1996 F250 SCLB 2WD 7.3
6" skyjacker lift

(I know who lifts a 2WD! I bought it planning to do an Solid axle swap but life events have led me to it as a DD)

So they other night on the way home from work I experienced the dreaded death wobble. I knew my ball joints where on there way out and I had recently installed new springs and shocks so I figured they had exacerbated the bad BJ issue.

So I replaced the clapped out ball joints today. I marked the camber bushings before removal returned them to where they were previously. On the way to the alignment shop I noticed the wobble again this time not so much a "death wobble" but a pretty good shimmy from 35-45 but it smoothed out once I was over 45 and never returned. unfortunately the alignment shop was unable to get my alignment done cause my radius arm bushings were toast (don't know how I missed that). so I went and got the moog kit and installed them tonight. On my shakedown drive after installing the new bushings the "death wobble" came back worse than ever this time.

Could this be caused by the alignment not being correct or should I keep looking for other causes. I am headed back to the alignment shop tomorrow I'm gonna have them check tire balancing while I'm there.

New front end parts include
-coil springs
-shocks
-new dual steering stabilizer
-upper and lower BJ
-radius arm bushings
-axle pivot bushings
- I have checked all the tie rods and they were all tight. someone had done them previously because they were all moog.

 

Wheel bearings? Are the drop brackets tight? Is your frame torn? Steering box?

Death wobble is not an alignment issue, it's a worn part issue that can be triggered more frequently by having a poor alignment. It's not hard to see "that's my problem" when you find it.

 

Frame isnt torn from anything I have seen. I just went through my second round of tourque checking all the front end hardware. It didnt start wobbling til I started "fixing" the front end. Ive used all moog parts and energy suspension bushings. One thing the alignment shop noticed is that I have Negative caster and that can cause a wobble at speed. Is there a way to fix this?

 

Bigger radius arm drop brackets or longer radius arms (assuming the alignment shop already used the biggest caster/camber bushings trying to get positive caster back).

Did you repack the wheel bearings? Good maintenance practice and you can closely inspect the rollers that way.

 

I had a 01 Jeep Cherokee and their are many that have the death wobble. One thing I learned from them is the tires can also be an issue that causes the wobble. You might go the the Cherokee forum and there are plenty of good ideas there that may help you find a solution. There are many things that can cause your problem.

 

UPDATE

So I took the the truck back to the alignment shop yesterday. And after drive 30 min to work and 30 min back. hitting some bumps. It seems the death wobble is gone. though he did tell me I should put tie rods on my shopping list. On the advice of the forum I had them re-balance all the tires and rotate them. The alignment was pretty far out and was all brought into spec. Not sure what may have fixed the wobble the alignment of the re-balancing but all seems to be good now.

 

Careful....it's not gone if they didn't change any parts.

 

well they did do some weight changes to the tires and they made some major adjustments in the alignment. The truck is smoother now than it has ever been. I will keep the post updated but for now I am sarisfied the problem has been addressed.

 

He will find out soon enough. I appreciate your skepticism but you wouldn't believe how many cherokees that had the wobble were solved by tires, balance, rotation etc. Many others required different things to fix the problem and some were never solved. I understand it is very unnerving when it happens so I just hope he has it fixed.

 

I thought the "death wobble" was a dodge ram problem. Have a friend that had the wobble with a HEAVY load in the bed and broke the stabilizer bar parts.

 

The Cherokees that had it were the OBS that ended in 01. I haven't heard of the Grand Cherokee having that problem nor the Ram. I had it on a motorcycle at high speed and I can tell you I will NEVER forget it. No clue how I saved it.