[MRFUSION]

I will keep it as short as I can but heres my story. I have a 2011 2500 and own a Yamaha dealership so pull some enclosed trailers but it sees no off road or gravel to speak of. I installed at 10k a Carli starter leveling kit and put 20 rims with 34.5 Terra grapplers. Had no problems and handled good. At 45k I noticed some slight rattling from the front and brought it in. They replaced ball joints, tie rod ends, and various other front end components on warranty. Cool right? I went to Edmonton the next week and went across some tracks and thought the front end fell off or lost me wheels. Never had it before but had my death wobble experience. Lots of oil field buddies with lifted trucks and phoned a buddy that installs lots of kits and he got me to turn both the eccentrics to the rear on my front diff while I was in Edmonton. Seemed to work. I put 34 or 35 Dura-trac Goodyear studded tires on my stock rims about 2000kms ago and the front end gets a little loose over certain bumps in the highway. Today coming back from GP with my son I had another death wobble experience. I need to fix this or get some info if anyone can share. The stock rims with the Dura-tracs seem way worse than my offset 20inch. Is it the Carli kit? I didnt have any issues until they replaced all the front end components and did an alignment. I thought it was weird to have a worn out front end in 45000k too? Thank you for any info guys. Cheers. Shad

 

[Dae]

It could be almost anything in the front suspension that causes the death wobble. When I had it on an '04, a new factory steering stabilizer fixed it. Eventually it came back, this time is was a passenger side tie-rod end.

BTW, on most Jeeps that get the Death Wobble, a new steering stabilizer almost always fixes it, but you got to remember, their front ends are a lot lighter.

 

[Big_Rubber]

Steering stabilizer is a band-aid fix, check and make sure your trackbar is tight and NOT Worn, check and make sure your steering box doesn't have any deadspots, your caster is set to 4.5 degrees and I wouldn't put it past a set of bad OEM balljoints.

Lay under the front of the truck and have someone move the steering wheel with the truck running in a back and forth rocking motion and watch for any loose spots. Contact Kevin @ HRT-Offroad( four o three - nine three three - five four four five )

By having the Carli 3" on your truck and im assuming not changing your control arms it is causing your caster to be way out for one thing and like I said, chances are there is one more spot that a piece is worn. Hell I've seen factory steering boxes the bed @ 25,000km

 

[BigCE]

It is almost always due to something being warn out. Wheel bearings are another good one to check.

Steering stabilizer is a good idea regardless with those bigger tires and rims.

 

[LNaugle]

Actually, tires are the biggest cause of death wobble, sure bad shocks or bjs will set it off but the "D" load range tire is the biggest cause.... period. I have seen this and fixed every single one with "E" load tires after fixing suspension issues. More than one truck has came to me with no suspension issues and still had death wobble.... Only other way to temporarily fix it is to roll all the caster out and toe out up to 3/16s....

 

[Msimanyi]

Actually, tires are the biggest cause of death wobble, sure bad shocks or bjs will set it off but the "D" load range tire is the biggest cause.... period. I have seen this and fixed every single one with "E" load tires after fixing suspension issues. More than one truck has came to me with no suspension issues and still had death wobble.... Only other way to temporarily fix it is to roll all the caster out and toe out up to 3/16s....

Toe out?!?

That should ensure those D range tires die a quick death, though it certainly won't help stability...

How does toe change as the suspension compresses on these trucks?

Mike

 

[Big_Rubber]

Actually, tires are the biggest cause of death wobble, sure bad shocks or bjs will set it off but the "D" load range tire is the biggest cause.... period. I have seen this and fixed every single one with "E" load tires after fixing suspension issues. More than one truck has came to me with no suspension issues and still had death wobble.... Only other way to temporarily fix it is to roll all the caster out and toe out up to 3/16s....

Good point about the tires, slipped my mind, but I've had brand new E tires (3 different kinds) and still ended up with DW with VERY minor worn parts that were still within 70% of spec of OEM requirements (meaning they were only 30% worn to the point of replacement so basically lightly used) I had the 2008 Dually with Death wobble from Day one for 230,000km and 7000$ later still never felt safe over an expansion joint. Check any of my threads on Death Wobble I've started and you will see the laundry list of repairs I had done to try and escape it so I've seen almost every situation.

