APD

The other day at 70mph I got my first taste of the death wobble.
I have always had a little shimmy up front. I dont really feel it in the steering wheel, but anything on passenger seat vibrates like a bowl of jello.
The problem is I cant find any play in the front end.
I have jacked it up twice now and cant find anything.
I took it to a shop, they found nothing.
I had the tires rotated.
I put new Billstein shocks up front.
I put a new track bar bushing in.
Truck tracks straight when I let go of the wheel.
I dont want to just keep throwing parts at it.
any ideas?
1997 2500 with 173k miles

ftltmp

I sympathize with you, my 04.5 started this two weeks ago. I too have been under mine and I didn't find anything that I thought would cause this, replaced the track bar bushings as well , and steering stabilizer. Mine has only done it twice, once before bushings and once after. I do have a little play in the knuckle at the pitman arm, but I don't think it is enough to cause this. I have come to the conclusion that I may have to rebuild the whole front end. I don't think its one part that causes it, I think it is the whole system as a whole that contributes to the problem. What fixed one truck did'nt fix the next one. I hope you find a fix soon, I know its aggrivating waiting for it to shake again..Good luck

cougar

You sure it's coming from the front? When my 92 does this same thing, I adjust my rear brakes and it goes away. I thought it was my front end too, throwing parts at it until there where no parts left to throw. I never felt it in the steering wheel either and just kept paying attention to it when it would happen. It was the whole truck wobbling, not just the front end.

SIXSLUG

Check the alignment before putting anything else to it....

Probably toed straight or out....

SIXSLUG

Also, ask around for an old alignment guy and take it there. The newer shops don't need to think, the computer does it for them and they usually can't find their a** with both hands.....

APD

Yes, an alignment was going to be my next $$$$ thrown at it.
Ive checked the alignment myself with the string method, and the toe-in seems correct.
Vehicle tracks straight.
The problem is I dont know of a shop that I trust enough. Most just do what the computer tells them, and wont even adjust the truck unless its out of specs.
Im guessing my caster is out, which seems to be an issue with death wobble.
One of my eccentrics points to 12 oclock and the other to 1 oclock, so Im wondering if it was done wrong last time.

Busboy

Borrow 2 stock wheels and tires from a known good truck and try them on the front of yours, zero cost and illuminates a lot.

APD

I had new tires installed/balanced and the problem occurred.
I rotated the new tires and it still occurred.

patdaly

What make of tires and how much balance weights did they have to install?

I have always had DW when my tires were mostly worn out, not with new ones.

APD

They are coopers.
Had the shimmy with the old worn out tires as well as the new ones.
I then rotated the new one with no change.

Busboy

You don't say if the tires are stock size, on my 2001 I went up from a 245 to a 265 which was also a recommended stock size, the truck was all over the place so I tried a couple of 245's I had already mounted on rims on the front, problem went away so changed out the 265's for 245's.

patdaly

Ok, without physically seeing it, I have to assume everything is good and tight and perhaps you need to dial some more caster in it.

It isn't lifted in the front at all is it?

KATOOM

A few things can cause death wobble.

Loose steering and/or suspension components.....so check everything VERY closely with a friend moving the steering wheel back and forth, truck on the ground and not running. It doesnt take much slack in something to allow unwanted erratic movement while driving.

Bad tire. Yes, badly worn tires and/or internal separating casings will cause side to side shimming.

And alignment. Its important to understand a couple key things about these trucks. One is that the alignment is VERY easy to do on your own. No need for an expensive alignment job.....as long as everything is in decent shape. Any bent parts or tires poking in strange directions are no good and you have more issues than a basic alignment can fix.
Two, caster is VERY important on these front ends and will cause a perfectly good truck to twitch like a formula 1 car driver with tourette. Add the mass of a 4 ton truck on 100 lb rotating tires and death wobble is a problem. Also, something worth pointing out is these trucks respond much better to positive caster. They do not like negative caster and having the caster set neutral or negative will result in excessive wear and tear on steering components and possibly death wobble. Dodge even understood this and tried to fix it in 2002 by changing the geometry of the front axle but it didnt work very well.

So with all that said, all you have to do is take a tape measure or a string and set the front tires toe at 1/4" - 1/8" in. Tires running parallel is no good and will cause wander. Too much toe and they'll scrub as you drive. With the toe set, then set the control arm eccentric cam bolt adjusters so that the indicator arrows are pointing at around 45* - 75* forward toward the front of the truck, with the drivers side being the farthest forward because of cross caster built into the front axle housing. Thats it.

If you dont understand what caster is and what it does then look it up. But just for sake of simplicity, think of it like a shopping cart with that wheel violently wiggling back and forth as you push it down the isle. Thats death wobble. You dont want your trucks tires doing this.