Originally Posted by djgaston

Like I said earlier, and maybe you guys missed this, but death wobble can happen to anybody... stock trucks, lifted trucks, whatever. The lifted trucks are more prone to display it because of the angle on the track bar and the fact that it has more vertical load than normal. Dodge tried to upgrade the track bar in 03 by using one that has rubber bushings at each end, but it still sucks. I'm on my 2nd one at 38,000 miles. The first one was gone with no lift and 31 inch tires. When you have movement in your steering like that (track bar is part of your steering), you are going to see exxagerated wear... once it starts getting play, it just gets worse and worse. Some people can use the same track bar for years before they get any movement, others replace them annually. What I'm saying is that it is not necessary to consider a track bar a "maintenance" item anymore. You can fix it once and have literally no problems for the life of your truck.

Also, stock trucks can have a worn out track bar and not even know it sometimes. It might only be noticeable in irregular tire wear up front, poor alignment or not holding alignment, and exxagerated body roll in certain conditions. The reason it doesn't show up immediately as death wobble is because the track bar is basically holding a horizontal load only. Even if the ends are worn out, it is still going to pretty much hold the axle in place under normal driving conditions because there is enough tension to keep the axle in place enough that you don't feel it moving. Lifted trucks, like I said earlier, have more of a vertical load... even with a drop bracket, you are still putting a vertical leverage on the bar itself and therefore it has to hold both horizontal and vertical loads. It's kind of hard to explain but lifted trucks do exxagerate the movement and are tougher on all steering components. Stock parts aren't made for those conditions. That is why when you lift a truck, you upgrade... don't just reuse stock parts and consider it safe. It's not. You need stronger parts because your truck is requiring them in order to be as reliable as a stock truck, or even more reliable.

You can have death wobble in vehicles without a track bar, as I have in my offroad Jeep. If I get going above 30 mph, it shakes so bad that I can't control it. I have hydro assist steering but the tie rod ends on the tie rod are extremely worn out and allow the wheels/knuckles to move back and forth a little. That little bit of movement feels like the whole earth is shaking underneath you. Death wobble is always caused by steering failures, and that could be the tie rod/tie rod ends, ball joints, or track bar if applicable. In Dodge trucks, 95% of the time, it's going to be the track bar. You can count on that.