 

[MRFUSION]

Starting to lean towards the tires as well, love the traction but since I put the 315 Duratracs on I have found the front end more loose than my Terra grapplers on my 20 rims. I have my pressures set at 50psi. Should I change pressures or am I putting lipstick on a pig here?

 

[ARB]

I had this happen to me as well. All was fine until the day I leveled my truck. I bought the kit from Hell Bent Steel, with the steering stabilizer, upgraded the bushings on the sway bar and rods.

That evening after bringing it up those 2.5"s and loving it, I hit a bump in the highway. Damn felt like the truck was ripping itself apart. Scared the crap out of me.

This was right when we got the tie rod recall notice so I brought it in for that and told them of my experience leaving out the leveling of the truck part. They did the work and I thought all was well.

I decided to drive back out to where the wobble happened and sure as sh1t there it went again, not as bad but still there so no good in my books. Brought it back the next day they hummed and ha'd then went to work.

Long story shortened they install a beefed up steering dispatch stabilizer, solved the problem havn't had it since. the old one was a mear 5/8" diameter rod w/shock the new one is at least 2" round and looks like a regular shock used in your suspension.

Derrik Dodge in Edmonton knew how to solve the problem right away. If its a band aid, well my extended warranty will cover it I hope.

 

[mtplanman]

The torque recommended specs for the Ram are very high. It is possible that post lift install, the torque specs for the front trackbar backed off.


I've helped the JK guys diagnose and fix DW for several years now.

These are videos I did for Jeep JKs, but the Ram HD front suspensions are the same design.

Video 1 explains your front end and what components can wear or come loose and cause wobbles.

Video 2 shows how to inspect the front end.

And, here is a written explanation:

Death Wobble is no mystery.

It is caused by loose bolts, damaged components, or improper installation.

Look at the picture below and follow along:

First, the tie rod (green) has ends that attach to a knuckle on each side. As you could imagine, if either ends of the tie rod were broken or bad, that could be a culprit for a shimmy (not Death Wobble). A common place to damage the tie rod is on the driver's side at the adjusting sleeve (in the picture, just to the right of the red swaybar link). That sleeve (maybe not the correct term for it, but you can see what I am talking about) allows the width of the tie rod to be expanded or contracted. There are threads on that end that can be damaged, causing play on that driver's side and allow an up and down, or circular play movement. Again, this would cause a shimmy, not Death Wobble.

Next, look at the drag link (purple). On one end, it attaches to the pitman arm (lavender), that attaches to the steering gear box. On the other end, the drag link attaches to the passenger side knuckle. When you turn your steering wheel, a shaft turns that goes to the steering gear box. The steering gear box turns the pitman arm, and the pitman arm pushes or pulls the drag link, which pushes or pulls the knuckle. Your steering wheel is straitened by loosening the two nuts on the sleeve/turnbuckle on the drag link and rotating the sleeve/turnbuckle to lengthen or contract the length of the drag link. If either end of the drag link is damaged, this would cause a wobble or shimmy, but not Death Wobble.

Next, look at the trackbar (aqua). It attaches to a bracket on the frame on the driver's side and to the axle on the passenger side. The purpose of the trackbar is to center the axle on the frame. With the axle centered on the frame, it provides some resistance to the steering system to allow you to turn. If there was no trackbar and you turned the steering, the whole front frame would shift. As a result, there is significant force applied to the trackbar in driving and steering.

Now, imagine that the bolts that hold the trackbar are loose in their bolt holes, or that the bolt holes are wallowed out (oval), or that the bushings at the trackbar ends are damaged, or that the bracket at the axle side has come loose because the weld has broken, or that the bushings are all twisted up because the rig has been lifted without the installer loosening the bolts and then retightened them at the new ride height. All these things would allow play in the front trackbar. When you steer or go around a corner, these loose or broken things would allow the axle to shake or slide side to side. If you hit a bump in the road, it could knock the trackbar towards the driver's side. Then, the rest of the suspension (springs, etc.) would try to bring the trackbar back to the passenger side. If you were going at any sort of speed, you could develop a kind of harmonic resonance as the axle more and more violently slide/rocked/shaked from side to side. It would feel like your whole front end was being voilently torn apart. You would have to bring your vehicle to a complete standstill to stop the harmonic resonance. This is Death Wobble.

