ANOTHER Death Wobble Post - - - - How common is this?

[combatmatt]

Between CK5 and Pirate Ive read every tread there is on Death Wobble. From the enngineering perspective with un-sprung weight and lateral oscillations to cure alls dealing with alignment, the "H" weld on the shackle, steering stabilizers, panhard bars, fender washers over the kingpin bushing.

Now the question- How common is Death Wobble?

Reason being is i got a D60 front (rebuilt kingpins, bushings, wheel bearings, etc) with ORD crossover high-steer, 14 bolt rear, both with 4.56, going on with 36" IROKs going into my 90 Blazer in the next couple of days and im wonding if in installing all this i should go ahead and do all of the precautionary crap now or see if it wibbles?

So, what are my odds of being pleasantly surprised or really pissed off?

 

[DEMON44]

Way back i use to drive an '86 K30 3+3. 454 th400 stock stuff. the front end was good in it. I got D.W. 1 time with it and I though i was going to ditch it for sure.

coming down a paved small hill at about 40 mph, with a small washboard like spot run into it from all the heavy truck traffic. cleared the patch of bad road. and a few seconds later I couldnt keep the truck in my lane. could bearly hold on to the wheel. got it reeled in finally with no wreck. but lucky.

of course checked the whole front end out again. nothing wrong or worn out. it just happened.

I say run it. and see what happens. if its a tight rebuild with crossover. 36s aren't all that big. it should do fine.

 

[Yo]

Death wobble was an all too common occurrence for me when I had my lifted Jeeps; in fact, I had an XJ that had is so terribly it would feel like the front end was going to fall off and stuff was going to start breaking. I got this problem after installing an aftermarket draglink/tierod setup from Rusty's offroad that was crappily designed. I moved over to the Currie steering system and all was fixed.

It's all about getting your pinion and steering angles right. I haven't run high steer before, but I'm sure there's a good amount of adjustability to keep your steering angles correct.

All you can really do is build it and then flog it down the road. Hit a few monster potholes and see if it shimmys after. I'm sure your's will be fine based on your research.

 

[toomany]

With my 77 K20 I could get DW almost on comand. But only over a ceartain strech of road. It was with 38s and 4" of lift. Going over an intersection where the crossroad was raised slightly it would get DW. Getting on the brakes real hard would bring it back into line. Front axle (D44) was fine, new ball joints, wheel bearings, tie rods, drag link was still tight. Even had good bushings in the springs and new ones in the frame. Never got DW anywhere else with the truck, just that one spot. Now that axle is in my K5 (with 8" of lift and 37s) and have never had DW with it. I'm thinking the K20's problem was in the steering box or a cracked frame.

 

[combatmatt]

All you can really do is build it and then flog it down the road. Hit a few monster potholes and see if it shimmys after. I'm sure your's will be fine based on your research.

Thats what i figured on doing, just wondering how many out there have done a one-ton axle swap and come out without wobble? I guess spending too much time reading posts has got me paraniod that its not a question of "if" rather than "when".

 

[jms]

...just wondering how many out there have done a one-ton axle swap and come out without wobble?...

I did.

 

[bp71k5]

I also have no issues and don't even run a stabilizer.

 

[ktmoutfront]

I did.

That's because it was in the bed of my truck before you got it.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

I put two washers in when I rebuilt my 60, and had zero issues with 37's. A year or so later I upgraded to wide 40" bias ply and started to get it occasionally, but I mainly blame worn steering components not the axle. I replaced all my TRE's and DLE's and it got better. I still feel it come on a little bit, but nothing bad. I think the caster change from the 52" springs also contributes to it.