saw death wobble first hand

[LBARTLETT]

I was driving west on hwy 82 Friday towards Gainesville on my way to Kansas to get hay and a oncoming 3rd gen dodge 4x4 was experiencing the dreaded death wobble



I saw it from the start until the drive got the truck stopped



thank God we were on a 4 lane with a median so quite a distance seperated



I've had several dodge cummins 4x4's, mostly 2nd gens and had never experienced the dreaded death wobble



seeing it happening coming towards gives is a whole new meaning



once it started it continued until the driver got his truck to a complete stop



I had a trailer on so I didn't turn around, sure wish I'd had a video camera while it was happening



the truck shook so bad it's a wonder the doors didn't fall off



hope the driver is a TDR subscriber so that he can find some of the "fix" answers

 

[JKreiss]

I have always wondered what it looks like on the other side. DW is a serious issue that nobody can fully understand unless they've seen it or experienced it first hand. There is no cure all, or "one" fix. I have every possible "cure" installed on my truck and it just started doing it again. It's definitely scary, especially at highways speeds in a turn. Thanks for sharing, i'm sure it was memorable!

 

[HEMI®Dart]

I have never had it happen in a Dodge Ram. Only in a ferd.



See if this link works:



‪Death Wobble‬‏ - YouTube

 

[LBARTLETT]

HEMI Dart, the dodge I saw had much more violent side to side motion



does it ever happen in 2 wheel drives?

 

[Prairie Dog]

HEMI Dart, the dodge I saw had much more violent side to side motion



does it ever happen in 2 wheel drives?

I believe it. One of our members said it bent his tie-rod(s).

 

[macdaddy]

I clicked on the you tube link.



Looks like the fords have it also! Anyone check out the nasty death wobble on the F-250!



Mac

 

[04blackcherry]

Some of the videos do not show the death wobble I had. They were able to sit there and video the shake. My death wobble would not of allowed any video recording of events during the aholes and elbows action of getting the truck off the road and stopped. In the few episodes I encountered, everything in the truck found gravitational equilibrium (went on the floor) by the time I got it stopped. Quite a sobering experience. You are immediately scared to death and teed off at the same time.

I was at the end with this truck, the love affair had ended, until guys started posting about this being an issue that has been around for decades. I finally found a bad tie rod end and the wobble is dead. I have 35" BFG's on it too. Keep looking. There is always a reason for death wobble, there just isn't one you can always point at, you have to find it.

Some of the things that guys have done to get rid of it are just masking another problem sometimes. On the other hand, if by eliminating that issue it goes away, it was definitely a contributing factor... ie tires. But we have had those discussion also, here.

 

[RustyJC]

does it ever happen in 2 wheel drives?

Extremely rarely. I've never experienced it with IFS. Caster wobble is predominantly a solid front axle problem.



Rusty

 

[HOBrian]

DW is not fun, I have had an ongoing battle with it. Since I had the front end done two years ago I have only had it once and it was very minor. I can feel the truck "wanting" to DW but it doesn't do it!

 

[AEdelheit]

DW is not fun, I have had an ongoing battle with it. Since I had the front end done two years ago I have only had it once and it was very minor. I can feel the truck "wanting" to DW but it doesn't do it!

What did they do to the front end? Did they replace the steering stabilizer? If so that can cause it, the factory stabilizer works very well and I have seen replacements (Rancho) fail within months. The other 2 things I would look at is tires, mainly BFG A/T's are notorious for it or there has to be play somewhere in your front end, its just a matter of finding it.

 

[HOBrian]

I change my front SS once I started getting DW. It made no difference I can feel the front wheels wanting to wobble and they felt the same with the stock SS and the Rancho one. My ball joints were shot and putting new ones in helped and I haven't had DW since. I can still feel the the truck wanting to DW but it doesn't (yet) and I am thiniking the "play" is the steering box itself.

 

[CRuth]

Finally got to see it today on the freeway. Oh man that looks ugly. It went away when he slowed down to about 45. Lifted but not super high, bigger tires but not super big. Think it was a gen 3 but can't be sure, I really didn't want to get that close to it.

 

[LBARTLETT]

it is spooky, especially if they are oncoming traffice