I was driving 60 MPH today along the highway, and hit a pretty decent bump. Right when I hit it, the whole truck just started shaking. I mean this was just incredible. Everything from behind my seat vibrated forward. As I was pulling over, when I got to about 10 MPH, it stopped. i got out and nothing out of the ordinary, all joints were tight. Got back in, drove it cautiously for a while and nothing, so I got back up to 60 or so, and no vibrations or anything like something popped out of alignment. On the way back, I hit the same bump, at 50 this time, I wanted to see if it would do it again, and it did. Same exact thing, only this time as I was pulling over and it was shaking, I looked I noticed my oil pressure gauge had dropped. I stopped, after a second or so, oil pressure was back up to 40.


My steering has always had a little play in it, and this hasn't made it better or worse. I have the 47/48 springs up front (Stiffest Dodge makes). I was riding uloaded, so naturally you get a lot of bumps and stuff.

Any ideas? Maybe death wobble, or massive wheel hop? Or maybe in the driveline somewhere, my tranny is kind of getting there, but this didn't make the tranny any better or worse.

Thanks

 

Crimedog;
I would look at your steering stablizer (shockabsorber), I've experenced the same in a 83 4x4 cheby their not that expensive $60-70 I beleive. Look for signs of leakage, hyd oil on the cyl. however with a lot of use the piston seals could be wore bad enough to not provide the right resistance anymore (internal leakage).

ramguy

 

Sounds like classic Death Wobble. There's a very good thread curently in progress on it's causes and cures. Also, lots of info via a search.

 

Matt, that sounds like the death wobble to me. You need to check everything on the front end VERY THOROUGHLY. Do a search and you should come up with some good info.
Tom
P.S. I just did a quick search and came up with 23 posts.

 

Definitely the death wobble. I experienced it a few times... it's extremely unnerving.

The cause is the track bar, but when you go to fix it, take it to multiple places for opinions.

I have no doubt in my mind what I experienced was the death wobble. The first place I went to said my track bar, ball joints, and u joints were shot. Next place I went to said my track bar was fine, but the rest was bad. The third place also said my track bar was fine. I ended up going the cheap route and ignoring the track bar.

Well, $1000 later, my problem was supposedly fixed... only to experience the same wobble a few weeks later.

 

I have experienced this on customer vehicles. It's pretty **** scary. I believe any loose steering/suspension components can aggravate this, and regardless of the death wobble, they should be addressed anyway. Besides ball joint and tie rod end play, steering gear adjustment should be evaluated, the steering damper should be inspected, and a quality alignment should be performed. I have always increased the caster angle on these trucks to over 3 degrees. This setting was recommended to me by Chrysler engineering to aid in many stability issues. I agree with the above reply that the steering damper is perhaps the most critical component in this repair.

 

Hmmm. I am thinking I will probably start with the damper. I will probably go with a dual system, probably SkyJacker, because I plan on adding a mild lift anyway. Now, can somebody explain to me where i can find this Luke's link?

 

http://www.lukeslink.com/trackbar.html

 

I know it's allready been said several times before, But I'll second the death wobble diagnosis.

I've experienced it before! And it is definitely scary the first time it happens to you at 60 mph!!!

 

Regarding the death wobble. Does this happen on any particular year vehicles, 3rd gen's for example? Is it caused or exascerbated by lifts/front end mods?

 

there are many front end parts that contribute to the death wobble. however, over the past couple years, most of the posts relate to having their tires unbalanced....whether it's a bent rim, thrown weight, or poorly balanced before...that has caused the DW.

Tom

 

I believe its a 2nd Gen issue only. And possibly only early 2nd Gen.

My truck was mostly stock, so it is not caused by overdone lifts. The main factor is the tracking bar. In most cases if the track bar is modified while modifying your truck you'll be doing yourself a favor since the stock track bar isn't the greatest part on the truck.

 

I had the same problem last summer. Very scary!!! Thought it was ball joints and had them changed, but the problem seemed to get worse and more frequent. Changed the track bar and the problem disappeared and hasn't been back.

95 Ram 2500 4x4 5.9 Cummins Turbo

 

Actually, It has to do with the general design of the front end.

The steering box is mounted to the frame, and the control arms are mounted to the frame, but can pivot up and down, and left and right very easily. If the axle moves left/right the tires will turn the opposite direction (since the steering box did not move).

The only front end part that keeps the axle from moving left/right is the trac bar.

The Steering stabilizer slows down the left/right motion of the tires.


All it takes is a loose trac bar, allowing the axle to move left/right, and is extremely exagerated with a worn steering stabalizer.

What will happen, is when you hit a bump, the wheels take a small turn, moving the axle over 1/4", and in turn, the wheels turn the opposite direction, and the axle takes off that direction, and turns the wheels the other way, this happens very fast,, back and forth making the truck hop up and down and move left to right while making you feel like you have no control,, and untill you slow down enough, the wheels continue to turn left/right and the axle moving back and forth untill you slow down enought the truck can catch up with the leftr/right movements and the wheels no longer turn left/right, and you can continue on your way again, untill you hit just the right size bump again.

This phenomenom can happen on any year Dodge from '94 - '04+ (I have heard of a couple accounts of DW on '03 trucks.)...

Hope this helps,
Merrick

 

I have excperienced DW in my 95 and it was mainly trac bar but all componets were worn too.
Has anybody ever heard of any accidents or deaths attributed to the DW because the experience feels like near death