death wobble

[1979jimmy350]

so, today i drove my truck for the first time after swaping in the dana 60 and 52's well i had horrible death wobble, so bad infact it shook a head light out and knocked my battery out of the tray.

A little about my set up, i have a fully rebuilt dana 60 i replaced all the bearings and seals. For the steering i have crossover using a sky steering arm and brand new drag link ends. all the spring and shackle bushings are ploy. I have no idea what to do with every thing being so new on the axle

 

[blazindorito]

Did you try doing the washer trick on the upper kingpin?

I did all that rebuild the dana 60 and install a washer and still had it really bad. Ended up putting a trac bar. I am not fond of the trac bar but at least I can drive it on the street.

You could also put a steering stabilizer.

 

[1979jimmy350]

i was thinking the stablizer and the track bar, do the track bars help that much?

 

[Chaddy]

i was thinking the stablizer and the track bar, do the track bars help that much?

Get a stabilizer and put 2 fender washers under each cap.

 

[MTMike]

I had horrible DW when I put my 60 in, even with a stabilizer. Shimmed the king-pins with washers, and still had it. Put hydro assist on - and it was gone

I know that's just a band-aid,and so is a stabilizer. In my case, 38.5" swampers heavy-ass H1's make for a very unbalanced wheel, and I'm sure that is the cause of my DW.

 

[1979jimmy350]

does any one have any suggestions for a steering stablizer that i will be able to use with the DOM tie rod that i have?

 

[RootBreaker]

from my personal experience....
death wobble = something is wrong...

dont just put steering stabalizers on before fixing the issue!!!!!

now I doubt this is your problem but the only time I had serious death wobble... is my front pass side axle was snapped.. I didnt even know it.. but I would go to break and the truck would almost throw me all over the truck..

we lifted the front end up and we noticed the pass tire went like /
and we found a snapped shaft!!!!!!


I now run dual stabalizers only because it came on my $500 1 ton score.... so I have kept them on.....

I do not know who makes it but this is what it looks like...

also my $500 score truck...

what I kept
d60 front
dual tanks wiring and floats
factory tach
new 4 core rad
alt
carb
rollbar and lights

then sold the 14bff and my d44 with 4.56's for $250... so all that really cost me $250!!!!!

oh yeah there is a 396bb in the bed... I gave the remains of the truck to my bud.. he got a divorce and had to get rid of the truck...

 

[Cajun4x4]

measure your castor...

with my completely rebuilt 10blt i was getting DW extremely bad, turns out i had like 9* of castor... a 5* shim from JKW and my truck hasnt had DW since

 

[Goose]

Did some reading

Your caster comment made me look up some stuff in my factory service manual. A few things stick out that may be helpful.

First, caster is set by design on the 4x4 vehicles. (Hence the shims from previous post)

Second, it is set at +8* by design.

Third is what it is and what it should be:
Caster is the tilting of the wheel axis either forward or backward from the vertical when viewed from the side of the vehicle. A backward tilt is positive, a forward tilt is negetive.

So, +8* means the verticle axis line of the wheel tilts back 8*. However, you have to take into account if your frame sits level or not. With a bubble protractor or inclinometer measure the frame angle. Use the following to get the 'actual' caster reading.

a) A 'down in rear' frame angle must be subtracted from a positive caster reading.
b) An 'up in rear' frame angle must be added to a positive caster reading.
c) A 'down in rear' frame angle must be added to a negetive caster reading.
d) An 'up in rear' frame angle must be subtracted from a negative caster reading.

Lastly is how to mearsure the caster. Well....the book doesn't address that since it's not adjustable. I would take the tire off and turn back and forth looking for a couple reference points. Maybe take some measurements off of the king pins??? Your guess is as good as mine on this one.

 

[Cajun4x4]

i had a shop throw my tuck up on the alignment rack and it spit a castor number out easy as pie...

stock castor for a 10blt is 4* IIRC FYI

 

[1979jimmy350]

well i built a track bar and installed that, i drove it for a few miles and thought all was great, then it started to do it again but no where near as bad as before. The guy ridding with me said the axle was not moving side to side now but the tires were turning in and out a bit. Any suggestions on this?

 

[Cajun4x4]

measure your castor... if its wrong, fix it and i can almost assure you your dw will disappear. i just swaped a 60 in my truck this weekend using my same 5* shim that i had with my 10blt with no steering stabilizer and stock tierod in pretty ****ty condition with partsmike springless caps torqued to 25 ft/lbs and i havent had one lick of DW!