I was driving down the road going about 35 and hit a pothole today and my truck was shaking and bouncing something fierce and was hard to control like I was back on a bull. It lasted until I pulled over and it drove fine back home(but I wasn't) This happened a few months ago on the freeway and I about wrecked but it didn't happen again until today. I'm guessing it has something to do with my front end. Now I've been noticing that when I part my truck, sometimes my front wheels turn in but I figured it was the ind. front suspension from the ford but now maybe I'm thinking I broke something awhile back because they turn in quite a bit. Has anyone had this happen to them or have any idea what it might be? The pothole wasn't even that deep and when it happened on the freeway it was smooth. My buddy told me maybe the front axle because of the lift and heavy motor is hard on it. If anyone can tell me what to look at or has any suggestions I'd appreciate it, thanks!
Josh

 

ive heard of this before. one of my friends has a dodge 3500 and this happened to him. he called it "death wobble" or something to that effect.

 

Your sig says 4 inch lift and 35 mudders? Did it try to rip the steering wheel from your hands? Did you install a steering damper(s)?

 

stay far away from dampers, all they do is mask problems! a well tuned system will operate worse with one (damper adds resistance and creats more work for the gearbox)

you need to check several things here... the reason it is doing is b/c something is loose (obviously).

things to check:
lug nuts (you'd be surprised)
wheel bearings loose
steering drag link/tie rod loose
TTB arm bushing(s) need replacing/track bar bushing need replacing
steering box is loose
ball joints loose

best thing to do is have someone (while running and parked) turn the steering wheel back and forth from full lock to full lock while you sit under the front and watch all the moving parts. make sure there is no slop, there shouldnt be

if everything is tight there, pull the front end on jackstands and try to wiggle each tire from top to bottom and from side to side. there should be very minimal play if any! i just recenty had a bad case of death wobble so i jacked the truck up and wiggled the tires and found out the ball joint is very loose... time to replace!

good luck, any more questions i would be glad to help... i have had too many problems with DW

-cutts-

 

Thanks fishman,

They had to replace my passenger ball joint when my lift was installed about 2 1/2 years ago and then they replaced my driver side last summer. I'm going to check it out and see if that's the problem and if so hopefully get free replacement but with maybe a tougher one. Now if I remember correctly when you turn your wheels when running doesn't the ball joint make a distinctive sound when bad? So have you had any problems with the wobble after you replaced your ball joint? Thanks for the help

 

havent had a chance to replace the ball joint yet on my stroker so i will have to get back to ya. however i know that will fix the problem b/c i have a good bit of play in the joint.

i had a problem with my rock crawling truck when i drove it on the road i would get bad DW even when just making a turn. i found out that after adding my 39.5" tall Irok's the kingpin springs couldnt keep enough pre-load on the top kingpin so it woudl wobble. i had to add about 3/4" of washers to shim it out and tighten the spring up. i know it wont help you since you run balljoints, that was just one of my experiences

-cutts-

 

Okay, I brought my truck into the shop yesterday that put my lift in for me and they found a bracket that was part of the lift kit had two sheared off bolts which would explain the death wobble. After they replaced the bolts, they found that two of the supporting brackets had cracked so now it's sitting in the shop until they can get the brackets in and replace them and then do an alignment. So, could have been really bad. But what gets me is the mechanic that looked at it asked me who put the lift in(kind of sounded like they did it wrong) and I replied, you guys did! Anyway, they are charging me for the parts and the alignment and labor because the parts are only warranteed for a year and it's been a couple of years. So, that's the story and hopefully I can talk my way out of paying for everything. If anyone has the death wobble, broken supporting brackets to the frame might be the problem. Again, not sure what they are called but they are right above the front differential.

 

you are talking about the TTB pivot brackets! that sucks man, that could have been disastrous. glad ya found it when ya did.they should have to pay for it all b/c they put the lift in and they know they did.i have a couple of trucks running the same lift kits for years now and not the first problem. prolly some kid that had a job at a 4x4 center for the summer put your lift on. i absolutely refuse to take any of my trucks to anyone unless forced to b/c of stuff like that. i dont trust anyone but me working on my own stuff. plus it's mucho cheaper

-cutts-

 

well I got some good news, I'm getting them to warranty those pivot brackets so that'll save me a few hundred dollars but I have to wait a couple days for them to get em in. Oh well at least I have time to pickup my new clutch kit and get it all done in one shot(but with the family mechanic!)