death wobble need steering damper?

[slow_90firebird]

Have had death wobble on this truck since ive owned it but only once every month or two so i could live with it.

Lately this week it has become every day at least. I was thinking i should order up an aftermarket steering stabilizer kit. And maybe change the front shocks again.

I was wondering what would be the cheapest best kit out there that will work on a stock truck D60 front axle with stock tires.

Mainly i need to know that i will be able to turn the wheels lock to lock without over running the limits of the damper shock.

thanks.

[cougar]

A steering damper won't help. You need to fix what is causing it. There is a very long list of causes. You need to do a search on the subject and go after it. It took a year and throwing a lot of parts and money at my 91 before I found and fixed the cause of my death wobble.

[slow_90firebird]

unfortunately i cant afford to spend any money on this truck unless I am 100% sure it is the cause. I still owe too much money on it.

I dont think putting a stabilizer on there could hurt. We have jeeps come in to where I work all the time with the same issue, and the service writer usually orders a new stabilizer before the truck ever comes in the shop. That seems to be the most common cause.

The other thing I wanted to try at the same time was to tighten the slack in the steering box.

But when i look at steering stabilizer kits online, they all seem to fit a huge varity of vehicles from jeeps to chevy K10s all the way to W350's. I want to know that what I order will have big enough U-bolts to go around the axle tube, and also have enough travel in the cylinder.

Thanks

[Richie O]

I bought a kit from Big A years ago for a 89 I had with the death shake. It helped for a little while, but the shake came back pretty soon. That truck was strange. It had a plow and sander in it and at a certain point with the sander about half empty it would go into bad shakes. It seemed to need all the right weight conditions to really set that one off. People would pull to the side and stop when I was going in the opposite direction. It must have looked pretty bad like the front wheels were about to come off. Mine ended up being tierod ends. My 93 has the shakes now, and I suspect warped rotors is setting that one off.

[slow_90firebird]

Well i tried tightening the slack out of my steering box today and the steering seems much more responsive and firm going down the road. Before if I let go of the wheel and hit bumps it would get a mind of its own, now it seems to be a little better. Probably not noticable by anyone else, but when its what ive been driving the last year, i can tell a difference.

I did it the same way the thirdgen camaro and firebird guys do it: front wheels off the ground, loosen jamb nut on steering box, hold jamb nut in place with wrench, turn allen screw all the way till it gets tight, then back off a little. I got about probably 2-3 full turns in and then backed it out probably 1/2 turn.

---

As for the stablizer, i found a PDF instrucion sheet for the skyjacker kit, and in the parts list it says the big u-bolt is 3 1/8" which is the proper diameter for our D60 axle tubes, right? I think that kit was also the cheaper one too i kinda want to get it.

Also noticed when I had thwe front wheels up today that my LF wheel has very minor play in what appears to be the bearing. Anybody know what is the socket i need for D60 spindle nuts? I have one somewhere from when i used to have my chevy with the D44 but its probably different.

[dunes450r]

is that actually a legitimate way to to tighten the steering box slop? AKA not going to hurt, or wear out anything quicker?

[Mark Nixon]

I'd never do it.
Tried it on an old Dodge Charger one time, fired the engine and about ripped my left hand off when the steering wheel did an immediate right turn straight to lock and stayed there.

Those power steering gears are plain dangerous and there's a good reason there are only 2 or 3 rebuilders nationwide for those things.

A buddy had one malfunction on a '75 New Yorker with over 350,000 miles, not long after.
He was just driving along on I-80, all of a sudden the wheel ripped right out of his hands and put the car into a median, glancing another car on the way through.
He still doesn't know why it didn't roll the car.

Mark.

[dunes450r]

I'd never do it.
Tried it on an old Dodge Charger one time, fired the engine and about ripped my left hand off when the steering wheel did an immediate right turn straight to lock and stayed there.

Those power steering gears are plain dangerous and there's a good reason there are only 2 or 3 rebuilders nationwide for those things.

A buddy had one malfunction on a '75 New Yorker with over 350,000 miles, not long after.
He was just driving along on I-80, all of a sudden the wheel ripped right out of his hands and put the car into a median, glancing another car on the way through.
He still doesn't know why it didn't roll the car.

Mark.

thanks! i'll leave the steering to the experts.....i'll just play with the injection pump

[slow_90firebird]

is that actually a legitimate way to to tighten the steering box slop? AKA not going to hurt, or wear out anything quicker?

Alright heres the deal:

I had to back the nut stud out another half turn today at lunch break. What i noticed more prominently on the highway, was that if i turned the wheel just a little off center the truck would keep turning vary gradually. Since i backed it another half turn it has been much better. I might still back it out 1/4 turn more just to see.

Now I feel that this is a legitimate way to get some of the slop out of these old trucks. But only as a last try before you core your old sloppy box for a reman one. The previous owner told me that my truck already had the "borgeson" shaft in it, so if you dont have that already, that would be better to do first. Also check your tie rods and drag link and all that. Mine were supposedly changed 2 yrs ago. All are tight.

Jack front wheels off ground. When you loosen the jamb nut and start turning in the center stud with the allen wrench, dont go too far. When you feel it getting just a little bit tighter - stop. Now I would recommend backing out 1 full turn, then hold the allen still and tighten the jamb nut. First start the engine (keep hands free of steerign wheel, thanks mark!). Run lock to lock a few times to check for binding. If you have gone too tight you will feel it in the steering wheel. If all seems good, road test and make further adjustments from there.

So far i have driven down a few of the roads that I knew to cause "death shake" and so far the truck feels 100% more sure footed. I do not mean to go against what you say mark, you are an expert in these trucks and i dont doubt that you had one go wrong. However i wanted to present it as an option to other members, especially if they have fixed the front end and steering shaft and still suffer loose or wandering steering. And as long as they take proper precautions and also understand that this might damage the box and make it only good for a core charge.

[slow_90firebird]

Alright just to be certain here is the nut and stud. in the middle of that top cover plate.

Jamb nut should be 5/8" or 16mm and stud is 3/16" allen but if its rusty try a 5mm or 5.5mm too.

[Tintacker]

I can't help with the death wobble but the skyjacker kit is the one I bought and it fits. I didn't notice much difference, if any in the handling.

[slow_90firebird]

cool thanks thats what i needed to know!