Death wobble!!

[blacksnapon]

What it amounts to, is the compilation of all the slight movement inside each bushing and bearing, then magnified by the "rotating weight" of the larger tires. I used to install those "plastic" bushings (not sure of the manufacturer).

 

[Truckin4life]

Yes i know of what you speak vince...
I will have to dig into the archives of chit stored in my head...

 

[crzybil87]

Yea i have a dana 60 kingpin up front, and drive it everyday, it was aligned with my smaller 33" tires on it cause they couldnt do it with the big ones on, and i run it with no steering stabilizers. Do you think if i reworked the track bar it might work a bit better and added dual stabilizers?

 

[Skandocious]

What it amounts to, is the compilation of all the slight movement inside each bushing and bearing, then magnified by the "rotating weight" of the larger tires. I used to install those "plastic" bushings (not sure of the manufacturer).

Polyurethane bushings-- they're stiffer than the rubber ones and they'll last longer too. Energy Suspension will have what you're looking for:

http://www.energysuspension.com/products/C-Bushings-Radius-Track-Arm-Bushings.html

 

[countryboytn]

and added dual stabilizers?

Certainly wouldn't hurt. I would recommend at least getting one, but duals would probably be better.

 

[Truckin4life]

The larger diameter tires are causing a heavier load on the king pin spring, simulating wore out king pin or tie rods...
Underneat the king pin spring cap. Use a 7/8 washer as a spacer to put more weight on the king pin spring.

1-4 is usually enough.
Try this and let me know what you find...

 

[blacksnapon]

Polyurethane bushings-- they're stiffer than the rubber ones and they'll last longer too. Energy Suspension will have what you're looking for:

http://www.energysuspension.com/products/C-Bushings-Radius-Track-Arm-Bushings.html

Skan's on it!

 

[blacksnapon]

I've had them with bad frame member rivets, bad bushings, worn/misadjusted bearings, bad tires, and of course, poor lifts.

 

[Truckin4life]

Yup, all of the above can do it.
But it is usually bj or tre's...
Most of the time..

 

[wizzard351]

if your talkin about the 39" tsl's are they bias or radials? bias tires can take you all over the road and the biger they are the worse itll get.

 

[LEB Ben]

Bushings (typically the trac bar) and ball joints have always been the cause of my DW issues. However, one time I went crazy trying to figure out what was lose or worn, ended up being the driver's side shock tower.

 

[Alvin in AZ]

Cool, ...a "death wobble thread"!

"something's loose" -Noah, a Ford mechanic buddy of a buddy

------------------------
Anyway, VW Super Beetles (also known as Stupid Beetles! suffer from
the same thing and polyurethane is their number-one fix and is mostly just
a band-aid of sorts. A real good band-aid tho, because "PU" will hold off
the return of the death wobble until the other "loose parts" in the system
are well past just "broke-in good" to actually for-real getting a little bit
worn-out. The way it "shoulda been" to start with, huh?
-------------------------

IMO, the way -not- to look at a death wobble situation is trying to figure
out the -one- thing that's causing it. Bil, you say every thing is like new
(sorta but that isn't the case really, or you wouldn't be having the death
wobble. Easy as that.

You can piece-meal it if you want to, but what I did was a wholesale
replacement of all the "weak spots" in the system at once and the best
thing I can say about that-method is mine's been gone for over 100k miles.
...and it tightened up the steering play at the same time.
How much play you got at your steering wheel?

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toe-in1.jpg
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toe-in2.jpg

One of the problems I found over the years was how the alignment guys
like to set the toe-in too much. That causes cupping on the front tires
IME and cupped front tires isn't good for anything especially if you've got
big tires and kinda-loose parts (not just one!) that add up to death wobble.

I know I keep harping on "many loose parts adding together". If you get
to thinking about it, the parts even when brand spankin' new have some
looseness to them. They are designed to have movement in those parts,
so by their nature, they are a little-tiny-bit loose to start with.
How much looser are they now than when they were new?

It's given that your big tires is making the system more sensitive to "loose
parts" than smaller tires. ...so your loose parts have to be tighter than
usual.

x2 on basically what everyone's said so far, all I was trying to do was round
it all up into one package is all, just in my usual back-handed-sort-of-way.

Alvin in AZ

 

[crzybil87]

The tsl's are bias ply and i know they do like to follow the tracks in the road, but for the 7/8 washer on he king pin should i add one or 2 then try it then add more if need be? And all my front end parts from the ring and pinion to the pitman arm all the way to the chrom hub covers was brand new back in the beginning of january

 

[LEB Ben]

The tsl's are bias ply and i know they do like to follow the tracks in the road, but for the 7/8 washer on he king pin should i add one or 2 then try it then add more if need be? And all my front end parts from the ring and pinion to the pitman arm all the way to the chrom hub covers was brand new back in the beginning of january

ot to be a smartazz, but just cuz the stuff is new doesn't mean it is tight. The stuff settles over time and needs to be retorqued. So you may want to take an afternoon and go that route.

 

[crzybil87]

Hmm true ill have to do that this weekend, then try the washer trick, and possibly try a new track bar location with poly bushings

 

[Alvin in AZ]

...but for the 7/8 washer on he king pin should i add one or
2 then try it then add more if need be?

King pins and washers?
What year did Ford switch from king pins to ball joints, you guys?

Have you got space between the knuckle and the I-beam that a
7/8" washer will fit into? LOL

Ring and pinion?
Did you mean the steering gear?

Alvin in AZ

 

[Truckin4life]

Try 2...
If your steering gets to tight take one out, if you get some dw but maybe not as bad add another.

 

[Truckin4life]

As i understand the washers go ontop of the king pin spring to pre-load the springs more, to adjust for the larger tire's...

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Id get some steerin stabilizers like Vince said. I put one on my 72 when it had this problem and it fixed it.

 

[TexasRho83]

Someone very knowledgeable once told me that a good true steering system won't need steering stabilizers. I've used them once or twice before but honestly didn't notice much difference...