RobG

My '05 has developed a new problem as of the last couple months. It only happens once every couple of weeks, since I really don't drive the truck that often.

What happens is the steering wheel stars shaking violently left and right, and the whole truck along with it. The truck continues to go straight, but trying to change lanes takes a very large amount of effort (such as to pull over to the shoulder). The shaking stops once speed drops below 30 mph.

Usually, it's precipitated by hitting a small bump in the road with one of the front tires, usually the right... but yesterday it happened without any bump at all. I was moving to the right lane to go around a slow-*** in a Honda Accord that refused to move over, and just as I passed him, it started up.

The suspension is stock... stock ride height, stock-size tires. The tires are nearing the end of their life. I will probably replace them next month. The shocks are Bilsteins and have been on the truck since 48k miles (it has a hair under 90k now). The steering damper was replaced about two years ago with an aftermarket unit from an auto parts store because the original one got bent when I tagged a stray highway cone on the freeway.

I've looked underneath and don't see anything out of the ordinary at first glance. It's been raining like mad for the last few weeks so I haven't crawled under it, just looked. The damper appears to be fine; no leaks that I can see.

Any ideas what this might be? My best semi-educated guess is something in the steering box or pitman arm, but I dunno. The shaking is VERY violent.. as if the truck was suddenly strapped into a giant paint can shaker. I can only imagine what it must look like to other cars.

Rob

rockcrawler304

YES!! That is the dreaded death wobble!!

RobG

Okay, good (I guess). What's the CURE?

Since my truck has been trouble-free for 90k miles and it's only now appeared, it must be due to a worn part or something... but which part?

Rob

cstewart

Rob,
Frustrating problem...beleive me, I know!
Since you say your tires are pretty worn, I might start with going ahead and replacing them now (I had BFG A/Ts that had about 30K+ on them when I started getting the wobble). Changed tires and the problem went away (of course I have heard of a lot of guys having problems with the BFG A/Ts).

Other than that, you might want to replace that steering dampner with a good Bilstein one (I have heard of people switching out to a better aftermarket one like Bilstein and or simply buying a new OEM one and the problem goes away).

In short, the "cure" for DW seems to come specific to each individual's truck (what has worked for me might not work for your truck). Hence, I would start with some upgrades on the least expensive stuff right now until you can dial it in to more expensive upgrades if it doesn't go away (of course I only mention tires because you say they are "nearing the end"...I am aware that tires are not cheap).

Good luck, and by all means let us know what the "cure" was for you when you get it addressed!

RobG

Cool, thanks for the tips. The tires and steering damper are a good place to start. They'll still have to wait; $1200+ of tires aren't in the budget just yet. Thankfully I go most everywhere via motorcycle (even in the rain, usually).

I'll post up again when I know more.

Rob

jhenson

Good friend of mine had exact same problem on his '04 but he could only get it to happen if he hit a certain bump in the road.....luckily, just down from his house. Dealership pretty well hung him out to dry by replacing parts here and there and telling him it was fixed......well, it wasn't. His fix ended up being the upgraded steering linkages. Almost 2yrs on new linkages and zero death wobble issues.

mtnbiker

I have been triaging mine for 30k miles (120k now).
I too had BFG ATs that were about 60% wore. I installed a Thuren drag length since stock had deflection... didn't fix it. I then purchase new tires to resolve it for now but believe this purchase just mask the problem... tires will most likely wear poorly. Steering is still a little loose and walks when potholes are hit.
Service mechanics want to throw $2100 at it with no guarantees.
Let us know what you find out.

FastTaco

You need a steering box brace. There are several companies that make them. I got mine for $120. Its just a bar that goes from frame to frame and has a bearing that holds the steering box shaft to keep it from flexing. Very easy install.

cstewart

This would be the other option...looking to get one of these for piece of mind. However, I would be interested to know which manufacturer of these would work with the drop blocks that come with Lorenz coil spring 2" leveling kit for the stabilizer bar??

Grit Dog

Don't think it matters. SB brace bolts from steering box to the frame. Regardless of lift.

cstewart

Your probably correct...however, when I asked Sean Lorenz this question he stated that he understood "roughly 80% of the manufacturer's braces would work with the drop blocks installed"....of course he didn't name specific brands one way or the other.

Hence the inquiry...

RobG

Finally remembered to come back and post a follow-up.

Just before Christmas, I finally installed six new Michelin LTX M/S tires, and the wobble is gone. I hit the same bumps I did before, and I feel about one second of what was the wobble, but that's it.

I still think I need a new steering damper, and maybe a pitman arm (or something related to the steering), but I do think my wobble was caused by bad tires.

Rob

Lost Lake

Rob,
The design of the truck keeps it balanced on the edge of the death wobble. Often you can fix one thing and it goes away, that's why everyone's cure can vary from what worked for others.

My truck was undrivable. When I rotated my BFG's it would go away for about 4,000 miles then I had it again. Plenty of trucks run BFG's, why are ours any different? Design.

We don't have a lot of caster in the front. Adding a bit more will stabilize the front wheels and give you more leeway for other parts to wear.

Soft tires roll under themselves and spring back as the axle starts shaking side to side, The tires actually leave the ground in full-blown DW, and the truck is completely uncontrollable. Filling the tires minimizes the chance they will squish and roll under themselves as the axle moves.

Ditto with the track bar bushings. They may look good but they get worn, and worn allows movement (there must be thousands of pounds of force on those bushings) and movement sets up DW. I put in a set of urethane bushings.

I kept my old BFG's and ran them down to nothing to make sure my changes eliminated DW. The items I did all at once were set caster to 4* (mine might be at 3.8 / 4.2 or something like that) put in urethane track bar bushings (like $30) and replaced the stabilizer.

After the BFG's were worn out I put a leveling kit on and even bigger tires. No DW here. If it ever comes back I'll check my caster and replace my track bar bushings.

mtnbiker

Lost Lake, I have a couple of questions;

1.) Can you tell us which bushings you put in the trackbar? Where did you get them? Was this the stock trackbar... I put the Thuren on and have my stock to fix or trash.

2.) What/where stabilizer did you install? I checked my stabilizer by hand and it felt strong.

3.) The 4* caster setting... can anyone do this in the driveway or does this have to be on a machine?

4.) Any chance my Daystar plastic leveling kit could now start to fail after 125k miles have any cause here?

I replaced my tires to mask DW... still feel it there. I hope I can change the next least expensive item to prevent irregular tire wear... get as many miles as I can before DW is back.

bottrigg

My DW was caused by bad lower ball joints. Fixed that but now my steering box has play in it now. The problem with DW is that one thing might cause it, but it starts to tear your front end apart. Even the parts that weren't bad before.