Even one incident of violent Death Wobble related to the front trackbar can cause significant damage. The voilent harmonic resonance of the back and forth shaking is more than the trackbar bushings, bolt holes, and brackets are designed to handle. A severe Death Wobble occurance can crack or break the welds on the axle side trackbar bracket, or the bolt can wallow out the bolt hole in the bracket, or the bushing can be permanently damaged.

This is the most common source of Death Wobble because inexperienced installers either do not remove the bolt from the trackbar when they install a lift--leaving the bushing pinched in the bracket and bound up, or they do not properly torque the bolts after the lift has been installed with the tires on and the full weight of the vehicle on the ground at ride height, or (maybe the most common) they do not retorque the trackbar bolts after the first 50 miles, after every heavy wheeling trip, and at every oil change interval.

Next, look at the lower control arms (purple) and the upper control arms (light blue). In the picture, they are aftermarket arms with a heim joint on one end. However, the stock control arms have a rubber bushing at each end. When the control arms are properly torqued, the bushing is somewhat pinched in the mounting brackets on the axle and the frame. Sometimes, an installer will make the mistake of not loosening the bolts for the control arms when they install a lift. What happens sometimes is they really bind up the bushings because they are pinched/sandwiched at stock ride height, but then forced to the new lifted ride height. These bound up bushings can cause weird handling, bushing failure, and lead to Death Wobble. The proper way is to loosen the bolts, install the lift, reinstall the wheels so the suspension and jeep are at the new ride height, rock the vehicle/suspension back and forth and side to side, then re-torque the bolts to spec, then after 50 miles re-torque them to spec, then after every oil change or very heavy wheeling trip re-torque them to spec.


Improperly balanced tires, too much air in tires, bent wheels, improperly installed wheel spacers, bad tires (with separated plys), and poor alignment specs (caster, camber, and not enough toe-in) can cause wobbles and shimmies that lead to Death Wobble. However, these precipitate Death Wobble, but they are not the cause of Death Wobble.

Although not specifically identified in the picture, the ball joints that are at the top and bottom of each knuckle where it attaches to the axle C can go bad. Bad ball joints can cause shimmies, wobbles, but usually not full on Death Wobble.

Next, allthough not identified in the picture, the unit bearings can go bad and be a cause of shimmy and wobble, but not Death Wobble.

Hope this helps--assuming you read it all.

Death Wobble is no mystery.

The reason that the steering stabilizer masks it is that it can absorb some of the side to side voilent harmonics of a loose trackbar or damaged mounts. However, this masking is dangerous because it will not prevent the eventual failure of trackbar bracket welds and bolt holes from trackbar Death Wobble.



It is extremely important to immediately diagnose and fix Death Wobble.

Even one episode of DW can damage other components.

Multiple episodes of DW are almost guaranteed to damage other components.

Multiple episodes will often damage your:

• ball joints
• tie rod ends--including the adjusting sleeve end on the driver side
• trackbar bushings
• trackbar bracket bolt holes
• steering sector shaft (where the pitman arm attaches to the steering box)
• steering stabilizer
• front lower control arm bracket bolt holes
• unit bearings
• trackbar bracket welds
• drag link ends

Hellbound13 is an example of a member who with 5-6 episodes of trackbar related DW on a stock jeep ended up "chasing his tail" for many, many months. He ended up replacing almost everything in the above list--sometimes more than once.

Without repairing/replacing everything that was damaged at once, the remaining damaged components continued to cause DW problems, further damaging the remaining components.




This is Death Wobble (and the guy is extremely foolish for repeating it on purpose):

