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DEATH WOBBLE?

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Old 08-20-2007, 07:03 PM
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Default DEATH WOBBLE?

yes iv done some research and believe that i have the death wobble, i hear that many people said MAX CASTER now when it comes to some things i know alot but this i know almost nothing is a max caster a part on my truck i already have or do i need to put one in,

IF I LEAVE THE DEATH WOBBLE ALONE WILL IT CAUSE DAMAGE?

Thanks for the help guys
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 07:08 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

The death wobble is caused by caster. I would just take it to an alignment shop and tell them you got the death wobble and they should take care of it. It could be partnered by worn tie rod ends or too much toe in/out. If you livenear 98823bring it to me and i'll align it
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 07:08 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

max caster is just describing how to temporarorly (sp) aleviate the wobble.. think of your axle's alignment adjustments.. on your trailing arms (control arms), the bottoms (if i remember correctly) have lobe washers witch , when rotated, will rotate your axle. think of your axle as a throttle grip on a motorcycle, a twisting motion, this is the movement in which caster deals with. camber is just the wheels, but caster has to deal with the whole axle.. (for our case that is)

id fix it.. like any part on a truck, if left alone,, will more then likley fail, and a trackbar is something you dont want failing while your driving.
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 07:12 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

is there any part i can put in to fix the problem?
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 07:26 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

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.
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 07:36 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

maybe im missing the point, for that im sorry, so please tell me what to replace so i dont distroy my truck
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 08:08 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

Yeah i doubt you have the death wobble goto youtube and see for yourself, it'spretty violent. More than likely you just need some allignment work done. it's not a "part" If you feel vibration in the steering wheel it's the front tires. If you feel vibration in your seat it's the rear tires. But a good tire shop will figure it out for you.
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 08:30 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

death wobble is a term that describes when the truck does a 'shaking fit', generally after going over a bump at speed. its where the tires and steering wheel wobbles back and forth violently. it can be caused by worn out parts such as track bar, idler arm, tie rods, center link, and the alignment setting for caster. the maximum caster setting on a dodge ram is 4* (thus max caster). you may need to take it to a front end shop and let them look at it. a bad wobble can often be multiple parts. i wouldn't ignore it, if it wobbles bad you have little control over it.
 
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Old 08-20-2007, 10:29 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

Death Wobble can be caused my numerous things and is usually a combination of a few.

Bad ball joints, TREs, and unbalanced tires cause it most. I doubrt you have death wobble.
 
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Old 08-21-2007, 05:29 PM
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Default RE: DEATH WOBBLE?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs04W_oBpdQthats the death wobble.
 


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