Wrong.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ad.php?t=85777

It can happen on stock trucks, and actually does happen on totally stock trucks very often. Suspension mods, while grossly misunderstood, rarely contribute to death wobble.

 

Yep, It happened to me on my stock 06 the next morning after getting it with 200 miles on it??? Never had it wih my 05 when I had the leveling kit and 33's??

D.J. I am going to PM you and if you have time let me know what I need to get from Theuren to fix this problem..

Shane..

 

Allow me to clarify. I, too, have worked on many stock trucks that exhibited a death wobble. On stock trucks you will often find a loose or worn component (such as a track bar) which can initiate the death wobble. Lifted trucks, due to a higher center of gravity and greater leverage exerted on steering components, have greater instability and are more prone to a wobble condition not caused by an obvious worn component.

 

I had it on my '04 with 38K miles on it. New steering stablizer helped but the fix for me was a tie rod end.

BTW, since the fix, I've got 90K miles and no problems..

 

Right on the money. The leverage will exaggerate an already-existing problem, but the suspension lift itself does not cause death wobble.

Guys, think of it like having a worn hub assembly with your stock tires. Then, you put on some much larger tires that weigh a lot more. Did the hub assembly just become weaker? No, but the extra weight and leverage will make it seem like the hub assemblies are going to let go at any minute, when just a few minutes prior when you had stock sized tires, they just had a little play. It's all relative.

If you've got death wobble, you've got one or more worn steering parts. The only exception is that your toe-in might not be set correctly, or your tires are just pieces of crap (BFG AT's). Death wobble is a rhythmic vibration that starts out real minor, and as that vibration travels across the steering, it increases. It's like two people standing on opposite sides of a canyon. As you yell at each other louder, the echo gets louder. With death wobble, the right tire might hit a bump and say "Whoa, did you feel that?" to the left tire, through the tie rod. The left tire feels that, and talks back. It echoes as it goes across the tie rod again. Before you know it, your truck is doing the Snoop Bounce and it looks like you just "hit the switches" as one of your front tires comes off the ground while the rest of the truck is hobbling along.

This is why people say and will always say "I put on a new steering stabilizer and it fixed the problem." Well, actually, it didn't. It just covered the "problem" up... like a band aid. The cut is still there but you can't see it because of the Spiderman band-aid on your elbow. Steering stabilizers are just pieces of fluff that are not required but many use because they do absorb some of the feedback you would get at the steering wheel. And they can also quiet down the vibration, or "echo" as I described it earlier, to an extent. If the vibration isn't bad, a steering stabilizer will gobble it up. Then what happens is the real problem continues to get worse while you ignore it, and before too long your minor vibration has turned into full-blown death wobble, and you wind up on here begging for help and wondering what you can do to fix it.

The "problem" is that the front axles on our trucks are covered up in under-built parts that don't belong under a heavy duty, heavy weight truck. Hub assemblies, weak track bar bushings, weak tie rod ends, weak ball joints, weak steering boxes... it's all junk, in my opinion.

 

How do I go about checking to see if these parts ned replacing? I have never had this problem before in my 1997 CTD 4x4 or my '03 till now. I can get under there and look all day and still not know what I should be seing/doing. Thanks.
Is that TSB a real one? I asked my dealer about DW and go the typical, "I dont know what you are talking about."

 

I developed DW last year at around 50,000 miles. I put on some new shocks (KYB's) and it went away.

Just my two cents

 

OK, my '06 dually did the same thing recently. Went to the dealer and they acknowledged the TSB and said they have had bad dampners off the shelf. My leveling kit has been on for 3000 miles with no problems, this just happened out of the blue, and worse while towing a 3000# buggy (front end of truck is lightened up a bit), and while hitting a bump.
The dealer did not install a new dampner at this time due to "they did not have any in stock" BS.

So I had my alignment set at max caster and now run my front tires at 60 psi. Problem still there, but not as present or as frequently & the stock dampner is still there. I own my own 4x4 shop and decided to quit f******* around with the dealer. I pulled my stock dampner off and it was toast. I mean 5000 miles now on the truck and this thing has a few "dead spots" in it. The cure? Superlift part # SLS 92700
This is a dual steering stabilizer kit and is one of the best on the market (my opinion only). This particular kit is the highend unit with Bilstien dampners/absorbers. They do offer a cheaper version with the Superlift brand shocks, but I already run Bilstiens on all 4-corners and wanted them to match as well as function.

I just got back from hauling a 5000# Wagoneer around and I have to say the problem is 110% fixed for now. I am still going to look into a HD track bar assembly as well as a dual shock set up front too. I may also look into aftermarket control arms.

I agree that dampners do "mask" some problems in the suspension, but I also think this problem is more promenent due to how the draglink is intergrated in the tierod assembly & thus the parts work hard and in some cases against each other. We see this problem on Jeeps (alot of them use the same time of set up & geometery) when modified or lifted.

 

Ramified, have you had this problem, previous to fixes, when you arent hauling? Just driving stock weight?

 

Yes. I then had it aligned to max caster and the toe reset. I thought it was fixed, but when I hauled with it it returned after hitting a bump. After almost hitting the ditch and breaking my fingers holding onto the steering wheel, I decided to fix it with superior parts other than the dealers replacement junk.

 

Ok cool, I rarely haul anything, when I do it is a 8,000 boat. So I just wanted to make sure. What did you tell them at the time of allignment? Thanks. Im tring to find the part number you said for a good price.

 

The first thing to tell them is you want to talk to the alignment tech personally. After you go through the service writer, etc, the message fails to get to the guy doing the alignment what the problem is (DW) and they think they are just doing a regular alignment.

I usually sell those kits for around $350 ish shipped. So you should find a price around that or better.

 

350!!!!! Is this just the dual stabilzers? For the allignment I think Im gonna go to a shop that specializes in semi's and large truck, like ours. Did you go through the dealership?

 

Yep but hey, it's ONLY a $40,000 truck $350 is nothing compared to that & to be able to use the truck to it's fullest extent. BTW, this set up is probably the best bang for the buck. It is very high quality. There is a cheaper version that does not use the Bilstien shocks out there too.

My alignment machine was down at the time, so I went to the dealer.

 

Dude, I cant find part # SLS 92700 anywhere on the internet with a price listed.

Yea, but for a fella out of work at the moment $400 is hard to come by at Christmas time. Gues Ill just have to nut up and figure a way how to get it done. Thanks for all your help with this, its got me a little more than freaked out.