I am driving a Dodge Ram 2500 V-10 4x4 with rear dual wheels. Its a company vehicle and I'm not sure of the year but its either a 97 or 98. The problem is that on very rare occasions between 45-60 mph the truck will violently go out of control with front end wheel hop that is so bad that the vehicle is utterly uncontrolable. The first time it happened I was driving around 45 mph and gently applied the brakes for a stop sign. The car immediatley starting wheel hopping like the front end of the truck was on a pogo stick, I left the road but managed to bring it to a stop without hitting anything.

Repair shop said they could find nothing wrong but rebuilt the brake system.

Eight months later I was driving on a country road at 45-55 mph and I gently applied the brakes to slow for a tractor that was moving slowly. Again immediate violent front end wheel hop that was so bad that I veered off the road to the right to keep from being thrown into oncoming traffic. Again no damage.

Nobody can find anything wrong with this truck. All they do is test drive it and find no problems. An inspection of the front end turns up nothing. THIS TRUCK HAS ME SPOOKED!! I have now reached the point that I have parked it, red tagged it, and have refused to drive it anywhere. The motor pool in my company says there is nothing wrong with it------------------I know better.

HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS. IF SO WHAT WAS THE CAUSE?

 

Do a search under "Death Wobble". There are a lot of posts on this subject.

 

I have heard of something called the "death wobble", but I don't know a heck of a lot about it, nor have I experienced it. Perhaps someone else here can comment, or you could search on "death wobble".

Chris

 

The number one cause is the track bar, assuming the truck is a 4x4.
Number two would be shocks (including the steering stabilizer shock), then tires.

Pretty much anything in the front end can contribute though, but above are the usual suspects.


phox

 

As stated above you should find a ton of information on the death wobble. Mine went away when I replaced the steering stabilizer (looks like a shock absorber mounted on the steering linkage). Others say it is from a loose track bar or bad shocks.

 

Just had to deal with this problem on a 93 4x4 dually x-cab dodge diesel. Had checked upper king pins, brakes, shocks, wheel bearings all with no luck. Last thing to check or change was the tires. Guess what, it was the tires. Now, I know this is a leaf spring animal. But, from what I hear from other Chrysler techs, I guess that some people are not having good luck with the Goodyear wranglers on heavy trucks. Just an idea.

 

my 93 the steering box was warn out inside it had some play but not alot then i felt it pop when truning the wheels left to right when sitting still. decided to take it apart and see what made it tick, it was and is junk

 

If it's a leaf spring design front end, look at the leaf spring "rubber bushings", if they are bad that will cause what you are describing. Been there done that, if no leaf springs up front look at tires and all other steering componants.

 

Just went through this with a 97 Jeep Cherokee which has a very similar set up to our trucks. New shocks, steering dampner and set of tires and it rides and drives great.

 

Hey, I've got the DW and can't get the steering stablizer off to replace it. What do I need to get it off, a pitman arm puller or something? I tried hitting the dang thing with a 5 lb hammer and the stud on budge.

Thanks!

 

Someone posted this info on another forum.


Following is a brief part of the specs from TDR:
" Alignment programs (and service manuals I believe), give a wide
acceptable range for front caster on the 4x4 Rams. I believe the range
is 2 degrees to 5 degrees (if that's not correct, it's pretty close).
The problem occurs when the alignment tech (independent or dealer)
tells you that the measurements "checked out fine", just because they
were in this broad range of acceptance.
Caster readings that fall on either end of the scale are subject to
caster shimmy, even though they are "acceptable". I had to align some
30 trucks and attend a 9 hour "Dodge Ram Chassis Dynamics Diagnostics"
training session (fancy name, ehh?), before finding out that 3 degrees
to 4 degrees is the optimal caster setting for 4x4 Rams that eliminates
caster shimmy.

 

I had a 79 Chevy SB 4X4 with 40" non radial tires on it. when the alingment (toe in) was set properly the death wobble would occur. replaced all the front spring bushing with no help, put a Dual Steering stabalizer on and the probelm went away for awhile. As the tires got older it came back but not a violent. Turned out to be the non radial tires going out of round and starting the wobble. switched to 38.5 radials and never had the problem again.

Gerry

 

Back in the old days, 50's & 60's, if you were driving and old VW bug and the front end would shimmy after hitting a bump (of some sort), 99% of the time it turn out to be the steering damper.

Just my .02 worth.

 

i installed daul stabilizers and when it happened i would slap the steering wheel left then right a half a turn as fast and hard as i could it would then fix itself once new stabilizer shocks where installed i did not experience the problem again

 

I had that problem with my 98 CTD it was the ball joints. Dodge told me that they had a problem with bad metal on the ball joints that year. After it was fixed I put on 150k miles with no problems.