Death Wobble is back

[mduenas]

Im back with another death wobble issue! When I think I fixed it, it comes rearing its ugly head again! I had sever death wobble a few years back, turns out it was a broken track bar bolt weld. I replaced the track bar and its bushings and did a very heavy weld to keep the bolt in place.

Last week when driving out of my neighborhood, it is a canyon, the truck started to wobble a bit in a turn when I lightly pressed the brake, I figured it was the road. Later in the day I had to slam on the brakes and in doing so the truck shook violently back and forth. I replaced my pads about 2 months ago and torqued everything to spec, so I doubt that is the issue.

I jacked up the truck and checked for bad ball joints hands at 12 and 6, 0 wiggle.
I then checked for side ways movement, hands at 9 and 3, 0 wiggle.

I am thinking it is my tie rods that have gone bad, as the drag link to the pitman arm has no boot left. But no tired feel looks or wiggle. I recorded a video and turned my wheels and I see 0 movement, even zoomed in.

Should I replace my tie rods anyways just to be safe? I really do not want to waste $400 just trying this out, as shipping back on a return is just as expensive to either Toms or Wild Horses, I live in Socal.

Not sure what else it could be? My steering box only has 15,000 miles on it, It is a rock crawler box from wcb, it is mounted tight and has 0 wiggle as well.

Any help would be appreciated!

Link to video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g15n4r8ejxeb4jp/Video Apr 15, 5 45 54 PM.mov?dl=0

Thank you!

 

[langester]

My 79 f150 needs new trac bar bushings every 1 to 2 years. Not sure if that is your issue but thats the first place I look when the bucking starts.
Good luck with it, death wobble sucks!

 

[mduenas]

My 79 f150 needs new trac bar bushings every 1 to 2 years. Not sure if that is your issue but thats the first place I look when the bucking starts.
Good luck with it, death wobble sucks!

Thank you! I’ll pull it And look!

 

[ransil]

Change the track bar bushings, cheap , mine would eat them pretty quick.
also check the trac bar bolt for wear and the hole its in, mine was egged out I fixed it with weld washers from Ruff stuff.

 

[Spaggyroe]

Not enough caster is often times a major contributor to D.W.
Have you had your alignment checked?

 

[Rustytruck]

check the balance of the tires and feel the tread for cupping. it all starts there. check the end play at the wheel bearings. then check the toe in and then worry about loose steering system and track bar bushings. Are you using a steering stabilizer? They help cover up the problem. check the date code on your tires and see how old they actually are.

 

[desertoasis2b]

i found a loose upper ball joint adjuster sleeve was causing my DW. When checking for any movement same as you have described it was solid and tight.
I took the nut off and was able to get 1-1/2 turns on the sleeve, no more DW since.

 

[DirtDonk]

...the truck started to wobble a bit in a turn when I lightly pressed the brake

Later in the day I had to slam on the brakes and in doing so the truck shook violently back and forth.

That's not a normal Death Wobble as we normally experience it. It does not start under braking, but usually just when driving and hitting just the right bump.
But if you hit a bump just at the time you braked, or because you were turning the extra load on one tire started the process, it could still be related.

Should I replace my tie rods anyways just to be safe?

Not unless you want to spend money. I'd do a few more "free" things first.
I don't see any excess play in them, and if loose tie-rod ends created death wobble, we'd all be having it every few thousand miles these days! Plenty of wobbly tie-rods and no Death Wobble.

Your lower trackbar mount looks solid as a rock, but what about the upper? I did not note any movement, but maybe focus the camera right on it from an angle so you can see the bolt AND the end of the bar to see if it's moving inside the mount. In my case it was always the upper bushing and sleeve that wore out first. I'd replace three or four uppers for every one lower, so it's usually worth it to me to double-check the upper closely. Even though this never resulted in a wobble, it did cause wandering so I didn't like running around on a loose trackbar.

So slamming on the brakes caused it to shake violently? Did you come to a full stop, or were you able to keep rolling at speed after that event? How long did the shaking last? And did it shake through the steering wheel, or did just the front of the vehicle shake?

