DirtEater

Ooops! Guess I should have read all the posts before replying.

djgaston

They are out, he is totally swamped right now making track bars for 2nd gens and trying to get them out before Christmas.
And yeah, they are super easy to install. If you can loosen and tighten two bolts, you are home free.

crossy

I have JUST now started to research this on the forums and I'm depressed to say the least. my $40K truck is bone stock (tire&lift -wise) with only 7,000 miles on it and has done this since new. I just purchased and installed Expensive KYB Monomax shocks up front and it made no difference at all. My truck has it as bad as someone else described where even a large expansion joint can set it off, but i can feel front end 'flutter' on every tiny bump too!
IS there a TSB out there for this that i can tell the Dodge dealer about?? DAVE

rockdonon

National Auto Saftey Administration Hot Line 800 424-9393
I experienced DEATH WAbble after putting on an aftermarket steering dampner. Put the stock dampner back on and so far no more DW.
2004, leveling kit, Stock rims with 315's.

crossy

Dodge dealer said EXACTLY what i thought he would say. " nope, first I heard of this" . then asked if i lifted it and so on. I told him No, and that it had only 7,000 miles on it , been doing it since it wa brand new, and that it was all stock except that I put quality, expensive shocks on it that made NO DIFFERENCE at all in the problem. Then he tells me that the truck HAS to be all stock for him to work on it and that i need to re-install the junk, brazilian made shocks for him to access(sp?) the problem.

Called Don and ordered my bar from Thuren and I'll let everyone know if it cures it within a month.
As a pointer Dan said to make sure your Caster is 4-1/2 to 5-1/2* and not 3* like stock. he said that alone makes quite a differece. DAVE

Sittingbull2

DJgaston, I noticed something here about death wobble. Years ago I had a 1977 F150 4x4 6" lift coil spring front end with 38 gumbo mudders it had the death wobble. I personally think (COIL SPRING) front ends or weaker front ends than a leaf spring frontend. Reading about the death wobble seems to be all COIL Springs. Do you suppose this could be a weak point in our trucks? I have had a couple leaf spring vehicles that never had a death wobble. Just wondering.

goose2

Has anyone experianced the death wobble in a 06 yet? Why I ask this is, my 04.5 done the death wobble thing and my 06 steering seems to be alot tighter than my 04.5 was. I was told that dodge made some changes on the steering on the 06. On my 04.5, every time you hit a bump you could fill the steering have a little shake. My 06 has no shake in it no matter the size of the bump.

adamkn

Yeah I heard too that Dodge made some front-end suspension changes. If you ever have a chance, it'd be cool if you would take a picture of the steering linkage so that I could see what the difference is - I'm really curious.

adamkn

The leaf spring front ends are much sturdier. Just not a very comfortable ride! But since leaf springs would not allow nearly as much lateral axle movement (next to none, really), I'm guessing death wobble would never be a problem with that type of suspension.

I have a feeling that the only way to pretty much eliminate the possibility of death wobble is to go to an independant front suspension (like the GM trucks). But I still prefer my solid axle!

crossy

This is what my 05 is doing. I can feel every little bump with a flutter of the steering wheel. Don says the caster adjustments will really help that go away and give a slightly higher effort to the steering. DAVE

Uncle Red

Anybody know how death wobble affects regular front ends versus those with the snow plow springs? Just wondering.

mijpa

A buddy of mine has a 2005 lifted truck who pit on rancho steering dampner and his truck did it. He then put on the stock one and problem hasn't come back.

I put on a superlift steering dampner with a leveling kit and 33" tires and so far I haven't experienced the wobble.

adamkn

If you understand how the trackbar works - when you hit a bump, the axle moves upward slightly. Because of the trackbar, whenever the axle moves up, the whole axle assembly also moves to the right (pass. side). As a result of this lateral movement, the steering wheel will "flutter" as the steering rod connected to the pitman arm gets yanked to the right. I'm not sure that it's physically possible to avoid that - if it is, I'm really curious to know how.

