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Real bad shaking going on???

blazindorito

blazindorito

1/2 ton status
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Nov 25, 2003
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Southern California
Today, I was taking the truck to 1) take a test drive and 2) to have my pinion angle corrected. I was going to 4wspecialties close to my house only 2 miles away and ended up having a tow truck bring me home. It was driving fine the 1st mile but I stopped at a light and when I took off very slowly I may add maybe 10 mph the truck shook very violently from left to right. It wouldn't stop until I completely stopped the truck. It felt as if the right tire was going to come or fall off. It is the first time really driving it since I swapped axles, installed a 6" lift, installed a used crossover steering, swapping the gear box, and installing new 37's on 16 rims. It also does not have the front driveshaft installed. The truck does need to have the pinion angle corrected in the rear, and it does not have shocks installed. People were driving by and asking if I knew that my truck was shaking violently and 2 other guys stopped to tell me that the right tire looked as if it were going to fall off. First test drive and 10 min. into it, a tow drive home.

What do you guys think it could be?

Thanks. Just when I thought I was going to drive this thing, things happen.
 
It sounds like "Death Wobble" to me. Driveshaft vibrations are usually straight up and down, and tire/suspension vibrations are left to right, like you described.

Did you tighten your front U-Bolts to 150 Foot Pounds? If you have a Dana-60, the right side plate bolts/studs should be 100 Foot Pounds. Just check to make sure evrything is as tight as it should be.

Also, you should only drive your truck a very short distance (10 miles at most) before retightening the U-Bolts. They loosen up very quickly after the initial toruqing. Especialy with new U-Bolts. When ever you do work to a front suspension, you should always take the truck for a short drive first, and then go back and retorque every thing.
 
That was the first thing I checked when I got home. Everything was still torqued right. Do you think it could be the tie rod ends or the tie rod itself? The crossover steering is used and I didn't check if the tie rods ends were bad. How do I check those?
 
How do I check those?
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Take a large set of adjustable pliers and grab the tie rod by placing one plier jaw on the top of the tie rod, and the bottom plier jaw on the steering knuckle where the tie rod shank goes through, then sqeeze. If there is excesive up and down movement, they are worn out.

I would replace a high wear item like a tie rod end right off the bat without even thinking about it, if I bought a used cross-over system. That is just the way I am with my trucks.
 
I started going over the dana 60 last night and realized that the ubolts loosened up. I retightened them to 150 ft/lbs. I am also going to turn the rotors and rebuild the kingpin. All bearings were replaced about 3 years ago and the dana 60 was hardly driven. Do you think I should still repalce those? What else should I do to get rid of Death Wobble?
 
might be a dumb question, but is it in the front end for sure? also you siad people were saying it looked like your wheel was gonna fall off, are all your lug nuts tight?
 
The lug nuts are tight. That was the first thing I checked. I was going to work on it today some more but I was just told otherwise this morning. I hate it when I dont have time to work on things that I want.
 
How many ft/lbs do I torque the leaf spring bolts?
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I usually do not use a torque wrench on those, I just tighten those down until I can see the spring pack is completely sandwiched together. If I where to hazard a guess I might say 40 - 45 foot pounds (or so).
 
blazindorito said:
I started going over the dana 60 last night and realized that the ubolts loosened up. I retightened them to 150 ft/lbs. I am also going to turn the rotors and rebuild the kingpin. All bearings were replaced about 3 years ago and the dana 60 was hardly driven. Do you think I should still repalce those? What else should I do to get rid of Death Wobble?
Click to expand...

Go to Home Depot and buy some 1/2" fender washers. They are 1/16" thick, 2" in diameter. Jack up each side of the front end, remove the kingpin cap, drop two fender washers on top of the spring, install the kingpin cap and do the other side. Then go for a drive...

What you're describing is classic violent death wobble, which my truck had too. I was able to slowly drive back though. It's very frightening and very violent. The fender washers add a little preload to the king pin springs which cures the death wobble.

Best of all it's a $2 fix...

Rene
 
Go to Home Depot and buy some 1/2" fender washers. They are 1/16" thick, 2" in diameter. Jack up each side of the front end, remove the kingpin cap, drop two fender washers on top of the spring, install the kingpin cap and do the other side. Then go for a drive...

What you're describing is classic violent death wobble, which my truck had too. I was able to slowly drive back though. It's very frightening and very violent. The fender washers add a little preload to the king pin springs which cures the death wobble.

Best of all it's a $2 fix...
Click to expand...

I forgot about that. I have two fender washers on each steering knuckle of my lifted Crew Cab Dana-60 to pre-load the bushing retaining srpring.
 
1-ton said:
I forgot about that. I have two fender washers on each steering knuckle of my lifted Crew Cab Dana-60 to pre-load the bushing retaining srpring.
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I did the same thing but I used a spring cup on top and bottom of the spring as well as 1 fender washer per side:D . I never experienced death wobble but I am pretty sure I do not want to so I preloaded mine before it ever went in the truck.

Ira
 
I went and bought the washers yesterday. Just haven't installed them in yet. I was just wanting to go through everything twice. Just want to make sure everything else is good to go. I want to take my kids out and I don't want to scare them. They have been waiting 3 years to go for a drive in it and I don't want to disappoint them. Thanks to everyone that has helped me. :thumb: I want to drive this thing to the meet and greet in 2 weeks, hopefully it will be ready.
 
Had the same exact problem! Mine was the passanger brake caliper was catching/sticking. took us weeks to figure out what it was. we tore everything apart! it wasnt completely gone but it would stick just alittle. real pain in da ass for such a small problem. might not be urs but i would def. check it out. good luck
 
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