As much as I don't want to see another DW thread, here is another death wobble thread.. I need a few opinions for my next move. Here is the list of things I've done so far.
Track bar bushings - Checked good
Track bar properly adjusted - Check
New upper and lower control arms - Check
4 new TRE's - Check
Play in ball joints - None
Everything torqued and zero play in anything under my front end - Check
Alignment - Check
Caster 4.5 degrees
New steering stabilizer - Check
Tires rotated - Check
Death Wobble? Check
Any idea of what I should try next? I'm about out of good ones
Wow dude, that is awful. Looks like you got just about everything I have heard that fixes it covered. Properly torqued lugs? Torque the track bar as much as you can? Take it to HCP 4x4? They were able to help me with mine, but it was simple, just old tires that were un-evenly worn. http://www.hcp4x4.com/
I've got it once after upgrading my wheels and it was when braking hard going from 6th Ave to I-70 because of traffic. I think my TREs might be shot because my steering seems to be pretty loose when. I can move my wheel back and forth quite a bit while still driving in a straight line. Meh, unless it gets out of control I'm ok with it for now.
I know little to nothing about DW but maybe it's time for everyone to stop assuming it's caused by the front end. Just because that's where it pops up, doesnt mean thats its source. Maybe it's actually just a symptom of something wrong elsewhere...
Maybe something isn't right on the driveline or in the rear end, and it's being transferred up to the weakest links -- the parts that wiggle.
Tire pressure is good and wheels are torqued on. I have new ball joints sitting at my house. I guess I was just hoping it would be something else so I didn't have to go that route. Looks like I know what I am doing in the morning.
I feel for you, if you look at my past threads I've been dealing with DW for a year. I had good success getting rid of DW by increasing my caster, that is the only thing that controlled the wobble. I always had bump steer though but it stayed under control. I just went to long arms, and put my stock rims on and it drives dreamy, Thinking of trying my soft eights again to see if the less backspacing and heavy rims make a difference.
So as long as you have a good drive shaft try raising your caster
The control arm joints are all good. The upper arms are brand new, the lowers are less than a 6 months old. I took the lowers out when I installed the uppers since I would adjusting them out anyways. Checked the bearings to make sure they were fine.
I'll get those ball joints changed in the morning and I'll repost for an update on whether or not it fixed the issue. I'm hopeful, but at the same time, I'm not holding my breath
The control arm joints are all good. The upper arms are brand new, the lowers are less than a 6 months old. I took the lowers out when I installed the uppers since I would adjusting them out anyways.
I fixed my death wobble (knock on wood) I replaced my entire drag link. I did not torque the tie rod nuts to spec. I tightened the crap out of them. It seemed to make my steering a little tighter. I dropped the air pressure in the tires a little. I set my toe to .20. My caster is at 3.1 on the drivers side and 3.5 on the passenger side. I have adjustable upper arms so I may tweek it a little. I did 65 on the road and no wobble. Had a slight shimmy hitting a big bump at 55 but it was controllable and nothing like I had before so we shall see how it goes.
What is your tire pressure, it made a huge diff for me when I went from 44 to 28!
How tight is your steering (play in the wheel) I also tightend the little screw on my steering box to help a bit....who knows if it made a big difference, but it seems to have helped.
What is your tire pressure, it made a huge diff for me when I went from 44 to 28!
How tight is your steering (play in the wheel) I also tightend the little screw on my steering box to help a bit....who knows if it made a big difference, but it seems to have helped.
Tire pressure is at 40 I think. Steering is all super tight. The guys at the alignment shop looked at everything as well and couldn't find anything with any kind of play in it. And no ovaling on the trackbar bolt holes.
I had a buddy with DW that couldn't figure it out forever. After a ton of headache he found (he took it to a shop and they actually diagnosed it) that a belt inside the tire had broken and somehow that was causing it. New tires and he never had DW again. For what it's worth...
Just went outside to check because I couldn't remember what psi I was actually at. Rt side was 34 Left was at 37. I went ahead and knocked the air in all the tires down to 30 to see how that runs.
I run 25lbs on my 32" tires, it bounces to much when you hit the pot hole with more air than that, So far so good with LA for me and Death Wobble:2thumbsup:
I take it you have a adjustable track bar? JKS? Kevins off road makes a replacement hard bushing kit that worked for me. Now solid as a rock i have a IRO 4" short arm and it drives like a dream. Alittle pricey at 50.00 but the headache went away. Good Luck.:thumbsup:
Your caster should be closer to 6* on short arms. I ran a 4" lift on short arms with no DW at all. My caster was set at 6.1 on both sides. And I had no drive line vibes. If you are having vibes already at 4.5* you probably need to balance or replace your driveshaft or maybe just need to replace u-joints. Try increasing your caster and deal with drive line vibes just to see if it fixes your DW. Then go from there.
I'll probably try adjusting the caster a little on Monday and see what happens. I have a new front drive shaft that I installed a few months ago so the u joints should be good still. I'll have to see what the vibes feel like with a little more caster. In the end, I may just switch my front end to LA then I'll have to move all this stuff around again. Fun times
I would go ahead and order the KOR bushings. In combination of the KOR Track bar bushings,Heavy duty SS and new tie rods I stopped my DW in its tracks. Not even a stutter. From everything Ive researched the other TB bushings are too soft and still allow play even though they look tight.
good luck. My alignments don't stay in place very long. My caster is 4.7/4.5. I'm on a 3" iro with barely 30" tires. I want to get adjustable lca's next to fix the caster.
I also purchased the KOR bushings, but haven't installed them. I've had a handful of techs at different shops tell me my ball joints, TRE's etc are all good, so I'd hate to start throwing money around just to replace them. I think caster is my next step.
hmm...steering tight, new ball joints, new tre...I don't know, try airing down a bit more....at least you don't have anything to loose beside milage...and I would rather get 15mpg (okay so I get more like 12) than experience DW!
Check for cracks or any movement in the trackbar mounts themselves, if you can, re-enforce those pieces of sheetmetal on the frame side, the axle side should be fine, but it's worth a check. Can you jack the rig up and let the axle hang down and shake and shimmy the heck out of it to see if you can see anything?
How much Toe are you running?
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