Steering stabilizer/shocks?

[J-Pipes]

Been chasing a vibration over 60mph for a while now. Running out of obviously worn out parts to replace. Haven't noticed any loose joints in the steering, but the ol' death wobble is in the back of my mind. Would a new quality single damper, or a dual kit have a bandaid effect if it is in the steering? My thinking that's about the lowest cost part to try, and if it "fixes" it, then I know I need to do the hard parts in the steering? Or could completely blown out shocks have this effect on a truck? Truck actually has very little play/slop in the steering. Just cant afford to throw random parts at it and hope that works!

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[RollCoal9000]

Front drive shaft? Dont want it to blow out at highway speeds.

[J-Pipes]

Originally Posted by RollCoal9000

Front drive shaft? Dont want it to blow out at highway speeds.

It's currently in my garage! I pulled it a couple weeks ago to have it checked, checked out fine. Made no difference with the vibration on the freeway.

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[Smokinrebel]

Im sure you have checked this, but here are things i found on my 98 chit box when i had

Check hubs and bearings. My truck ate them
Steering box play
I sold my 98 to a buddy of mine, and he found the box had play in it, but not so much the box its self. The frame had a Crack where box mounted. Pulled box, fixed frame, and put it all back togeather. Said it was night and day.

Tires too...have you tried rotating from front to back to croas out a rolled or broken belt?

Likely all things you have checked, just stuff i knew i fought on mine. I replaced track bar and steering stabilizer idk how many times. I feel your pain, i feel like all i did was front end work on that sumbich

[J-Pipes]

Yeah, pretty much. Theres a new piece of frame there where the box mounts, was rusted out, so I cut that section out and replaced. Put new tire on different wheels. Hubs/bearings looked good when apart to do the axel u-joints. The steering box itself is the original 204k mile box, feels pretty tight still, but I'm sure it has some play.

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[jasonc]

A vibration has to come from something like a wheel, tire, driveshaft, or bearing. I'd stay on looking at the things that are spinning and rotating. Loose steering components will cause driving issues, but really no effect on a vibration.

[J-Pipes]

Originally Posted by jasonc

A vibration has to come from something like a wheel, tire, driveshaft, or bearing. I'd stay on looking at the things that are spinning and rotating. Loose steering components will cause driving issues, but really no effect on a vibration.

Makes sense. I don't think I've ever actually experienced death wobble. Could death wobble feel similar to an out of balance wheel? Its not 100% constant, it's there more often than not, but occasionally the truck drives fine.

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[bracker8040]

Originally Posted by J-Pipes

Makes sense. I don't think I've ever actually experienced death wobble. Could death wobble feel similar to an out of balance wheel? Its not 100% constant, it's there more often than not, but occasionally the truck drives fine.

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If you’ve experienced death wobble you won’t confuse it with an out of balance tire.

I agree with Jason on the cause of vibration.

What you are describing sounds very similar to what I experienced on our Excursion ever since I put a set of factory Platinum wheels and Nitto 420’s on it 45,000 miles ago.
I’m almost certain it is a tire issue because I put a set of Nitto 420’s on our Taurus with the original wheels and am having the same issue that started when the tires went on.
It had a vibration that would increase and decrease that I could never get rid of. Shocks, multiple balance jobs, balance beads in the tires, etc. A belt finally busted in one of them on Wednesday.
It’s getting a set of Toyo R/T’s.

I will report back next week and let you know if the vibration is gone.

[J-Pipes]

But that's the thing, I've have, or have had, everything that spins checked! New tires on different wheels, all new front brakes, new u-joints, wheel bearings checked out, front drive shaft checked, alignment is perfect. Only thing left that spins is the differential, oil level is good, but the pinion seal is leaking.

So you guys are all in agreement that it shouldn't be anything steering related? Even if my damper is completely shot to the point it's doing nothing, it cant be a little shimmy in the steering?

