DEATH WOBBLE?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Naw Man Rams have the exact same setup as a TJ...
Sorry Mr Technical you better look again. I had a 99 Ram and encountered Extreme Death Wobble several times, went through a few different suspension/Lift setups and like the tjs and xjs it was a different cause everytime. Tracbar- Its gotta have angle parallel to your pitman arm and draglink, lift with stock control arms is a no no, Caster and Toe have to be On The Money, And Believe it or not even the rear pinion angle can throw the vibration to the front end and start a death wobble as the case with my first lift that involved drop down shackles... I now have an 06 TJ with the IDENTICLE suspension And have yet to correct my death Wobble, Chryler has used this setup on Rams, Xjs, TJs, And ZJs and its theoretically a great design But very touchy... Good Luck
I have a hard time believing that you have death wobble. Last fall when I was up at college, the designers of the new Jeep Wrangler (the JK) came up and gave a seminar on the it. The old TJ's were very prone to death wobble. However, the engineers said they had a fresh new front end that was immune to death wobbling. I recognized it immediately when they showed a cut away: it was the same 4 link + panhard/track bar set up with our trucks. Crawl under and look sumetime and you'll see the similarities. I talked one on one with an engineer about it and they said that it was indeed a copy (or very similar to) the front axles in the BR trucks. I saw the video of the TJ during a death wobble incident on a test video and it looks pretty scary to see the axle moving so violently.
I'm not sure what happened with your truck, but from what I was told by Chrysler design engineers (I know come will laugh at this), but they said it was a problem that had been fixed with the new design which is from our trucks. The death wobble is, like others have described, an oscilating rotation of the front axle. This type of motion is restriced in our front ends by the double control arms. As such, in theory, this motion isn't possible unless you have a broken control arm or severley worn control arm bushings.
On a side note, the engineer did admit to me that under hard braking, the front ends will tend to steer to the left due to the lateral displacement by the track bar. The track bar would push the axle to the right and the steering components while remaining in a constant position would seem to be steering to the left. But they said this motion would be hard to notice.
I'm not sure what happened with your truck, but from what I was told by Chrysler design engineers (I know come will laugh at this), but they said it was a problem that had been fixed with the new design which is from our trucks. The death wobble is, like others have described, an oscilating rotation of the front axle. This type of motion is restriced in our front ends by the double control arms. As such, in theory, this motion isn't possible unless you have a broken control arm or severley worn control arm bushings.
On a side note, the engineer did admit to me that under hard braking, the front ends will tend to steer to the left due to the lateral displacement by the track bar. The track bar would push the axle to the right and the steering components while remaining in a constant position would seem to be steering to the left. But they said this motion would be hard to notice.
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Joined: Nov 2011
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Death Wooble
I have read many of these forums and have not seen where the ball joints have not been addressed as to movement tolerance. As Dodge has set them to .090 Vertical and .060 Horizontal, new out of the box. I think this is B.S. !!!.
My truck is 2006 4 X 4 Ram Quad 2500 Long Bed
Thanks
Tom
My truck is 2006 4 X 4 Ram Quad 2500 Long Bed
Thanks
Tom
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Joined: Dec 2011
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From: Sarasota, FL
http://www.dieselperformance.com/ind...uct/index/151P
Try this. I've had a few buddies (one has a 99 1500 4x4, others got 3/4 and one tons) and they swear it's like night and day.
Try this. I've had a few buddies (one has a 99 1500 4x4, others got 3/4 and one tons) and they swear it's like night and day.
Champion
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,015
Likes: 8
From: Western NY,
http://www.dieselperformance.com/ind...uct/index/151P
Try this. I've had a few buddies (one has a 99 1500 4x4, others got 3/4 and one tons) and they swear it's like night and day.
Try this. I've had a few buddies (one has a 99 1500 4x4, others got 3/4 and one tons) and they swear it's like night and day.
Champion
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,015
Likes: 8
From: Western NY,
my ram still has a bit of wander...I have tried just about everything and removed all the play I could find... I totally burned up a steering stabilizer in 5,000 miles before the new track bar, steering bracket and steering shaft.
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3
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From: WI
I experienced death wobble for the first time in my '97 1500 today, scared the crap outta me. NO previous shimmy whatsoever, just started to wobble violently at 50mph after a bump on the highway and didn't stop until I did. New wheel bearings and tires (bald BFGoodrich KOs before, now Destination ATs; both 285/75/16 on stock alloys) in the last month, the shop swore that the rest of the front end was fine. I haven't done an alignment yet but it's on my list.
I guess my question is, why the sudden symptom? Why didn't it start after the tire and wheel bearing replacement?
I guess my question is, why the sudden symptom? Why didn't it start after the tire and wheel bearing replacement?
Administrator
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87,465
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From: Clayton MI
I would take a long hard look at the track bar. That's the usual culprit. Easy to check to. Have someone else in the drivers seat, you watch the ends of the track bar, have the someone else crank the wheel back and forth, and look for play. If you find any, it's bad.