Death wobble!!

[crzybil87]

Ok i have a really irrataing problem... My truck suffers from death wobble. Ive tried everything to try and get rid of it but it comes and goes.. its probably something stupid to fix but i need your guys help with this..

 

[Skandocious]

Symptoms? What speeds? What does it feel like? Variation with throttle or speed?

Tell us everything you know

 

[Truckin4life]

Jack up one front tire, try to turn the tire side to side with your hands.
Then up and down with your hands....



Ball joints is up and down.
Left and right is tie-rods....
Are the tire's balanced?

 

[crzybil87]

Ive jacked it up, theres no play in the tires, everything is pretty much brand new it has an alignment, the tires are balanced to the best 39s will balance to with the beads ( i forget what they are called) it happens above 30 mph it comes in and out as i go faster but once i go slower than 30 it stops, it feels like a tire is massively out of balance but ive taken them all off and put them on a balancer they all check out good. And the whole front end is jamming side to side, It has a track bar in it I just dont get it

 

[Skandocious]

I had a weird vibration that I couldnt figure out. Felt like out-of-balance tires but I had them balanced like 3 times and it wasnt helping. Finally I asked the tire shop to make sure they weren't "out of round". They checked it and sure enough, 3 of the 4 tires were so out of round that they couldnt even be salvaged. The tire shop gave me 4 new tires at a pro-rated price.

Any chance your tires are out of round?

 

[crzybil87]

I dont think so, theyre brand new with about 200 miles on them, I sure hope theyre not out of round i cant afford to buy new ones

 

[Skandocious]

Mine were pretty new too-- still had around 80% on them. If you bought them from a reputable tire shop they'd probably give you new tires at a pro-rated price like they did for me (if they're out of round).

 

[crzybil87]

well, this is more than a vibration, this is almost shaking the whole truck, do you think it could be that my spring pack is so high?

 

[Truckin4life]

Is the axle shaking or are the tires shaking?
Are the goin up and down, or side to side?

 

[Skandocious]

How do you driveline angles look? You have a 1 piece or 2 piece driveshaft?

 

[Truckin4life]

Is it with the axle's locked or unlocked or does it matter?

 

[crzybil87]

The angle of the driveshaft is ok not too bad, the axle feels like its going side to side. the track bar mount to the truck is in the middle of the truck, do you think if i brought that mount to the other side of the frame opposite to where its on the axle it would do better at more of a lateral stance

 

[crzybil87]

It did it either way with em locked or unlocked

 

[Truckin4life]

You have a d60 up front?
I think there was a trick to putting washers under the steering arm...
Ill have to do some research to remember exactly...

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Has the truck been sittin for a while?

 

[blacksnapon]

The death wobble is more likely to occur with larger tires. You'll find literally nothing is worn or defective. The track bar, or "panhard bar" is engineered to keep the axle in the center of the truck. The wobble starts there. Its just movement inside of the bushings that start the shaking. Easy fix, a quality steering stabilizer. The dual shock ones are the best.

 

[Truckin4life]

Not true vince...
There are ALOT of trucks that run around with over sized tires and no steering stabalizer.
Finding the ulitmate issue is key.
Off road world steering stabalizer is seen as a band aid for a bullet hole.

Not trying to knock you or your knowledge...
But there is something somewhere that aint quite right.
Once you find it and fix it all is well.
But steering stablizer can help.

 

[blacksnapon]

Yeah, I know. Like I said, The panhard bar bushings start it. Yep, theres a bunch of them with no problems, but I've fixed dozens of them by just removing the tires.

 

[Bricks]

Has it been aligned with those tires?

 

[Truckin4life]

Yup larger the tire, the more it magnifies the smallest of issue's....

Alignment with the current tires would be important for sure.