I would rotate one tire at a time front-to-back and drive it that way. Might feel funny if you have not rotated them lately, because of wear on the tread making it feel odd if you have one tire moved. But it will tell you things about the wobble, if it's coming from a tire. Some tire failures will cause Death Wobble, some will cause a shake under load (braking). Not common, but it happens. If yours is a tire problem, it's a pretty severe one!
But hey, even if it's not the tires in this case, it's still worth the rotation just to get it done. Even if you find it is one of the tires, then you can rotate the other one just to keep things even. Just don't put that bad one back on the front anytime soon.

Paul

 

[langester]

I just noticed you posted up a video. Looks like you have a dana 30 front end with king pins instead of ball joints. I am not familiar with checking those, they didn't look like they were moving though.

 

[DirtDonk]

Thought the same thing. But like you, I didn't see anything really moving "wrong" with the front. Still could not see the actual trackbar upper eye, but other than the frame moving independently somehow (sort of normal, but then again not...) it was not obviously flexing.

Paul

 

[reamer]

Tracking bar "not quite" parallel to drag like, if that matters?

 

[garberz]

Tracking bar "not quite" parallel to drag like, if that matters?

Not at all when you’re trying to isolate a death wobble issue.

Mark

 

[Jfryjfry]

Under braking? If it stopped when you got off the brake, I’d check brakes. Maybe rotor or drum out of round?

 

[broncobuddha]

I legit just went through this. Last Thursday, out of nowhere the truck started shaking like crazy at around 45-50mph.

Got under it, checked all the ball joints and bushings. All fine. Had one of the kids cycle the steering as I watched, all good.

Jacked the front up and saw I had a broken radial belt in the right front tire. I mean bad, bad. No wonder.

25 year old BFG Mud Terrains had finally had it.

I had been meaning to bump up to 35s anyways but needed something in a hurry and a used tire place half a mile down the road had a used set of 35x12.50/15s that were BFG All-Terrain KOs. $180 with new valve stems for the all four. Even if they piss themselves in a couple of months I won't have lost anything.

Truck rides as smooth as glass now.

 

[daddycreswell]

I legit just went through this. Last Thursday, out of nowhere the truck started shaking like crazy at around 45-50mph.

Got under it, checked all the ball joints and bushings. All fine. Had one of the kids cycle the steering as I watched, all good.

Jacked the front up and saw I had a broken radial belt in the right front tire. I mean bad, bad. No wonder.

25 year old BFG Mud Terrains had finally had it.

I had been meaning to bump up to 35s anyways but needed something in a hurry and a used tire place half a mile down the road had a used set of 35x12.50/15s that were BFG All-Terrain KOs. $180 with new valve stems for the all four. Even if they piss themselves in a couple of months I won't have lost anything.

Truck rides as smooth as glass now.

25 year old tires? I thought mine were old being 12 years old.

 

[70 sport WA]

I had 12 year-old BFG ATs with tons of tread left, but was getting that death wobble. Changed the track bar bushings, wasn't it. Changed the steering stabilizer to a new one, nope. Put new tires on last year and no more wobble. I guess letting it sit for long periods without driving wasn't good for the tires.

 

[DirtDonk]

It's not even just the sitting. It's simply the age. And that's why tire stores aren't even allowed to touch tires that are more than 7 or 8 years old anymore. At that point the only thing they can do to them is remove and toss. They're not allowed to re-mount, re-balance, patch or plug any tire of that age. Just look at the date, and if it exceeds their mandate, toss them out or send you packing.

All of my death wobbles were on much younger tires with plenty of tread left. Luckily in my case putting the offending tires on the back got rid of the problem and I just never rotated them back to the front.
The BFG 33x9.50 Muds that were creating death wobble (three different sets on three different rigs) were all very well worn out tread-wise but were just within that age requirement still.

Paul

 

[broncobuddha]

Mine somehow lasted forever. I got my money's worth out of those and then some. Couldn't calculate the miles I had on them but they were finally starting to wear and I was already looking when this happened.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[DirtDonk]

Yes you did! More than most for sure.

Paul

 

[Action]

Death wobble...if it is true death wobble will be something worn out in the track bar....broke weld on drop bracket...but something in the track bar