Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire “Death Wobble” in truck

I've got a 97 Dodge 2500 4x4 CTD. I had the death wobble in that beast. Had the front end rebuilt with poly bushings, new ball joints and a Thuren track bar(it's massive). Also had a Dynatrac front axle kit with the Warn hubs installed and so far, so good. No problems since the rebuild.

My 2012 Ram 2500 4x4 started doing it at 75,000 miles. I replaced the tract bar which fixed it.

Ford 3/4 & 1 ton bad track bar or outer tie rods (4).

Older Dodge 3/4 & 1 ton likely steering dampner.

How they get rusty, Slum. Drive through a foot of water?

If your rig has an inverted-Y steering setup, it's almost designed-in. As soon as there is any slop at any tie rod / drag link / control arm end, you'll get a positive-feedback cycle going. I would check the torque on all rod ends / connections to the frame, axle, etc, and maybe even tighten them beyond spec. That resolved the issue for my '05 Jeep TJ. Oddly enough, my '98, which had the same geometry, never had any death wobble and I was running 35s w/o a steering stabilizer on it, so the make or break line is at the individual vehicle level, not across the board for a particular make / model / year.

If it is not an inverted-Y steering geometry, I'd still do the same checks to be sure everything is appropriately tight, but I can't offer any specific help.

Good luck and, uh, "wear your seatbelt." (My jeep, w/ the doors off, would have launched me out onto the asphalt at about 50 mph the first time it happened and I was unprepared, 'cept for my seatbelt holding me in.)

Tom

On 2004 Toyota Tacoma with 215,000.?

The bold area, + steering dampener wear and bushings can/will cause it.. Especially on trucks with solid front axles (ala Ford F-350/450 etc..

Ya, fricken outrageous. It ain’t like Ford/Dodge/Chevy just recently started building trucks.

Probably because I used my truck for a TRUCK.

Yep. That's a dodge.

On my '11 F250 we chased it a bit @ 30K Mi or so. I think it was when I swapped on a set of Nitto Trail Grapplers. The solution was more air in the tires. I was running them @ the 65# listed on the door and I guess that allowed too much flex, or so they told me. Ran them @ 75#, no more wobble. I'm over 150K now and no more problem once we nailed down the air-pressure issue. I've got the 4th and 5th sets of tires for this truck mounted on rims. Nitto Terra Grapplers need at least 70# of air to ensure no vibrations. Nitto Exo Grapplers can be run @ 65# and high with no issues. I suspect the stiffer sidewall of the Exo is helpful in this situation.

Balance the tires, look for going out of round or bent wheel. New bushings either not installed, or installed wrong

It doesn't have a steering stabilizer...does it?

Ha! Steering stabilizer been suggested before.

Ford already replaced the stuff I mentioned above on my '17 F-350 with (at the time) about 15K on the odometer... I know they'll have to do it again when I reach 30K. Every solid front axle truck I've ever had develops that wobble.. Don't know why they can't cure that chit..

New stabilizer time!

My door jamb says 65PSI. I start there and if there's even a hint of wobble/vibration I add 5#, and continue until there's no wobble or even a hint of vibration. I'm not saying that suspension components don't wear out, or that adding air pressure is a cure-all, just keep this in the memory banks as another tool in the tool-box.

Ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings. Replace all that and report back.