constant death wobble

[VEfreak]

Hey guys, truck is in some serious trouble. I had been having a problem with my truck were it would death wobble between 40 and 50 miles and hour while coasting, but it only did this sometimes. I bought a set of used tires and put them on. Then it started death wobbling when it hit 40mph all the time. I put the old set back on exactly how they were, same problem. Can anybody offer me some advice? Tie rod ends seem ok, no noticeable play.

[PToombs]

Have a steering damper?
Have you checked the front wheel bearings? If they're loose, it can cause this too.
Have you tried to swap wheels around between the set on the truck? (on my 97 I had a bad death wobble experience and it shook all the time after that. I swapped it from LF to the RR and could still feel it shaking back there. It F'd up the tire bad)

[TTipswprd]

i would check your tie rod ends. grab your tie rod. if you can move it the replace the ends

[Mark Nixon]

Is it a 2 wheel drive?
If so, look at ALL of the jointed areas on the solid crossbar, especially the idler arm and pitman arm areas.
The pitman and idler arms may seem tight, but they have a bad propensity of ovalling out the hole that the taper passes through.
Take the nut off, separate the joint (if it falls loose, there's your answer) and look for wear around the tapered hole.

Check all of the upper and lower ball joints.

Also, check the steering shaft coupler on the steering box, very common for it to go bad, too.

Basically check EVERYTHING that can be a loose point and if you don't know how to do it, go to a truck shop that does DOT inspections, I GUARANTEE they can tell you where it's loose at.

Best way I have seen to check "floating" joints like tie rod ends and idler/pitman is to squeeze the joint in a large pair of channel lock pliers, if it moves noticeably, it needs replaced.
Balljoints are checked by jacking up the lower control arm, away from the lower balljoint, and using a bar to try to move the balljoints around, anything over @ 3/16" in any direction is too much on lowers and uppers.

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK THE FRONT BRAKE ROTORS AND BEARINGS FOR EXECESSIVE WARPAGE AND BEARING PLAY!

Mark.

[VEfreak]

the brakes are damn good. It's a W-250.

[Mark Nixon]

2wd or 4wd, the same applies.
Check every place it could be loose.

Mark.

[rmauto1]

My truck used to death wobble, the pitman arm was loose, and the pre load in the gear was loose. tightened them both up and it was good to go.

[VEfreak]

Was able to poke around my truck this weekend. The frame and steering box bracket were cracked. Welded them and that fixed alot of the problem. Front leaf bushings are dust, gotta replace those. The coupling and the steering shaft and gear box seems worn too. Pit Arm and drage link also seem tired, but I need to get the right puller to seperate them. Tie Rod is good though.

[PToombs]

Tie Rod is good though.

Well that's something good!

[VEfreak]

I took off the cap of my steering knuckle. The tapered bushing seems pretty damn worn. It's worn into an oval. I suppose that could be a contributer to my death wobble.

[cougar]

[VEfreak]

Got the cone bushing in. Fixed alot of the problem, but there is still a tiny shake 50-55 MPH. Not deadly but it is still the. Gonna put on a steering damper and have it aligned.