Violent shake

[Silver Bullit]

I have a customer with a 2004 2500 4x4, cummins. When driving at highway speeds(60-70mph) if you hit a small bump or undulation in the road the truck goes into a violent shimmy. It fels like the front wheels are going to come off. It does not happen all the time but when it does look out. The customer has been to the dealer bu they told him it ws probably the road. Yeah right! When i drove it and it happened to me i wanted to jump out because you literally lose control , until you can slow it down to a stop then take off again. Any idea's... ????

 

[bpenrod]

Do a search on "Death Wobble" and you'll get tons of info! Some guys have cured it with a combination of things but I don't believe there is a cure-all that works on every truck. Usually involves different alignment specs and such. Good Luck!!

 

[CLAYTON]

Definitly "Death Wobble". .

 

[CATCRACKER]

i bet he has a leveling puck. my 2003 had the same thing with the 315's. my 97 does it do every now and then. i would do it worse if i have big tires on it. i have the 2" puck on it as well try getting new lower link arms. the 2" puck takes the front end out of spec. other will disagree with me on this theory. but that is all it is

 

[barbwire]

I have a customer with a 2004 2500 4x4, cummins. When driving at highway speeds(60-70mph) if you hit a small bump or undulation in the road the truck goes into a violent shimmy. It fels like the front wheels are going to come off. It does not happen all the time but when it does look out. The customer has been to the dealer bu they told him it ws probably the road. Yeah right! When i drove it and it happened to me i wanted to jump out because you literally lose control , until you can slow it down to a stop then take off again. Any idea's... ????

I know it may sound dumb, but this same thing happened to me on a different vehicle though. When it happened you would swear the front end was going to vacate the truck. I balanced the wheels & tires, and it solved the problem. Oo. However, I am sure that balancing is only part of the problem. Other worn items come into play as well.

 

[Patriot_RAM]

Yo Hoot also had the death wobble after installing a 2" leveling kit. He corrected it with an alignment adjustment. I've seen others post that new ball joints cured the problem. Good luck!

 

[Silver Bullit]

tHANKS FOR THE REPLY, WE HAVE ALREADY TRIED BALANCING THE TIRES AND THE TRUCK HAS VERY LO MILEAGE(15,000) SO WORN PARTS ARE NOT AN ISSUE. i MEAN THE TRUCK IS ONLY 6 MONTHS OLD.

 

[DPKetchum]

Worn pasrts CAN be a issue. To a search on DEATH WOBBLE. Print them and take it back in to your dealer.

 

[RustyJC]

Is the truck on the low end of the allowable caster range? If so, more caster may help significantly.



Rusty

 

[Ereynolds72]

I developed death wobble after installing 2. 5" lift springs. Acting on the advice of several in this forum, I adjusted the caster more positive. I actually turned the adjusting cam to the furthest mark toward the front of the vehicle. This puts the lower ball joint more forward of the upper ball joint. I've not done anything else so far and this has seemed to eliminate the wobble I had.

 

[Yo Hoot]

I developed death wobble after installing 2. 5" lift springs. Acting on the advice of several in this forum, I adjusted the caster more positive. I actually turned the adjusting cam to the furthest mark toward the front of the vehicle. This puts the lower ball joint more forward of the upper ball joint. I've not done anything else so far and this has seemed to eliminate the wobble I had.

Yes... adding caster seems to be the cure.

 

[sag2]

I worked on one last week. Actually it is not that scary, it was kind of fun. It would do it on the same spot each time, and stay shimmying as long as you wanted to hold the speed up. I never felt out of control, and it stopped if I slowed to 35. It was an 03 that had 35,000 miles and has been rode hard. Lots of off road miles. It had junk (no name) tires with 8,000 miles on them. I swapped to stock wheels and tires on the front and it went away. Ended up replacing tie rod ends and track bar that had some slop and advising customer to invest in a quality set of tires.

 

[CATCRACKER]

it might not be scary b/c you did not get it do max out. when on the interstate doing 80 and you hit a big pot hole it will throw you off the road... trust me its scary.

 

[sag2]

It would only do it above 60, and 70 started it easier. Maybe because I knew it was coming. I stuck my head out the window, and the front wheel looked like it was moving 4" side to side.

The interesting thing was the road surface was not that bad in the spot it would do it. I tried a bunch of bumps and holes to make it do it, but it really liked this one spot.