Can Can
Pusher Man
About a month ago the 89 V3500 started getting regular visits from the Death Wobble fairy. After ruling out all the obvious causes, I decided to order a new D60 kingpin spring and bushing kit from ORD. I already knew about the fender washer trick, but decided that while I had the caps off I might as well swap in some new parts. I was glad I did.
The V3500 only has about 60K miles on it, but is still a 17 year old truck. The kingpin springs and bushings have been sitting under pressure for that amount of time, and it shows. Here's a pic of a new spring beside an old spring. Notice the height difference and the "lean" on the old spring:
I also got a surprise when I pulled out the bushings. The passenger side bushing showed minimal wear, and probably could have been re-used, other than the fact that it has lost some if it's rigidity and has spread apart at the seam a wee bit. The driver's side, however, was a different story. It had obviously been allowed to travel up and down on the kingpin(due to a lack of pressure from the spring), and had developed a taper. The driver's side bushing is on the left(in all the following pics):
I was also shocked to find that the tit(which keeps the bushing from spinning in the knuckle) on the driver's side had worn clean off. How that happened is beyond me.
Here's another pic of the difference between the driver's side and passenger side bushing. Note the heavy taper and the lack of the keeper tit.
Anyhow, I just thought I would share this discovery with you. I guess my point is that although the washer trick might work really well, there's nothing like using fresh new parts to fix a problem. I think I should add that I installed the existing spring cups on top of the spring, as per Stephen at ORD. It gives the spring a little more preload.
Final results? Well, I immediately felt the difference in the way the truck steered. Everything seemed a little tighter up front. Before I did the swap, the front end seemed to flop around, for lack of a better term, while going over railway crossings or cattle guards. With the new parts in I no longer felt that familiar shimmy.
And lo and behold, the Death Wobble disappeared. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the truck to do it, even on one stretch of road where it happened EVERY TIME I was on it for the last few trips. There always has to be an exception, of course: a minor case of DW appeared when I slammed on the brakes on a downhill slope on a VERY rough road, and it stopped the second I let off the brakes........
. Oh well, at least I know what my next project is!!!!
I hope all of my rambling was of assistance, brothers.
The V3500 only has about 60K miles on it, but is still a 17 year old truck. The kingpin springs and bushings have been sitting under pressure for that amount of time, and it shows. Here's a pic of a new spring beside an old spring. Notice the height difference and the "lean" on the old spring:
I also got a surprise when I pulled out the bushings. The passenger side bushing showed minimal wear, and probably could have been re-used, other than the fact that it has lost some if it's rigidity and has spread apart at the seam a wee bit. The driver's side, however, was a different story. It had obviously been allowed to travel up and down on the kingpin(due to a lack of pressure from the spring), and had developed a taper. The driver's side bushing is on the left(in all the following pics):
I was also shocked to find that the tit(which keeps the bushing from spinning in the knuckle) on the driver's side had worn clean off. How that happened is beyond me.
Here's another pic of the difference between the driver's side and passenger side bushing. Note the heavy taper and the lack of the keeper tit.
Anyhow, I just thought I would share this discovery with you. I guess my point is that although the washer trick might work really well, there's nothing like using fresh new parts to fix a problem. I think I should add that I installed the existing spring cups on top of the spring, as per Stephen at ORD. It gives the spring a little more preload.
Final results? Well, I immediately felt the difference in the way the truck steered. Everything seemed a little tighter up front. Before I did the swap, the front end seemed to flop around, for lack of a better term, while going over railway crossings or cattle guards. With the new parts in I no longer felt that familiar shimmy.
And lo and behold, the Death Wobble disappeared. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the truck to do it, even on one stretch of road where it happened EVERY TIME I was on it for the last few trips. There always has to be an exception, of course: a minor case of DW appeared when I slammed on the brakes on a downhill slope on a VERY rough road, and it stopped the second I let off the brakes........
. Oh well, at least I know what my next project is!!!!I hope all of my rambling was of assistance, brothers.
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Lucky I didn't loose her through the floor. 
