willieboy

Hey all, got a situation I am hoping you all can help with. Every once in a while when I down shift to slow down for hard turn (like turning from one street to another), the 'ol dodge will get what I think is the death wobble. I am usually hitting the brakes at the same time. Let off the brake and goose the throttle, and then go back to slowing down and it goes away. Now this does not happen all the time, so I don't think it is anything with the braking system. I have also noted lately that it seems to happen in the same places, and those roads have the mild undulations you get at intersections where there are a lot of people slowing down, especially big trucks. I am pretty convinced it is a suspension problem, but need help at where I should start. I know the shocks are going to be my first step as this truck has the original factory shocks and has 105,000 miles on it. The rear springs sag a bit, but I can't imagine that is causing the problem, unless they are wrapping when I am slowing down. I do get a little rear spring wrap when I hit the throttle hard. But when the truck does the death wobble, it want to pull to the right, so I am almost certain it is in the front end. Everything in the front end feels tight, but in truth I have not really done any deep investigation up there.

Anyway, are there any usual suspects on these first gens that might cause the symptoms I am having?

andyr354

DW is caused by an oscilation in the steering system.

Check the tie rod ends and king pins would by my 1st places.

woodrat

front leaf spring mounts have also been suggested before as a problem. Loose rivets to the frame I think.

93beater

kingpins!!

MoparMarv

I had a death wobble at the same times you described when slowing and on the brakes. I was right after I did the front brakes. the problem does not happen much anymore if at all. Low tire pressures seemed to make it worse. Give everything a good greaseing and see if that helps. Thats 2 cheap fixes to start with.

Cowboy_Customs

Ya know, mine was quite the opposite, I had the DW for a lil bit, but it disapeared, mine would only happen if I hit a spot in the road where it settled around a sluce pipe n one tire would hit before the other, or similar situations. I dropped the tire pressure in mine up front to something like 50 PSI I think. (just couse of the harsh ride, and odd tire wear)

Think I may have found the culprit though when I had it in for its last PM, draglink.

weldor

Is this truck a 4x4?

I had the exact same problem a few years back on my 4x4 and it was the U joint in the front axle, the one outboard where the steering turns. It was dry and trying to look up. I didn't think it could do anything like that because the hubs were not locked in and it shouldn't be turning but it will cause the same symptoms you describe.

willieboy

Thanks all that will give me a few places to look.

How hard is it to do the kingpins and what is the procedure? I have not really done any front end work, but I am fairly mechanically inclined.

Field_boss_cb

I worked at a miltary base and they had a bunch of Ford trucks with the famous twin-i-beam front axle. We had a lot of problems with the death wobble with theses trucks.
The problem was corrected by using a tire balancer that used a strobe light.
The tire was first balance by spining the tire pointed straight ahead and
the pick-up at the bottom of the axle,...place the weights. Then turn the front of the tire out and place the pick-up on the backing plate and spinning the tire again and placing one weight at the back side of the tire and another weight of the same size on the front side of the tire, but 180 degrees apart.

1just4don

tie rod end or ball joints(and if that aint it check rest of front end or take somewhere where it can be) jack up the front end to check all. Take hold front of tire and shake,see what gives,,,stick a pry bar under each tire,see what gives. Nuttin else buy your buddy a beer or two and have him do it and you do the watchin. Have a few more and switch,then have alot and fix it!!

johnny5.9

I just fixed my death wobble with a kingpin rebuild kit. This includes bushings, lower bearings and races and I needed one new kingpin. That fixed it right up.

johnny5.9

You'll know if it needs kingpins. Jack up the truck to take the weight off. I took a tire iron and put it in between the lower knuckle and spindle and gave it a pry, it wiggled and clunked around quite easily.

BC847

Early on, When doing a routine front-end alignment on my heap, the fella with the crowbar found he was able to work the knuckle Up and Down a bit.

With the truck being relatively new at the time, the fella was sorta stumped.

After a few phone calls, it was determined that a small amount of up and down play was normal and is designed in. So don't shim things to eliminate that. Check the proper alignment manual for the correct specs.



Not too long ago, I had an intermittent issue with relatively severe death-wobble when coming to a stop.

Turns out, my left front tire had worn stupid and was indeed out of round. Naturally it had plenty of good tread left so I had them balance the mess out of it and moved it to the rear axle. When it wears enough, I'll replace it.

In the mean time, LOL!!, when I recently put the mess on a dyno, the rear of the truck moved up and down as that tire rotated. It was enough to make folks go "What the . .. !"

willieboy

You know, I was looking at that tire/wheel the other day and noticed it has a ton of weights on the back side of it. I thought nothing of it at the time. I wonder is that tire threw a wheel weight a month or two ago. I doubt I will be able to tell if it threw a weight since I have been in and out of the mud a few times in the last few weeks. I am sure any trace of a thrown weight has been erased by now. Oh well, it is time to rotate them anyway, I will have them rebalanced, and if needed remounted at that time and see if that makes the problem go away. If not I guess it is time to get the jacks out and do some real investigation. I would do it sooner, but with a gravel drive and all the rain we have had as of late, it is not a real priority of mine to roll around under the truck.