Bad shake while driving down interstate?

[Vinny]

While driving home on the interstate this afternoon my bronco started to shake pretty bad, almost felt like I blew a front tire. Pretty scary I am not much of a mechanic so just wanted to get opinions on what to look for. Thanks

 

[scottmcwms]

Try this. http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/tech_faqs_death_wobble.asp Let us know how it comes out.

Scott

 

[Vinny]

Thanks for the reply....lots of good info. That video looks familiar, not much fun going 60mph

 

[scottmcwms]

I haven't had the problem yet and hopefully I won't. I just bought my first EB in July and haven't driven it yet. Right now it is in two pieces in my garage, but that website is one I have earmarked for future use. I plan on replacing all bushings to avoid the situation. It seems like a common problem.

 

[DBrown]

before you get all out of shape looking at the suspension you need to rule out the tires.

first lift each off the ground and run your hand around the tire to make sure you don't have a buldge poping off the tire. this would be a bad belt or out of round. also check the play in the ball jounts and bearings while it is up off the ground by pushing and pulling on the top and bottom of the tire. then check to see if you have any play in the TRE's by pushing and pulling on the tire front to back.

after you have looked at all of this if you are still scratching your head, look at all the bushings on the suspension and see if you can see if they are cracked or worn. if you are still scratching your head you might have just simply lost a wheel weight. so I would run it to any tire shop you trust and have them rebalence your tires. this is something you will need to do every so often anyways. just to make sure they did there job ask for them to tell you how far they were out of balance and if they noticed any uneven where.

sometimes people just use the wrong weights and they fly off, or you hit something small and they will go flying.

 

[scottmcwms]

Good Point!

 

[70 sport WA]

Yes, good point about tires. My 2 cents also...

I put in new trac bar bushings a couple months ago and it seemed to fix my recent death wobble symptoms. The wobble started back up and the bushings look fine. So I took out the cotter pins and discovered there was about one turn's worth on each bolt of the track bar. Fixed it right up. Don't know how I didn't get it tightened down properly in the first place but now it's solid.

My next step was the steering box and then tires.

Dan