2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Truck Started Shaking uncontrollably

[Rob Thomas]

This happend to me a few months back, on a local stretch of freeway. After I got home I checked out everything, and determined the drivers side tie-rod was shot. Replaced it, and no shaking since, I have hit the same rough spot in the road repetedly as a sorta "test". I did have dual steering stabilizers on at the time this shaking happened also. Hasn't done it since the tie rod change.



Rob

 

[JSkalet]

REMEDY!!!!!!!!!!

AFTER A LITTLE CONVINCING, MY DEALER PULLED MY REAR SHOCKS AND THEY HAD LITTLE RESISTANCE FOR THE MECHANIC AND FOR ME. APPEARED TO BE WAY TO MOVABLE BY A HUMAN THAN THEY SHOULD BE FOR A 7000 LB TRUCK. DEALER REPLACED THE TWO REAR SHOCKS WITH OEM SHOCKS. MY VEHICLE HAS 22000 MILES ON IT AND THIS APPEARS TO HAVE ELIMINATED MY AXLE HOP ON HIGHWAY SEAMS. FOR THE SIZE OF THE VEHICLE, THE OEM SHOCKS APPEAR TO BE PRETTY WIMPY EVEN WHEN NEW. COMMENTS? NOTE: I CARRY VERY LIGHT LOADS AND KEEP MY TIRES AT 35 PSI. JOHN SKALET

 

[Gonehawkn]

i have but two words..... TRACK BAR... ... this is the the home of the death wobble. a real easy fix is the LUKES LINK. i put one on my dually last summer after experiencing the same wheel hop, and i have had no problems what so ever since i did the fix. i think all told it cost me about $60 and 2 hours of my time to put it on. if this sounds good, just do a search on LUKES LINK. i give it two thumbs up

 

[Dane]

I gotta disagree on the death wobble cause. I got my dose of death wobble with an almost new trac bar, new steering stabilizer, and new shocks. Truck only had 17K miles on it.



I had the alignment checked and it was out from the factory on one side. The other factor was the extra tire wear on the side with the alignment problem. The extra tire wear + alignment being out of spec on the same side caused mine imo. Since the alignment and new tires nary a shudder.



Problem is, once you've survived a death wobble it's tough to do 80+ with the same confidence as before

 

[Gonehawkn]

OK. maybe i should have made myself a little bit more clear. given the fact that your tires are in good shape, and your alignment is within spec's,and your shocks are not blown out,i checked all of the above first , i would go right to the track bar as THE source of the death wobble. i am just speaking from my own experience as well as the posts put up by other members. it was those "other members" that help'd me figure out that it was my track bar giving me the death wobble. i put the LUKES LINK on, and have not had a lick of trouble ever since.

 

[Joe Mc]

Check the "Track Bar" joint for slop. Replace it with either a "lifetime" replacement from "Moog" or try the "Lukes Link" adjustable. I had same problem and went with the Moog, about 30k on it now and all is well.



MHO

 

[bramage]

TRACK BAR!!! Use Luke's Link, you won't be disappointed! Is is very simple to check the track bar and just about every one I've ever looked at is bad. Another problem that is not as common is play in your steering box, this should be checked also. These are problems that can get missed during a routine suspension check if you don't know what to look for.

 

[JWEST]

I agree with all of you that the track bar should be tight, steering stabilizer should be tight etc, but the one and only thing that will cause the Death Wobble is worn out tires. This has happened on my '96 with BFG T/A's twice now, both sets of tires with high miles. New tires is the ONLY thing that stops the problem. Two years ago I spent $700 on new front end parts - ball joints, track bar, tie rods, control arms and then had the Death Wobble again the same week. Pi**ed me off. I put new tires on it a week later and the problem went away. The tire guys will say that the belts are slipping inside the tire, and it's hard to verify that. Try some new meats and spend the money for good ones. Believe me, it's happened many times, and it scared the crap outta me every time.

 

[JWEST]

Here's how you know when you've had the Death Wobble too many times: you put both hands on the steering wheel, slow down to 50 in heavy traffic, grip the wheel until your knuckles are white and hang on with your teeth clinched. There are three or four areas of interstate in my daily commute that make me do this. I've got new tires so it's not happening right now but the habit is that strong. I even quit carrying change in the ash tray, because of the time about $8 in coins flew from the ash tray and hit the seat and the rear window when the Death Wobble struck.

One of my special places is where the expansion joints are at an angle to the road just like 10-G said.

 

[10-G]

Jwest



lmao



However my tires look to be in real good shape. Only 16k miles???

 

[Gonehawkn]

I REALLY DO NOT AGREE WITH THE "TIRE" THEORY. now not to say that worn out tires dont compound the problem, but my truck did the DEATH WOBBLE with 6 brand new,balanced(twice) MICHELIN LTX/MS. these by no means are junk tires. my next move was the shocks. that did not fix the problem. i then had my front end aligned. it was dead on the money. my next move, LUKES LINK. problem solved. coincidence???? maybe, but i doubt it. you decide. if your tires are in good shape, and your shocks are too, i think i would spend the $60 bucks or so and try the LINK.

 

[JWEST]

10-G,

That's the bummer of my theory - it's very hard if not impossible to tell when a tire is bad by looking at it from the outside. Even if you cut one apart, you can never know if the steel belts - a bunch of wire really - remain where they were when the tire was molded. My BFG's were well worn, but they had almost no feathering, and the tread depth was visually uniform at around 1/8" with 55k miles on them. The second set went south after 40k miles and they had almost 1/4" of tread left.

