There might have been a thread or two about a "death wobble" or people having this same problem...so maybe someone can help me diagnose it...

As of just a day or two ago I realized my 04 has been all over the road, espcially over the highway at cruising speeds. My alignment is off again, the truck pulls to the left and I have to keep the sterring wheell to the right alittle to keep her straight. Also at around 70-80mph Im getting a noticable vibration, not just in the steering wheel either. And when I hit a pothole or a bridge joint the truck will sometimes violently fly to the left, feels like im out of control alittle. Im thinking my wobble problem is either from a bad shock or bad tire and the virbration could be a driveshaft off balance? In september I had the left rack and pinnion replaced and the truck was re aligned. sorry for the long post, just frustrated with all these front end problems.

 

how old are your tires? might be time for those to go

 

Pretty sure they are original to the truck, i bought it used. but the treadwear is still good, theyve got 40,300 miles on them.

 

Well traditionally the "Death Wobble" is associated with issues in the front end of the SFA 2500/3500 trucks. Not to say, you aren't experiencing the same symptoms, but the name is generally reserved for those guys.

Look at ball joints first, then tie rods. Of course if you find a problem there, you are gonna need a realignment after it's corrected anyway. Also balance the tires, road force balance if possible. I know it's a lot, but when one component in the front end goes, at the very least, it will throw others off at the same time. But if you can isolate a bad ball joint or tie rod, you've basically won the war, you just have a couple little battles left to settle the matter...
The shaft may be out of balance, but won't cause the "pulling" symptons, so I'd leave looking at that until after you find the front end problem and do the alignment. If there is still a slight wobble, then worry about the drive shaft...

 

ok, I was also thinking ball joints because when im turning and hit a bump the i hear a slight knock in the front passenger side. Im not that knowledgeable about suspensions yet so i think its time she goes to the dealership, its still under warrenty, hopefully this stuff will be covered?

 

I've had the same problem which I posted about the other day, to the T. I am going to try to rotate my tires (I've got 15k miles on these stock pos goodyears), and also check my wheel bearings. I will bring it back to the dealer since I still have the warranty, which they better cover. I just hope I didn't get a truck with a big problem that forced the owner to sell it (this is an '06 with so few miles and turns out has been sold thru a few states). I will post what I find.

 

please do post your findings, im going to also post mine if it goes to the dealer. hopefully its just a ball joint which SHOULD be under the warrenty.

 

I went to a local tire shop, and while my tires are wearing unevenly, I did rotate them and the problem persists. They didn't check alignment, because they said if the tires are like this, the truck will appear out of alignment...I need new tires first. So they try to sell me new tires.....


I have a wheel and tire warranty from Dodge.....going to see if these ******** at the dealer will honor it but they have been dicking me around on it....I will get some time off in a week and see what they say. I'm just scared that if I buy new tires and even with an alignment I may have a bigger problem and I don't want to ruin the investment on the tires. I will follow up later.

 

I had my alignment done in the fall and when it came back from my mechanic the truck was still pulling, so i bought it back to him and he cross rotated the tires and aligned it again and the problem went away for the most part but returned twice as bad about in the last week or two, but i think my ball joint has been going for some time now, hopefully thats all it is...shes goin to the dealer wednesday, might as well use the warrenty, i will also follow up.

 

I had 1 part of your problem, at hwy speeds when hitting a bump, my truck wanted to be ALL over the road. To the point i thought id roll it. Turned out to be a bad shock. Hope your problem is that simple.