So I have heard of the death wobble that occurs when hitting small bumps in the road causing the front end to go haywire. My problem is similar to a previous post and I chimed in but got no direct response so Im stealing the mic. My truck "bucks" back and forth not side to side at 40 mph wether under acceleration or decelerating to a stop. Braking or not it "bucks". Now, when braking at 40 mph it tends to increase the severity of the "bucking". It goes away at about 2 mph up or down of 40. If I cruise at 40 it will continue to "buck". Every now and then the truck will go into a side to side wobble, but only when braking. Let off the brake and it will subside then re-apply the brakes to continue stopping. It doesnt wobble always but bucks always. Could this be the TC shuddering to cause the buck? When I bought the truck the dealer replaced the brake pads and said that there was no damage to the rotors. Could my rear brakes being faulty cause the wobble? I need some direction as Im tired of being massaged by my truck. Thanks in advance.

 

You need to check everything in your front end. It is most likely the track bar but could be other things. Check for play, have some one turn the steering wheel back and forth while you are underneith the truck. Is the truck lifted at all?

 

No lift on the truck at all.

 

Mine does sorta the same thing. It has all new stuff underneath and aftermarket tracbar and steering brace. From what I can discover during the searches, it appears that either the steering gear box is bad (and no, its not loose) and/or the input shaft is worn too.

There is supposed to be an aftermarket (read: stronger) shaft available. I can't find specifics in my searches. Anyone know what and where it might be??

Sorry not trying to hijack your thread, but seems to be related.

 

Also one more thing get the alignment checked if all of the above is replaced or good. For the front to rear wobble I have never heard of it, I would figure it was braking but if you said even when not braking it bucks, hopefully someone else will chime in.

Yamadad, there are a couple of aftermarket steering boxes availible, I think a company name PST? makes one one but the real solution to the problem is a steering brace. Its a brace that supports the shaft in the steering box. I will try to find out more info , if your interested.

 

I already have a steering brace, but I think the box was already worn out when I installed it. Or maybe its the input shaft?

I am interested in more info. Thanks.

 

http://www.pscpowersteer.com/ this is the web adress. I would figure you would be fine unless you are running with huge tires with a stock replacement.

Txwelder, about the torque converter shudder, when I leave my switch on and come to a stop it only shakes real bad if I am going slow and the converter is locked. Its not noticeable when comming to a stop all the time, hence the reason I forget.

 

I had a nasty wobble in my front end and my local tire / alignment shop kept telling me that I needed new track bars. After two of them in 5k miles, I began to think they didn't know what they were talking about. I'd installed a larger dampener, checked and re-checked alignment, but on sweeping turns on the highway; wam! Big time wobble and shake. I finally took it to a Dodge dealer and for $125 he replaced a "half shaft" and I've not had a wobble since. I don't know what a "half shaft" is, but it worked and it was half of what I spent each time for a new track bar (that I apparently didn't need!)

 

The only thing I've seen referred to as a "half shaft"
is the axle on the short side of the front differential.
The actual axle shaft inside, not the big tube on the outside.


phox

 

i had a bad wobble in my jeep, i replaced everything possible in the front end. nothing seemed to work until i changed the tires. what kind of tires are you running? super swampers or any bias tire will cause a bad wobble when they wear out. it was so bad in my jeep it sent me across the road on two wheels almost hitting a telephone pole.

 

Im running Kelly Safari AWR 33-12.50-16.5. They are brand new. Maybe the balance on them wasnt done correctly. I dont know if a retailer here in town will honor any kind or warranty since I didnt buy them, they were on the truck when I bought it.

 

You have checked all of the steering assembly for looseness, ball joints, track bar, steering box, ect? The rotor are true and not warped? I have seen bad tires cause some strange problems. Have you checked the caster? This is not what is wrong but I saw my fathers dodge act like that one time an it had about 5 lb of mud in each wheel. Is the u joints in the steering axle in good shape? I installed the brace that I bought from Piers and that help a great deal on my 95 4x4. I like a 1/2 degree positive more on the right than the left to help the truck pull to the center of the road . If that can be done. good luck jimk

 

I have that 40mph thing too. It seems to me to be an up & down bounce like a tire is out of round. Except it did it on the last set of tires too. The only other guess I have is a problem with one of the rims. Usually an out of balance tire gets bad at 65mph or so.

 

Thats why I think I have more of a problem than tire balance because it runs smooth at high speed.