 

[JWEST]

Chickenhawk,

The track bar is the first place I looked since I had already been there once or twice. But being a mechanical engineer, I tried to look at things from a physics standpoint. What components on the front end of this truck can store and release enough energy make the thing bounce like a pogo stick? Two things - the springs and the tires. I had a set of Skyjacker 2. 5" lift coils at the time so I swapped back to the stock coils. No change as the DW happened again. I rotated the tires hoping maybe it was just a bad one. Same result, which struck me as statistically surprising. How many bad tires can one truck have?

The track bar isn't capable of transferring energy in the fashion required to make a 7000# truck jump like that. If there was any slop in the track bar ball joint, it would rip the ball joint apart after a few cycles of the DW. I have had two set of tires - both BFG A/T's when the DW set in. It went away both times when I put on fresh rubber. Nothing else got rid of the problem 100%.

 

[Clinton]

Could it be that all of these things or any one of these things may send the truck into the wobble? I tend to think that the front ends on our trucks are not the best engineered systems on the vehicle. I've heard it said that the fronts are built 'out of geometry. ' I'm not real sure what was meant by that, but I would agree that several things aren't up to snuff. The drag link/tie rod connection: I would much rather have the drag link attached to the RH knuckle on top and the tie rod on the bottom instead of the funky meet in the middle deal. The trac bar: that's been well covered, it sucks. The steering stabilizer: looks like it's not in the best position to absorb shocks to the steering linkage to me. The sway bar: I don't like the long linkage and bracketry that holds my '96 together. So, IMO, there are quite a few components within the steering system that may lead to bad performance.



Now then, in my case, I have to agree with JWEST and Dane. Uneven tire wear and mostly worn out tires caused my wobbling. I had a DT trac bar with the replaceable end in good shape, Bilstein shocks, and a brand new Heckthorne stabilizer. I also had over 85k trouble-free miles behind me when I had my first wobble. I've had it two more times as I'm still on the fence about what tires I'll try next. I fully expect my wobbling days will be over upon tire replacement.



What I'm getting at, unfortunately, is that I don't think any one of you can tell me I'm wrong and I, likewise, cannot tell you you're wrong. I wish it was that easy, but I've researched this a fair amount and there are too many cases with too many solutions to say it IS this or it IS that. All the tips and solutions offered here are solid and worthwhile efforts to investigate, but don't be surprised if it takes a few tries to eliminate the problem.



Yes, my confidence at speed has been permanently rattled. I have a 3kGSK sitting on my bench and all I can think is 'Why in the hell would you want more? Can I trade it for a 2kGSK?' Good luck wobblers.

 

[Gonehawkn]

WELL, we could go on for days about this, but i am just posting from my personal experience with the "DW". personally, if i had to do it all over again, i would start with the LINK. only because when i trouble shoot anything, and can not come up with a definite answer,i like to start at the cheapest stuff first and work my way up the chain of $$$$. had my "DW" happen'd prior to me spending almost $900. 00 on 6 new MICHELINS, i probably would have thought the tires were bad too. but anyway you all know my story by now.

 

[krs]

Has anyone who has a DT track bar installed ever had the wobble after the DT install?

 

[mimprevento]

Death wobble

It is not the track bar, it is not tires or rims. It is the inability of the shocks in a single set-up to stabilize the front suspension and keep the tires planted in light of the massive weight on the front axle when wheel hop is induced. I had it and cured it definitively with a dual shock mount system from Skyjacker. I have four front shocks using stock height - i have been over ruts and nasty on and off road situations that used to give me death wobble that now the truck laughs at. That is what it needs not the other suggestions in this thread. The system is worth the investment and really adds to the trucks looks and performance.

 

[Gonehawkn]

HERE WE GO AGAIN.

 

[NVR FNSH]

Re: Death wobble

Originally posted by mimprevento

It is not the track bar, it is not tires or rims. It is the inability of the shocks in a single set-up to stabilize the front suspension and keep the tires planted in light of the massive weight on the front axle when wheel hop is induced. I had it and cured it definitively with a dual shock mount system from Skyjacker. I have four front shocks using stock height - i have been over ruts and nasty on and off road situations that used to give me death wobble that now the truck laughs at. That is what it needs not the other suggestions in this thread. The system is worth the investment and really adds to the trucks looks and performance.

When I can look out the window and see the front driver wheel oscillating back and forth about the steering axis, not vertically, IT IS NOT DUE TO INADEQUATE DAMPENING FROM EITHER THE STEERING STABILIZER (A 50/50 SHOCK) OR THE SUSPENSION SHOCK ABSORBERS.



Besides, my experience with DW was on a 360 GAS V8 - there goes the theory about the front end weight.....



I will agree that the stock shocks are woefully inadequate but the result of the **** poor damping ability is axle tramp/wheel hop not DW.



Brian

 

[NVR FNSH]

Originally posted by Clinton

Could it be that all of these things or any one of these things may send the truck into the wobble? I tend to think that the front ends on our trucks are not the best engineered systems on the vehicle. I've heard it said that the fronts are built 'out of geometry. ' I'm not real sure what was meant by that, but I would agree that several things aren't up to snuff. The drag link/tie rod connection: I would much rather have the drag link attached to the RH knuckle on top and the tie rod on the bottom instead of the funky meet in the middle deal. The trac bar: that's been well covered, it sucks. The steering stabilizer: looks like it's not in the best position to absorb shocks to the steering linkage to me. The sway bar: I don't like the long linkage and bracketry that holds my '96 together. So, IMO, there are quite a few components within the steering system that may lead to bad performance.

Clinton,

Please explain why you think your 'design' changes would improve the handling of the truck - drag link connection, steering stabilizer location, sway bar bracket/linkage. I think we can all agree that the track bar ball/socket is under designed but I'm curious to hear the rationale for the changes you suggest.



Brian