atc250r

A couple of months ago I replaced the ball joints, front rotors, pads, calipers, rear shoes and had the drums machined. First trip after that I had a wicked case of death wobble and actually ruptured a brake line slamming on the brakes when it acted up one time. Replaced all brake lines with Conifer style line (great stuff by the way) and replaced the slightly worn track bar (gotta love the lifetime warranty). Still had death wobble when hitting even small bumps at the right angle. I already had a steering box brace and had adjusted the box as per the TSB in the last 10K miles so here's what I did and the results.

Switched to 99 style crossover steering with AutoZone linkages (pleasantly surprised they were all from Canada and not China).

Skyjacker dual inline steering stabilizer kit.

Added a little more negative caster and gave it the old tape measure toe alignment.

Steering was much better than the somewhat worn inverted Y stuff that was on there and death wobble was gone but I felt there was room for improvement. I ordered a urethane bushing for the axle end of the track bar from Geno's, pulled the new track bar out and popped that in it. WOW! Probably the biggest single improvement of all and by far the most bang for the buck. Steering response is instantaneous now.

Synopsis:

Crossover linkages, dual stabilizers, and urethane track bar bushing made an ENORMOUS improvement.

Job

Diesel Dave2

Do you have the 3rd gen upgrade trackbar installed??

TOM R

so what is the 3rd gen trackbar upgrade?

atc250r

Dave - No, I do not. I bought this AutoZone one with a lifetime warranty several years ago and it held up pretty well. It only had the tiniest amount of play in it and apparently it was not the cause of my wobble since it didn't change at all after replacing it. Since I do the work myself I don't mind taking 15 minutes to slam a new free one in once every year or two. Not saying the 3rd gen isn't a worthwhile upgrade but I didn't do it.

Tom - its a kit that allows you to run a 3rd gen trackbar in your 2nd gen truck which gets rid of the ball joint on the one end and puts a bushing there instead.

John

SIXSLUG

Sounds like your toe was out after you replaced everything. That will cause death wobble.

An alignment should always be part of a steering parts rebuild.

Hopefully you didn't shorten the life of any of your new parts.

Unfortunately, the best front end rebuild on a Dodge doesn't compare to Chevy or ford steering in my experience. I have done everything but a Borgeson shaft and control arm bushings and my truck went from garbage steering to acceptable. $1800, top shelf parts, Thuren trac bar, DSS, shocks, stabilizer and alignment to exact specs and I still think its mediocre.

A friends 2004 1500 steers like a sports car, but you can get that with a lighter vehicle.

Did you do the control arm bushings?

atc250r

The wobble started after only replacing the joints and nothing else, they were done before all the other stuff. I've owned the truck from 26k and did the joints at about 100k and it never wobbled once in that whole time until the new joints went in. I agree an alignment is important after front end work but since I only changed the joints and only one was actually bad I figured I could make that one trip without all hell breaking loose. I did double check the toe when I was done and did use Spicer joints so they were decent too. Now that all the parts are in it will get an alignment as soon as the tax refund comes and I decide if I want to do a lift and run 37's or leave it alone.

Oh, and no, I have not replaced the control arm bushings as I am going to replace the arms if I do a lift.

John