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Death wobble

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:53 am
by Monk
Lol, has anyone ever got these?

Around 55-60km then hit a pot hole or something and front shakes violently....

At first I'd steer to the left or right and or slow down and would go away, but couple days ago, wow thought my teeth were gonna fall out...,

I'm thinking idler is needed, but mines only about 2-3 years old ,....

Or possible ball joints, that's about 5-6 years now... Either way, lol off to Roy's to loiter around and see what's old or loose.....


On another note, I live in Dundas valley , we had flash floods last night.... I mean BAD.....

Some cars flooded to side window height.....it seemed like a movie.....

But we had a crazy deep spot and lol, I had a grin, and went in, up over hood, hit windshield, drove threw about 15 ft wide, when I made it to the other side, my head was soooooo swollen with pride !!!

But ya I loooovvved it, for driving,

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:26 pm
by Rocrusher
Hey Monk
 
I have had a lot of experience with this with Jeeps, both mine and others, and it can be a PITA to find. Most often the only way to stop it when it occurs is to slow right done and/or stop. My wife's last to Jeeps had this and both times it turned out to be tires. Once they were replaced everything was fine. That being said I have also fixed a few that were bad steering stabilizers, wheel bearings or tie rod ends. I have not needed to fix any with ball joints. Oh and a bad track bar was the culprit on another. You are more than welcome to stop by my place and I can help you out for a bit. You need a second pair of eyes. Gently steer back and forth on dry pavement and have someone look at all the joints arm and stuff for excessive movement. 
On jeeps, I do this check first then, specially if tires are older, the next thing I do is run other tires on it. That is easy to do as I have always had extras around.
 
Hope this helps a bit.

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 2:22 pm
by ddgermann
Had this on an 06 Jeep as well after installing a lift kit and larger tires. It was the factory steering stabilizer. Installed the "Rancho" stabilizer (that should have been in the lift-kit to begin with... cheap bastards) and the problem was solved. 
Won't be the problem on your truck Monk but the Jeep issues are pretty common.
 
Love the snorkel hey Monk.... That would have looked pretty cool till you ran over a submerged Prius. Then it would have looked AWSOME!   :photo:
 
DG

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:34 pm
by Roy
The normal is a worn out idler. With Tito, front and rear alignment needed first , then maybe tire swap front to back.
This is an issue with oversized tires on the hummer. Worse when you get to 42's. ERven with hydraulic assist, this happens.
I have found a solution to this on my truck as well as the wheel spread on an off angle climb--"Rubber tie rods"
I have no more issues with the wobble nor tire spread. Idler and pitman will last a lot longer due to less stress on my design.--Top Secret!

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:58 pm
by Monk
I've never had an alignment ever, so we started with that, and yup she was off bad,

Hence my last set of TSL swampers wearing out in a year...(that's heart breaking)

Almost all the front stuff is semi new... And when under seemed very tight,...that's why I was stumped


And ,,,,,,,, Lol, I LOVE my over size tires,.,,

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 8:01 pm
by Monk
Ok after the alignment at Roy's shop, she was better, BUT still was a small wobble at say 55-60 km, well with a bump in the road

We drove to see if the alignment was the culprit alone ,then a day later rotated the tires and bam!!

Any speed, any kms ,she's PERFECT!!!! Most f the front end stuff was/is semi newish,,,,, well years, (lol my eyes new)

I was sooooooo expecting idler arm....

Super super happy....

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 8:13 pm
by Rocrusher
Good to hear!


Nice to figure that out. I have always dreaded the death wobble! Not fun!

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:56 pm
by Monk
Update, thanks to Roy and the tire switch it's perfect still,,..


Lol, BUT I think I still have a twitch over this, soon as I'm at 55-60 ish lol , and hit a rut or something, I'm already to stop or turn side to side,...,but it's been perfect, now I just need to forget about that darn thing in my head...that will heal in time,? haha

Re: Death wobble

Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 12:58 pm
by Monk
Yup, if it can happen it will, lol

Had a top bolt in the steering box break "inside the box" again,


About a year ago my top bolt snapped off, soooo I bought new <8 bolts , replace, (horrible job, everhing was froze pretty well) but I'm thinking if that top bolt bottomed out on the shoulder before it was tight,(hair to long)

Now " after Roy was kind enough to removed that dead bolt inside my steering box" I put another new grade 8 bolt back, but added a washer for that extra hair of thickness, and fingers crossed, but all seem great again,,,...

* cough* a hydrolic assist, would be so fun to have, less stress on the pitman/idler and turn like a fiat car :)