So my point is that it's normal. Apparently the 06's have a slightly better design, which may reduce the amount of movement, but I believe there will always be some movement.

djgaston

Sorry I missed some of the replies. I would've replied sooner.

First, good job on ordering the track bar from Don. This is the best way to go. He will send you the track bar plus two new bolts to hold it in place. What he and I have discovered is that you need a fine thread grade 8 bolt on both ends of the track bar, instead of the stock coarse thread bolts. I am a fairly large guy, and able to put a lot of torque on any bolt with my 2 foot breaker bar. I had the stock bolt as tight as it would go, and that lower track bar mount would still move passenger side to driver side easily. I went to the hardware store, got a new fine thread bolt (forgot the exact size, 9/16" x 3" x 24 I think) and nut, put it on and tightened it down as good as I could without giving myself a hernia, and now the track bar does not move at all. It is really amazing what the difference between coarse and fine thread will do.
This will not remedy death wobble, it will just keep the track bar from moving as much, if that is your problem. If the bushings are worn out, it will not fix that problem.

Leaf spring suspensions are far more simple and reliable than coil spring setups. They are also not nearly as comfortable and do not perform as well as a linked setup. You win some, you lose some. However, I will once again say that any vehicle can get death wobble. My leaf-sprung Jeep has it due to worn ball joints and tie rod ends. My diesel has it again right now, because of a driver side hub assembly that is totally gone. I can't even drive the truck over 15 mph without losing control. So once again, I am upgrading, not just repairing. The Dynatrac manual hub conversion will be here Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

Dodge sure does leave a lot to be desired in their front ends. Solid axle Fords have the same problem, BTW. You just don't hear about them as much because the trucks usually blow up before any part of the suspension wears out.

Don is correct about adjusting caster. I have my axle as far forward as it can go on stock arms. When he and I work on the new radius arms/long arms for the 3rd gen, there will be much more adjustability, or they will simply be made to add more caster to the axle once bolted on.

Death wobble has nothing to do with steering stabilizers, except that some stabilizers might cover up the side to side motion more than others. I kind of feel like some people might confuse death wobble with too much steering feedback. There is a difference. If you want to know what death wobble is like, come take a ride in my truck this week. Be sure and wear your Depends. Death wobble is when the truck is shaking so violently out of control that you can only do two things: grab the wheel as tight as you can, and try to leave the highway on the side that will do the least amount of damage. You have no control over the vehicle, and it feels like riding a bull for a little bit.
If you are getting feedback through the steering wheel, that is not death wobble. That is from having bumpsteer, when the drag link and track bar are not parallel. It can also be from worn parts that are showing a little bit of play, but not enough to make you lose control of the truck. To get rid of the feedback, the best thing you can do is install a steering BRACE, which holds the sector shaft on the gear box in place and does not allow it to move back and forth, even if the drag link is trying to force it to. And, of course, see if your tie rod ends are worn, balljoints could be worn, or hub assemblies are showing any play. I've said it before, steering stabilizers/dampeners are simply a Band-Aid for other problems. A properly aligned and maintained vehicle has no use for them on the highway, or really even off road for that matter. They just get banged up and broken off road anyway.

Uncle Red, springs have nothing to do with death wobble or steering feedback. This only has to do with steering parts.

topless

I'm not going to dispute anything said in here about curing the wobble, just make a couple of observations based on some years racing and driving trucks most of my life. ( and I'm kinda old)
I saw mentioned in here about castor angles, and wondered if the excessive wear in the track bar ends and wobble isn't related. Read this definition of castor angles and think about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_angle

I have not experienced it, yet, and am curious to know if those that have, have had the castor angle checked. Since changing tires, shocks, steering stabilizer, etc. don't seem to affect the problem, this points to a geometry problem, not a mechanical one.