Hi guys. I'm a Ford guy so I find it a lil wierd posting here but,

I test drove a 95 Dodge 1500 4WD 5.9 litre tonight and the drive went good for 20 minutes, but when we headed back in I was going behind a truck at 35. All of a sudden the truck started greatly shimmying! Like, it felt as if i was hitting potholes after potholes, bouncing like that. The truck is lifted 4 inches and on 35s and we didn't lose control but i pulled over pretty quickly and it shimmyed until i got going real slow then stopped.

I called my friend and he said it could be the steering stabilizer. Do you guys have any ideas? I heard this is really easy to replace, but I don't want to buy a possibly messed up vehicle that the guy is lying to me about.

Thanks for your responses guys!

Aaron

 

Heh I post on www.ranger-forums.com too because I own a Ford Ranger. I find it funny I've already gotten a few posts with help even though you guys are a lot bigger. Not bein picky or anything!


Aaron

 

A front end shimmy could be caused by a number of different things....ball joints, tie rod ends, hub bearings, etc....but I'm going to say it's probaby the track bar, especially since it's lifted. Lay under the truck and have someone wiggle the steering wheel back anf forth and look for anything that has an un-normal amount of play in it.

 

Thank you sir!

Aaron

 

could just be tires off balance. if you get the chance "if you want" have them balanced and that is the quickest fix

 

don't forget to also check the idler arm... if it is bent it may need replacing and it could mean that the front of the truck has been wrecked

 

and if you do buy it, fix any loose front end parts then go get an alignment with the caster set to the max. this will fix the death wobble you experienced.