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Need help, death wobble, can't drive much longer.....

M

mpascino

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Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

I am at wits end with the death wobble!!!! I am running 44" ground hawgs on 12" rims on a dana 60 front end. Everything on the axle is BRAND NEW. The alignment is good and the tires are balanced. The King pin angles are straight too. I recently installed a hydrolic ram steering assist which while made a big difference did not solve the problem. Running lower tire pressures does help a little bit. I don't know what to do anymore. I can't drive my truck sometimes because it starts shaking so bad. Does anyone have any suggestions, I don't care how extreme they might be. Has anyone else had this problem and what did it take for it to be solved? Thanks for any advice in advance.
Mike

The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

1. Frame condition at steering box? Have the weld in plates and the ORD brace?
2. Steering stabilizer? I had a mild case of the DW when I put my fully rebuilt D60 in that was cured by ONE stabilizer.
3. Did you tighten the U-bolts with the truck suspended or down on the ground with tires on. This also makes a big diff............



ONE TON</font color=blue> <font color=green>TPI'd</font color=green><font color=red> BEAST<font color=red>
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

Wheel bearings? could be the tires I guess too. Maybe rotate them and see if it helps.

90K5
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

try having your tires balanced with powder it sound like they are out of balance

4x4k20
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

are you running a sway bar. IF not put one in and it should solved your problem. MY buddy has a crew cab chevy 12 inch lift and 40 boggers and when he took the sway bar off and drove it it had a big side to side wable. HE put it back on and it cured the problem.
colin

Save the whales Harpoon a fat chick.
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

I had the same problem running brand new 39.5 tsl's when i went from 44 to 60 it was undriveable I knew I had a cracked frame at the steering box so I welded in the kit thinking it would help but it made it worse because it took out the play. I put on a steering stabilizer and 90% of it went away it only happens now when started by bump steer from a big dip in the road and controls itself in a second or to. I would like to know what it is about the d60 design that causes it .

<font color=green>Ryan</font color=green>
<font color=red> 84 pickup 454/400/208 <font color=red>
<font color=blue>79blazer 400/ 350/205/8"springs 39.5 swampers 60/14]
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

um are your tires perfectly balanced?

</font color=blue>
<a target="_blank" href=http://blueknight.alloffroad.com>http://blueknight.alloffroad.com</a>
"If First you don't succeed, Destroy all attempts you've tried"
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

It real hard to get tires that big to balance perfectly

90K5
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

tires are junk AND the 60 has a huge DW problem designed into it somehow.
as was mentioned I also got the DW when D60 was installed using the exact same rims n tires as on the 44
dual steering stabilizers is the band aid.

anyone know the difference in distance from WMS to knuckle comparing D60 - D44? possibly contributing factor
I have seen stock 4x4 dodge cummins trucks DW through intersections

formerly 77chev
still a jerk though
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

The whole front frame has been re-enforced with 1/2 plate on both frame rails with a piece of 2" box tubing between each frame rail. So I am sure it is not the box pulling away from the frame. I had three steering stablizer on it prior to my hydro assist. I had to remove all three to use the hydro, but the wobble is less of a problem with the Hydro assist. All the bolts are tightened to spec and have prob been check another 15-20 times by now. I did find one of my upper shackle bolts a little loss, I tightened it up and it did seem to improve a little, not enough though.....Thanks for the help
Mike

The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

Wheel bearings are new and the front end it tight, if I jack the truck up I can't find any play in anything. I have rotated the tires, there isn't much change. I really am beginning to believe it is the non symetrical tread patteren of the tires that causes the wobble but there has to be something to fix it. I;ll give it another shot tommorrow.
Thanks,,
Mike

The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

I was told that I would need a lot of powder to accomplish this and also when the tires were first mounted, two of the four needed an either fireball to spread the bead out since they were new. Powder wouldn't surivive that if it needed to be done again. I have had the tires balanced twice now and saw no change........I didn't have this problem when I had the Dana 44 on the front and the tires were not balanced...
Thanks,
Mike

The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

Sorry but I can't run a sway bar with the cross over steering, I would try it if I could.
Thanks,
Mike



The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

Same situation here... with the dana 44 front end it was fine. With the 60... horrible. After everything that has been done to combat the wobble I guess the truck is driveable, but I am far from happy.
At least I know I am not the only one.
Thanks,
Mike

The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

With a different set of tires the truck had the same problem. Did changing tires solve it for you?
Thanks,
Mike

The jeep eater ......
crazy.gif
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

I havent got enough time on the new tires
my truck is very near lawn ornament status currently
denman manufactures both hawgs and some TSLs, did you try a closer to stock size radial or a 33-35 BFG or another big junk off road tire? are your tires round or more likely how far out of round? try the 2 roundest tires as steer tires
I never had the opportunity to test different tires but have tried the powders etc.
the powder has no effect on DW IMO but you can inject it through the valvestem with a chamber tool after tire is mounted. why do you think it wouldnt survive ether blast?

formerly 77chev
still a jerk though
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

Heres a thought on the DW problem.Is anyone out there running a dana 60 front on an original k30 frame and springs?
IM thinking that theres a difference in the caster angle between the 60 and the 44 but I cant prove it.Ive done the same swap and with the 44 I had no problems,and after the 60 was in its down right scary!When you buy front aftermarket springs do they specify 1/2,3/4 or 1 ton?I dont remember but it seems like if the caster angle is off it will contibute immensly to this wobble.Does anyone have an old Chiltons with the caster angle specs in it and can you maybe post them to see if my theory is even close .What do you guys think?And is it possible that 1tons have longer or shorter front shacles or hangers that would affect caster angle?Im thinking that since the 1 tons sit higher that the caster angle will be different and when you put it on a 1/2 or 3/4 ton with aftermarket springs which have angle pads on them to correct the caster angle are they correcting for 1/2 ton stuff there fore the 1 ton stuff when swapped in is way off???ANY IDEA'S..................................................
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

DANG,,,,you may be on to something here...sorry i cant help, but let us know what you find out.
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

Do not know about the original specs, but my truck was a 1 ton in the beginning. My truck developed a slight DW after I took the original stabalizer off and put on duals. To correct the problem I adjusted the toe in to 1/4". This helped quite a bit, but it would still do it sometimes. Then I put the original stabilizer back on and have not had a problem since. Now I am in the process of putting the hydro-assist steering on the truck to see what it does. The DW did not start until I had about 4000 miles on the tires.The tires are balanced and rotated every 3000 miles. The truck has crossover steering and a trac bar.
 
Re: Need help, death wobble, can\'t drive much longer.....

my dif was chopped up and the pinion turned and caster corrected
IMO it has nothing to do with caster.
if it did then you could add longer shackles and lay the caster back to whatever you wanted
 
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