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[dieselbeef]

my 03 did it too..sold it..couldn't fix it..bout the same speed too..if ya took it out of gear in the interstate it still did it..shut it off..still did it..i went thru all 4 driveshafts,..both diffs...new wheels and tires...I got to thinkin the converter lost a weight or something but it did it even with the truck off at 60 mph on the interstate..on the gas or off the gas....it shook so bad ya couldn't have a beer in the cup holder or it would explode when ya opened it... iad more than one shop look at it.had it on a lift running at 50 -70 mph..ya could feel it,,but ya couldn't see it...I sold it..hate to say it but my buddy is also doing it right now in his 01...hes gonna trade it too...lol...sorry jake

[J-Pipes]

Originally Posted by dieselbeef

my 03 did it too..sold it..couldn't fix it..bout the same speed too..if ya took it out of gear in the interstate it still did it..shut it off..still did it..i went thru all 4 driveshafts,..both diffs...new wheels and tires...I got to thinkin the converter lost a weight or something but it did it even with the truck off at 60 mph on the interstate..on the gas or off the gas....it shook so bad ya couldn't have a beer in the cup holder or it would explode when ya opened it... iad more than one shop look at it.had it on a lift running at 50 -70 mph..ya could feel it,,but ya couldn't see it...I sold it..hate to say it but my buddy is also doing it right now in his 01...hes gonna trade it too...lol...sorry jake

Yeah I hear you, if I didn't have any freeway portion of a drive to work, I wouldn't care, just keep it under 60mph. Cant afford to get rid of it right now, used truck prices are so stupid, I'd have to spend $30k to get something that's actually a solid improvement!

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[dieselbeef]

that's the truth..i was gonna trade the flatbedand the fl60 in and get a newerlike a 16 2500 quad...lol..after both those trucks id still need 40k....lol...

[Red Sleeper]

What you’re describing would have me searching drive line components. U-joints, drive shaft balance, bent rim, bent hub, weight fell of a rim. Carrier bearing if you had a long wheel base. A smaller resonance in the harmonic of your described vibration at high speeds means smaller component(s) has failed or is failing. Imaging if you could measure the harmonic of this vibration on a scale. What would you suspect to check for failure once seeing those results?

Death wobble is an experience you will never mistaken for anything else once it happens to you. It’s a violent shake of the steering wheel from left to right, entire front end of the truck shakes like its coming apart, and your reaction is to slam on the brakes even though it doesn’t help immediately. Death wobble is normally triggered from a front tire going over an imperfection in the road in my experience. (Pot hole or rumble strip)

[J-Pipes]

That makes sense, perhaps I've just got tunnel vision of sorts with this. I know vibrations can be very deceptive as to their origins in a vehicle, and while I swear it feels like it's in the front of the truck, maybe I need to look closer at the rear? I've given it a visual once over, but maybe I need to take a pry bar over it, see if i can make anything move.

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[jkretzer]

Check you tires closely. I had a few belts break on one of my fronts a few yrs ago. Only had a vibration over 55mph and stopped at 65. Could only see the bulge once I had the tires off and rolled them across my garage floor.

[J-Pipes]

I'll double check the tires, but I have put new tires on a different set of wheels since this started.

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[Red Sleeper]

What kind of tires are you running? Brand and size.

[J-Pipes]

First set was 285/75/16 Goodyear duratracs on 16×8 ion wheels. Currently running Atturo Trail blade x/t, 285/70/17 on 3rd gen steel wheels.

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[CorneliusRox]

That's definitely not death wobble.

Did you have your rear driveshaft and carrier bearing checked out? I'd make sure that's all right and balanced.

Also, do you have a lift or anything on the truck? When I lifted my 12V, I needed to push the carrier bearing down to get the driveshaft angles right. It got rid of a 25-30mph vibration I had.

If it's a high speed vibrations, it's usually out of balance wheels/tires (check runout too), hubs going bad, or driveshafts out of balance.

Good luck!

[J-Pipes]

I've not checked the rear drive shaft other than trying to wiggle it to see if there were any play. I'm thinking of putting the back axel on stands, and bringing it up to speed to see if I can see any shaking. Also it's one piece shaft, short bed truck. Suspension is stock front and lowered rear, reverse leveled. With Firestone airbags for towing.

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