Inspection Checklist

1. Remove the steering stabilizer.
2. Have someone turn the engine on and turn slowly from full lock to full lock while I visually, manually (with my hands on the components), and auditorily inspect for any play in the tie rod ends, drag link ends, sector shaft, trackbar ends/bolts/brackets, and trackbar bracket welds.
3. Then, do the same thing but with short, sharp, quick back and forth turns of the steering wheel between the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions, instead of the slow, lock to lock approach.
4. Then, I would remove the front trackbar to inspect the bolt holes for ovaling and inspect the trackbar bushings for separation or cracking with a long screw driver through the bolt sleeve and the trackbar in a vise to leverage against the bushing in all directions. If all is good, I would reinstall the trackbar with the tires on the ground at ride height to proper torque specs.
5. Then, I would inspect the drag link end joints by using a large channel lock wrench that gave me enough leverage to check for up and down play in the drag link ends. There should not be any meaningful up and down play. If there is, the ends should be replaced, or a new drag link with heavy duty joints should be installed. After, I would check the torque of the drag link ends. Taller lifts magnify the problems of bad drag link ends.
6. Then, I would inspect the tie rod ends with the channel lock wrench for up and down movement. There should be no meaningful up and down play. There should only be rotational movement in the joint end.
7. Then, I would put the front axle on jack stands with the tires about 2" off the ground and check the front ball joints by using a long pry bar as a lever under the front tires to lift them up to inspect for up and down play in the lower ball joints. There shouldn't be more than maybe 1-2 mm.
8. Then, I would grab the top of the tire with both hands and push it towards the frame and pull it away from the frame to inspect for lateral movement of the top ball joints. There shouldn't be any.
9. Then, I would remove the front tires/wheels and remove the front tie rod--one knuckle at a time. Then with a large wrench or vice grips, I would inspect the end for side to side play. Then I would reinstall the end and torque to spec and repeat on the other side.
10. Then, I would remove the brake calipers and brake disks to inspect the unitbearings for play.
11. Then, I would reinstall the discs, brake calipers, and tires/wheels and set the axle back on the ground.
12. Then, I would support but not lift the front axle with a floor jack and loosen the front control arm bolts (upper and lower on the axle side). One at a time, I would drop the control arms to inspect the bolt holes and bushings (similar to with the trackbar), reinstall without torquing, and do the next one. Afterwards, remove the floor jack so the suspension is at ride height, vigorously rock the vehicle side to side and front and back, then torque to spec.
13. Next, I would inspect the sector shaft that comes out of the steering box for cracking or twisting.
14. Then, I would take a test drive without the steering stablizer to feel for any wobbles.
15. Finally, I would reinstall the steering stablizer or spring $40 for a heavy duty steering stablizer.

If this front end inspection does not diagnose and/or solve it, then I would move to an alignment.

1. I would use adjustable lower front control arms to set my caster spec--with a cross caster that has less on the driver side than the passenger side.
2. If my camber is out of spec, but it is not due to failed ball joints, I would install offset ball joints to get my camber in spec.
3. I would set my toe-in to spec on the machine--which is about a 1/16"-1/8" toe-in depending on tire size.

With all this, I highly doubt you do not find the source.

The last ditch thing if there is a non-DW, speed dependent range wobble, I would borrow a different set of wheels and tires to see if it changes, and I would try driving it with no front driveshaft to see if that changes anything.

Although it is always a good idea to inspect your axle shaft u-joints, they will not cause DW.

The most common sources of full on DW are:

• Improperly torqued trackbar bolts
• Damaged trackbar and control arm bushings because bolts were torqued on a car lift or while the vehicle was not at ride height with the tires on the ground. When you torque trackbar and control arm bolts, the bracket pinches the bolt sleeve in the bushing, as well as the bushing itself. If this is at a geometry other than actual ride height, the bushings are twisted/bound/pre-loaded, and they will eventually fail/separate/etc. If you have a flex joint end, this does not apply for that end.
• Ovaled out trackbar bracket holes due to DW episodes from loose bolts.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[LNaugle]

Even on stock duallys the tire psi must be max... The suspension settings i recommended are only temporary as it will wear the heck out of the tires. Having tight suspension with wrong tires will cause the most violent death wobble of all.... So saying suspension having loose parts is the root is false, but it will make it happen easier and at lower speeds. Trust me on this one, I learned it all the hard way and have litterally fixed thousands... BTW, just because the manufacturer of the tire says it is E load i still recommend checking the weight rating on the tire itself because there are variances that will still be a factor.

 

[mtplanman]

Even on stock duallys the tire psi must be max... The suspension settings i recommended are only temporary as it will wear the heck out of the tires. Having tight suspension with wrong tires will cause the most violent death wobble of all.... So saying suspension having loose parts is the root is false, but it will make it happen easier and at lower speeds. Trust me on this one, I learned it all the hard way and have litterally fixed thousands... BTW, just because the manufacturer of the tire says it is E load i still recommend checking the weight rating on the tire itself because there are variances that will still be a factor.

