go for the big and bad stuff first . Also, check out your eccentrics in the control arms and make sure they are tight. I had one come loose whenever it felt like it and eventually replaced it and all of the bushings on each end. Boy what a difference that made. One thing about these trucks is they all behave differently, meaning what fixes one may not fix the next one quite the same. At least that's what I've found. Trial and error! Good luck.

 

[USMCBay]

Man... I didn't even want to mention DW...



I will start with the simple stuff. Just got my #10 Fuel Plate and 3k GSK in the mail... didn't want to think about front end problems. This is a secondary truck so no real big deal just was ready to start bombing for a Hauler Deluxe.



Thought maybe it was just shocks. I can say I have noticed considerable wear on the outer edge of the front tires. Both equally worn - but it has pulled a lot of Bumber Pulled loads vs. its new calling as a Gooseneck lead dog.



Thanks - did the DW search and "each truck is different" seems to ring very true. I really want to eliminate ASAP.



Thanks



Shawn

 

[Dave M]

I've got a 97 dually very similiar to yours. I got it on Ebay from Texas. I've replaced a lot of stuff fighting the death wobble. The last thing replaced a month or two ago was the front rotors. It started to shimmy real bad when tapping brakes. Now I'm "Death Wobble - Free"... . WAhooo!



I'd look real close at the track bar for starters. In your search you will find my name quite a few times.



Good Luck,

Dave

 

[USMCBay]

Mine occurs when I hit a pot hole in our WONDERFUL Texas Highways!!!! You know the ones that have construction for 5-10 yrs at a time... (somebody should be fired over that stuff).



Yea - any slight/heavy deviation in asphalt and it is shakedown city. It all started when I almost missed an exit in Houston and my back driverside Dual caught the void in the V-shaped Concrete and I thought all 6 tires were square!Oo.



I leave the truck on a jobsite so I will have to get it home soon to take a look.



Death Wobble can be very dangerous and insurance claim prone... everytime I have had to slam on my brakes and THEN I notice theres someone behind me - 3 times now.



Thanks guys.

 

[Dave M]

Mine occurs when I hit a pot hole ..... Yea - any slight/heavy deviation in asphalt and it is shakedown city. It all started when I almost missed an exit in Houston and my back driverside Dual caught the void in the V-shaped Concrete and I thought all 6 tires were square!Oo... ... ... . everytime I have had to slam on my brakes and THEN I notice theres someone behind me - 3 times now.....

My "death wobble" started about 2 years ago when I hit a section of freeway that was concrete and the sections were rough with up and down concrete. At 70 mph it would start shaking left to right and was very scary until I got it slowed down .



From that point it got worse and worse where a bump in the road would cause it. After replacing shocks, 2 steering stabilizers, track bar, new PSC 3 turn steering box, pitman arm (was loose so replaced it) added DSS, 2 bad tie rods, loose caster bolt, adjusted camber on right front steering knuckle to eliminate bad right front tire wear, adding more caster up to 4. 5 degrees then the bump shimmy was fixed.



Then every time the brake pedal was touched if over 40 mph it would wobble violently. That was a month or two ago and I replaced the front rotors and pads (which looked scored badly and were probably warped too) and now the wobble is gone. My ball joints, hubs and u-joints have not been touched yet.



So, thats why I say take a good look at the rotors and TB first. That's what I believe fixed my problem but any loose front end part can cause this to happen. Like was said earlier, get under that truck while someone saws the steering wheel back and forth and look for movement in any front end ball joint. There should be zero movement on either end of the track bar... . so I would start there.



Good luck,

Dave

 

[litespeed]

Mine occurs when I hit a pot hole in our WONDERFUL Texas Highways!!!! You know the ones that have construction for 5-10 yrs at a time... (somebody should be fired over that stuff).

That crew works in Florida too!! I need to get a job working with those guys!! Job security!:-laf



Definitely start with the steering, front rotors and shocks. Those track bars and brakes suck out loud!



It is easy enough to check the front end with a helper.



AJ

 

[Rich M-37]

Death Wobble

I had the dreaded death wobble at 40,000 miles on my 1996 4x4 auto truck. I hit a bump at 60 mph and the front end jumped up and down until I got the truck stopped by tapping the brakes lightly. I replaced the shocks on all 4 corners with Bilstein shocks and replaced the steering dampner with a Monroe dampener. After this I did not have any more troubles with the Death Wobble. At 254,000 miles the same shocks and dampener are still on the truck.

Rich