Death Wobble Washers & Toe-In

[DieselDan]

OK, Check this out:

I attacked the Jimmy this past weekend. The death wobble was starting to be a real pain in the butt Welded up some frame cracks around the steering box and added the reinforcement plate mod. Then I replaced the drag link ends that looked alittle sloppy. And to cap off I added two washers on top of each king-pin spring.

Presto! Death wobble cured. But now the truck wanders all over the road. WTF?

Checked the tie rod ends (the whole D60 was rebuilt about 8k miles ago), checked the spring u-bolts, tightened the spring shackles, adjusted air pressure. Hell, I even eye balled everything in the rear of the truck too. I've been chasing this all week (after work - in the perpetual rain).

Today I check the toe (w/measuring tape) and it looks like I've got TOE-OUT! I shortened the tie rod just a little and I'll check it again (accurately) at work tomorrow.

But how the hell did I suddenly get toe-out? I haven't crashed into anything or even been flogging it lately (frame cracks scare me, lol). Could the washer trick (some how) alter the toe? Has anyone run into a mysterious toe change before?

 

[DieselDan]

Forgive me for ressurecting my own dead thread... but here's the latest update:

Fixing the toe may have helped tire wear (at least that little squeal when I turn into my driveway is gone), but it didn't do anything for wandering. I've checked and rechecked the spring shackles/bushings. Well many projects later, I finally get around to doing what I should have done earlier. I removed one of the (two) washers I added to the kingpin spring. PRESTO wander gone! I also replaced the steering damper cause it was shot and certainly contributed to the death-wobble in the first place.

Lesson Learned: Good kingpin springs and too much preload (added washers) equal steering response DRAG, which is felt as steering WANDER

 

[sweetk30]

fyi new springs are about 8.00 each from most online shops like ord. and if all rebuilt 8k ago then was spring changed or other things go bad?

 

[camok5]

I had the same thing happen to me . What size washer(thickness) did you end up leaving in because even one fender washer caused that problem for me?