Loosen your front trackbar bolts, drag link and tie rod ends, and loosen your lower ball joint nuts, but keep your tires and toe-in however you like.

Then, drive crossways over railroad tracks, bridge expansion joints, and down roads full of potholes and report back to us if you've changed your mind or confirmed your opinion about whether loose or worn parts are the root of death wobble. Do it at higher speeds to test that theory--at your own risk.

The OP likely had not routinely retorqued his trackbar, or the trackbar bushings were pre-loaded/twisted/binding in a non-neutral position after the lift install. This likely caused problems that ended up damaging ball joints, tie rod ends, and other components. The components were repaired piecemeal. This often results in chasing one's tail.

I'd bet a steak dinner that if his trackbar were removed and inspected now, there would be evidence of either bushing failure, ovaled bracket bolt holes, etc.

Even quicker, he could watch video #1 and copy the tests in #2 to find what is loose or worn.

Tires do matter, but it is unwise to not inspect the entire front end in one sitting to determine what else is going on.

You can't have multiple episodes of violent death wobble without compromising or damaging front end components.

 

[DmnDvo]

THIS NEEDS TO BE REPOSTED AS A STICKY!!!!! (IF it hasn't been already)
Awesome write-up and my appreciation for the information and detailed explanation! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

The torque recommended specs for the Ram are very high. It is possible that post lift install, the torque specs for the front trackbar backed off.


I've helped the JK guys diagnose and fix DW for several years now.

These are videos I did for Jeep JKs, but the Ram HD front suspensions are the same design.

Video 1 explains your front end and what components can wear or come loose and cause wobbles.

Video 2 shows how to inspect the front end.

Find PLANMAN on jkowners.com Death Wobble Diagnosis and Inspection Jeep JK Wrangler Part 1 - YouTube

Find PLANMAN on jkowners.com Death Wobble Diagnosis and Inspection Jeep JK Wrangler Part 2 - YouTube



And, here is a written explanation:

Death Wobble is no mystery.

It is caused by loose bolts, damaged components, or improper installation.

Look at the picture below and follow along:

First, the tie rod (green) has ends that attach to a knuckle on each side. As you could imagine, if either ends of the tie rod were broken or bad, that could be a culprit for a shimmy (not Death Wobble). A common place to damage the tie rod is on the driver's side at the adjusting sleeve (in the picture, just to the right of the red swaybar link). That sleeve (maybe not the correct term for it, but you can see what I am talking about) allows the width of the tie rod to be expanded or contracted. There are threads on that end that can be damaged, causing play on that driver's side and allow an up and down, or circular play movement. Again, this would cause a shimmy, not Death Wobble.

Next, look at the drag link (purple). On one end, it attaches to the pitman arm (lavender), that attaches to the steering gear box. On the other end, the drag link attaches to the passenger side knuckle. When you turn your steering wheel, a shaft turns that goes to the steering gear box. The steering gear box turns the pitman arm, and the pitman arm pushes or pulls the drag link, which pushes or pulls the knuckle. Your steering wheel is straitened by loosening the two nuts on the sleeve/turnbuckle on the drag link and rotating the sleeve/turnbuckle to lengthen or contract the length of the drag link. If either end of the drag link is damaged, this would cause a wobble or shimmy, but not Death Wobble.

Next, look at the trackbar (aqua). It attaches to a bracket on the frame on the driver's side and to the axle on the passenger side. The purpose of the trackbar is to center the axle on the frame. With the axle centered on the frame, it provides some resistance to the steering system to allow you to turn. If there was no trackbar and you turned the steering, the whole front frame would shift. As a result, there is significant force applied to the trackbar in driving and steering.

Now, imagine that the bolts that hold the trackbar are loose in their bolt holes, or that the bolt holes are wallowed out (oval), or that the bushings at the trackbar ends are damaged, or that the bracket at the axle side has come loose because the weld has broken, or that the bushings are all twisted up because the rig has been lifted without the installer loosening the bolts and then retightened them at the new ride height. All these things would allow play in the front trackbar. When you steer or go around a corner, these loose or broken things would allow the axle to shake or slide side to side. If you hit a bump in the road, it could knock the trackbar towards the driver's side. Then, the rest of the suspension (springs, etc.) would try to bring the trackbar back to the passenger side. If you were going at any sort of speed, you could develop a kind of harmonic resonance as the axle more and more violently slide/rocked/shaked from side to side. It would feel like your whole front end was being voilently torn apart. You would have to bring your vehicle to a complete standstill to stop the harmonic resonance. This is Death Wobble.

