DEATH WOBBLE

SoontobeLifted_72

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Location
Wilmington NC
I was on the highway (doing 70mph) today and I hit a small bump in the road, nothing out of the ordinary just a crack in the pavement. I thought I was going into the ditch the wheel was shaking so hard. I got death wobble and it didnt go away until I got down to about 35mph. Pumping the brakes, turning the wheel, nothing helped correct the wobble until I slowed down. I got home and took the wheels off and found a bent wheel stud but thats it.

Background info:

2006 Ram 2500 CTD
new Dual steering stabilizer
Lug nuts were torqued to spec
Trac bar looks fine
Bushings seemed to be ok

Any help will be appreciated
 
I was driving on the WV turnpike a few weeks ago and saw a Dodge truck experiancing the same thing, it's just as scary to watch from a distance as I am sure it is behind the wheel.

BALL JOINTS !!! been discussed here a few times, search a bit, the info is here somewhere
 
I have seen a tie rod end do this with very little play. Also, have seen a loose track bar do this. Does the truck have any lift or larger tires and rims?
 
Yeah sorry about that. 35 BFG A/T, 2 inch spacer up front. The only thing I could figure was caster angle or possibly alignment. Im going to check the ball joints tomorrow
 
read on the diesell dodge forums. lots of people claim the bfg 315's are causing death wobble on these trucks. I've never had any trouble out of mine. but it happens.
most likely cause is a worn trackbar or balljoints.
 
I forgot to mention that my truck only has 17K on it. So the ball joints should be fine. Im goint to replace the trackbar, and get an alignment and hopefully solve the issue
 
Have someone get in the truck with the engine off and the key in it. Get them to turn the wheel back and forth while you look and the steering linkage and trackbar. If there is any play you should be able to see it. Also, check the ball joints.
 
Can be many things. Check every contact point from the tires up to the steering wheel. I had DW once and it was a crack in the frame behind the steering box.

Never know til you watch as someone turns the wheel back and forth. It will usually be obvious...
 
Update

The track bar bushing was falling apart so I replaced that and now it turns a lot smoother. I took it to Tom Sessions who is one of the best diesel techs I know and he said this is a common problem with this truck when you have 315 BFGs. He recommended that I upgrade all of my steering linkage to the 4500 series steering components which is beefier and easier to maintain. I'll take some before and after pics once its done.
 
Check and see whether or not you have the updated steering linkage for starters. IIRC, Dodge was replacing them under warranty.
 
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