I am wondering, I hear about DW with a specific type of tire and am curious if there are any telltale signs of cupping on the tread or bizarre tread wear patterns?

If in fact the sidewalls are "weak" with the extra weight of the Cummins, 4WD front axle, rims, tires, and maybe a few other heavy weight accessories on the front end such as aftermarket bumpers, winches, etc; I think that maybe the front tires are overloaded and once you get that wiggle started in the sidewall it progresses to DW and is difficult to stop.

I'm running the stock Michelins with the stock Dodge Sport package aluminum wheels on my truck and have never experienced DW. However I have also upgraded my front end with Dynatrack free-spin, Bilston shocks, and rotate and balance tires every 5000 miles. I will admit that I have only 30K on the truck. Just some thoughts.

L8r,........dogger

 

i just got my truck, stock suspesion and no bfg's, i went over railtracks going about 55mph first time and about 40mph 2nd time and felt the DW!!! i was thinking it could be my steering stabalizer since that's what caused it on my off road truck when i used to drive it on the road. got to get this fix soon!

 

I had DW twice when the truck was fairly new with the stock tires. The tire pressure was a little low.
Never happened again until my BFG's.

 

Update from this past weekend/week. I put my stock tires/wheels back on and the death wobble reared it's head again. Did not do it as often but several times in a week. For those that have been stating that the BFG A/T's are excusively the culprit, not in my case. I replaced the stock steering stabilizer with a Rancho and so far so good. Have taken a 250 trip plus several trips back and forth from work and nothing. Seems to be fixed for now. In the process of puting the stabilizer on, I found that the upper/lower ball joints on drivers side and the pass. wheel bearings were shot. Within the next several weeks I am going to replace everything (both side hub assem as well as 4 ball joints). That way I know at 52,000 that everything will be new.

 

I had this happen to mine. I had a very lengthy discussion with Sean @ Lorenz Industries about this over the phone. I encourage you guys to talk to him yourself.

Don't waste money on a steering stabilizer. You won't get anything better than OEM unless you spend $1000 or more on a Carli or something the like.

I'm running stock height. The shocks I got from Sean (Bilstein 5100's), new tires, and DSS solved all my issues with the death wobble.

 

Thats what I've been saying is its usually a culmination of more than one thing that causes DW ie. shocks, steering stabilizer, ball joints, wheel bearings, tires all worn a bit and a little play in everything. Then people change tires cause its the easiest culprit to change and the problem can go away but could return when the new tires or the other parts wear a little more eventually the worn parts (shocks,stabilizers,ball joints,bearings) will fail and will have to be replaced. Its easy to bash the tires instead of realizing these front ends with no grease fittings lifetime bearings(ha) wear out and need repair.

 

I had no wear on my tires. Truck had 426 km when I changed out my stuff. The shaft in the DC steering box is notoriously sloppy - DSS fixed that. Shocks are notoriously OEM crap - 5100's fixed that. Never a DW since from paved roads to goat trails.

I'd say the DW issue is a function of sloppy steering and shocks combined. OE tires are just crap IMHO.

 

I was referring to Pik where he had put the stock tires back on and still had DW.

 

No problem, just stating my opinion on the DW issue after a ton of research.

 

Ya Know I Read This Whole Thread From The Begining And I Only Seen One Maybe Two Guys Who Actually Said They Rotated Their Tires. I Didnt ROTATE My Stock Tires And In 36,000 Miles, The Dw Not Only Got My Attention But The Guy I Was Passing On A Two Lane Road. He Also Pulled Over To See What The Hell Happened. After That I Went To The Bfg's And I Rotate Them Every 6000 Miles. I Have 14000 On Them Now. No Dw So Far. Just My 2 Cts.

 

Can someone explan to a newbie what DW feels like or IS?

 

when you hit a bump at certain speed your truck feels like its going to fall apart, it shakes side to side like a biatch, you need to slow down till you gain control back, its a weird feeling and scary at the same time. i don't know how else explain it.

 

New to this post. Count me in on the DW. 285 bfg's since truck was new. At 25000 the dw started. Changed shocks, B 5100 Stablizer, and still the dw's. Today the truck hit 36001 so I guess its time to dig in and fix this problem. Its tough being a mocho guy and haveing to flinch everytime i hit any bump in the road. Also I love bfg's but never had a them worn out at 36000. Maybe its the weight of the truck 2500 D. Has anyone run Dick Cepek fun country 2's?

 

i fixed my dw by putting 2" inch spacers in the rear to go with the leveling kit i put in a year ago i have tried everything and nothing worked so i put the spacers in a e rated tires dw completely gone

 

If nothing is worn out just try torque'in down your two track bar bolts.

Also, if you're running 315 BFGs you need to keep them dang near max air capacity to stay at the load rating they need in the front for that big heavy front end. If I didn't get mine practically free I wouldn't be running them, they aren't anywhere near ideal. You really need an E rated tire.

Also if you have a leveling kit you need to address your trackbar (i used a heimed ended adjustable one), sway bar endlinks or block it and shocks as well. Otherwise it's going to be pretty off and throw everything out of line.

12K miles on my 315s and no problems so far. Hope they last me for awhile.