Wicked Shimmy
 

Truck is a 1996 2500 with 4 wheel drive. Hit a bump coming on to the freeway yesterday at about 60 MPH and the whole front end began a wild shimmy had to get down to about 10 MPH before it stopped. Rest of the trip home was uneventful with all the bumps and the like on the road. Wondering if i have a shot damper on the truck or is there something else I should look at?

Im not an expert on the subject but look into death wobble.

Agreed, typical of 'death wobble'. If your stabilizer is shot, a new one may help, acting like a bandaid - doesn't address the root cause.

Check your caster (especially if lifted), toe-in, and your trac bar for worn joints. There may be more contributing factors depending on what other mods you have, including wheel offset and tire size.

All stock and just had the front end aligned. Will look into suggested items and replacing the stabilizer.

Often overlooked- trackbar balljoint shot. Get a helper to wiggle the steering wheel left to right with the truck on the ground and observe the balljoint connecting the trackbar to the frame. No movement allowable. Also observe the track bar bushing on the axle- also no movement allowable.

Any play in there can induce the death wobble, simply by the axle going to the right- wheels steer towards the left, axle goes left, wheels steer right and so on.
The damper between the tie rod and the axle is a band aid at best..

I had/have the same issue on my 95 2500 4x4. I replaced everything, ball joints, tie rods, ect. I found that the long bar with the long bar that goes from passenger side lower to the driver side upper, was the issue. I dont remember what its called but it has a curve in it on the driver side. I bought one from autozone, it corrected the problem for a little while. The autozone one was cheap, get one from dodge and make sure oil doesnt leak on it.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.die...e6d5f633fb.png

The long one with the curve in it is the track bar. Keeps the axle centered under your truck. Balljoint on the drivers side of the frame wears out, often resulting in death wobble.