Even one incident of violent Death Wobble related to the front trackbar can cause significant damage. The voilent harmonic resonance of the back and forth shaking is more than the trackbar bushings, bolt holes, and brackets are designed to handle. A severe Death Wobble occurance can crack or break the welds on the axle side trackbar bracket, or the bolt can wallow out the bolt hole in the bracket, or the bushing can be permanently damaged.

This is the most common source of Death Wobble because inexperienced installers either do not remove the bolt from the trackbar when they install a lift--leaving the bushing pinched in the bracket and bound up, or they do not properly torque the bolts after the lift has been installed with the tires on and the full weight of the vehicle on the ground at ride height, or (maybe the most common) they do not retorque the trackbar bolts after the first 50 miles, after every heavy wheeling trip, and at every oil change interval.

Next, look at the lower control arms (purple) and the upper control arms (light blue). In the picture, they are aftermarket arms with a heim joint on one end. However, the stock control arms have a rubber bushing at each end. When the control arms are properly torqued, the bushing is somewhat pinched in the mounting brackets on the axle and the frame. Sometimes, an installer will make the mistake of not loosening the bolts for the control arms when they install a lift. What happens sometimes is they really bind up the bushings because they are pinched/sandwiched at stock ride height, but then forced to the new lifted ride height. These bound up bushings can cause weird handling, bushing failure, and lead to Death Wobble. The proper way is to loosen the bolts, install the lift, reinstall the wheels so the suspension and jeep are at the new ride height, rock the vehicle/suspension back and forth and side to side, then re-torque the bolts to spec, then after 50 miles re-torque them to spec, then after every oil change or very heavy wheeling trip re-torque them to spec.


Improperly balanced tires, too much air in tires, bent wheels, improperly installed wheel spacers, bad tires (with separated plys), and poor alignment specs (caster, camber, and not enough toe-in) can cause wobbles and shimmies that lead to Death Wobble. However, these precipitate Death Wobble, but they are not the cause of Death Wobble.

Although not specifically identified in the picture, the ball joints that are at the top and bottom of each knuckle where it attaches to the axle C can go bad. Bad ball joints can cause shimmies, wobbles, but usually not full on Death Wobble.

Next, allthough not identified in the picture, the unit bearings can go bad and be a cause of shimmy and wobble, but not Death Wobble.

Hope this helps--assuming you read it all.

Death Wobble is no mystery.

The reason that the steering stabilizer masks it is that it can absorb some of the side to side voilent harmonics of a loose trackbar or damaged mounts. However, this masking is dangerous because it will not prevent the eventual failure of trackbar bracket welds and bolt holes from trackbar Death Wobble.



It is extremely important to immediately diagnose and fix Death Wobble.

Even one episode of DW can damage other components.

Multiple episodes of DW are almost guaranteed to damage other components.

Multiple episodes will often damage your:

• ball joints
• tie rod ends--including the adjusting sleeve end on the driver side
• trackbar bushings
• trackbar bracket bolt holes
• steering sector shaft (where the pitman arm attaches to the steering box)
• steering stabilizer
• front lower control arm bracket bolt holes
• unit bearings
• trackbar bracket welds
• drag link ends

Hellbound13 is an example of a member who with 5-6 episodes of trackbar related DW on a stock jeep ended up "chasing his tail" for many, many months. He ended up replacing almost everything in the above list--sometimes more than once.

Without repairing/replacing everything that was damaged at once, the remaining damaged components continued to cause DW problems, further damaging the remaining components.




This is Death Wobble (and the guy is extremely foolish for repeating it on purpose):

Death Wobble - YouTube



Inspection Checklist

1. Remove the steering stabilizer.
2. Have someone turn the engine on and turn slowly from full lock to full lock while I visually, manually (with my hands on the components), and auditorily inspect for any play in the tie rod ends, drag link ends, sector shaft, trackbar ends/bolts/brackets, and trackbar bracket welds.
3. Then, do the same thing but with short, sharp, quick back and forth turns of the steering wheel between the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions, instead of the slow, lock to lock approach.
4. Then, I would remove the front trackbar to inspect the bolt holes for ovaling and inspect the trackbar bushings for separation or cracking with a long screw driver through the bolt sleeve and the trackbar in a vise to leverage against the bushing in all directions. If all is good, I would reinstall the trackbar with the tires on the ground at ride height to proper torque specs.
5. Then, I would inspect the drag link end joints by using a large channel lock wrench that gave me enough leverage to check for up and down play in the drag link ends. There should not be any meaningful up and down play. If there is, the ends should be replaced, or a new drag link with heavy duty joints should be installed. After, I would check the torque of the drag link ends. Taller lifts magnify the problems of bad drag link ends.
6. Then, I would inspect the tie rod ends with the channel lock wrench for up and down movement. There should be no meaningful up and down play. There should only be rotational movement in the joint end.
7. Then, I would put the front axle on jack stands with the tires about 2" off the ground and check the front ball joints by using a long pry bar as a lever under the front tires to lift them up to inspect for up and down play in the lower ball joints. There shouldn't be more than maybe 1-2 mm.
8. Then, I would grab the top of the tire with both hands and push it towards the frame and pull it away from the frame to inspect for lateral movement of the top ball joints. There shouldn't be any.
9. Then, I would remove the front tires/wheels and remove the front tie rod--one knuckle at a time. Then with a large wrench or vice grips, I would inspect the end for side to side play. Then I would reinstall the end and torque to spec and repeat on the other side.
10. Then, I would remove the brake calipers and brake disks to inspect the unitbearings for play.
11. Then, I would reinstall the discs, brake calipers, and tires/wheels and set the axle back on the ground.
12. Then, I would support but not lift the front axle with a floor jack and loosen the front control arm bolts (upper and lower on the axle side). One at a time, I would drop the control arms to inspect the bolt holes and bushings (similar to with the trackbar), reinstall without torquing, and do the next one. Afterwards, remove the floor jack so the suspension is at ride height, vigorously rock the vehicle side to side and front and back, then torque to spec.
13. Next, I would inspect the sector shaft that comes out of the steering box for cracking or twisting.
14. Then, I would take a test drive without the steering stablizer to feel for any wobbles.
15. Finally, I would reinstall the steering stablizer or spring $40 for a heavy duty steering stablizer.

If this front end inspection does not diagnose and/or solve it, then I would move to an alignment.

1. I would use adjustable lower front control arms to set my caster spec--with a cross caster that has less on the driver side than the passenger side.
2. If my camber is out of spec, but it is not due to failed ball joints, I would install offset ball joints to get my camber in spec.
3. I would set my toe-in to spec on the machine--which is about a 1/16"-1/8" toe-in depending on tire size.

With all this, I highly doubt you do not find the source.

The last ditch thing if there is a non-DW, speed dependent range wobble, I would borrow a different set of wheels and tires to see if it changes, and I would try driving it with no front driveshaft to see if that changes anything.

Although it is always a good idea to inspect your axle shaft u-joints, they will not cause DW.

The most common sources of full on DW are:

• Improperly torqued trackbar bolts
• Damaged trackbar and control arm bushings because bolts were torqued on a car lift or while the vehicle was not at ride height with the tires on the ground. When you torque trackbar and control arm bolts, the bracket pinches the bolt sleeve in the bushing, as well as the bushing itself. If this is at a geometry other than actual ride height, the bushings are twisted/bound/pre-loaded, and they will eventually fail/separate/etc. If you have a flex joint end, this does not apply for that end.
• Ovaled out trackbar bracket holes due to DW episodes from loose bolts.

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[mtplanman]

THIS NEEDS TO BE REPOSTED AS A STICKY!!!!! (IF it hasn't been already)
Awesome write-up and my appreciation for the information and detailed explanation! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thank you.

 

[LNaugle]

I would never only blame it on tires until the suspension was totally checked out and repaired, if problem persists, its tires. Plain and simple, i dont think I was misleading in my comments,but could have been i guess. I build suspension systems on numerous different vehicles, (prerunners, rock crawlers, and new model trucks converting ifs to solid axles) so i get it....

 

[MRFUSION]

Cool thank you, thats what I am doing, getting the front end inspected and going from there, thank you for your help. Shad