Frontend shake need help

C

cumminspuller

diesel junky
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Messages
1,259
I've got an 07 3500 single wheel ton that I'm having problems with. The truck is 4 wheel drive. It has 285/70/17 Firestone Destination AT's mounted on 17x9 wheels. 150k miles on the truck. My problem is while driving down the road everything is going fine and the truck hits a bump in the road like where the pavement meets a bridge. The front axle feels like it is bouncing all over the place. If you are not paying attention it will pull the steering wheel out of your hands. Sometimes all it takes is hitting the rumble strips on the side of the road and it will act up. I don't feel any unusal sounds or vibrations when the truck is not doing this. It seems below 45 mph or so nothing happens it you hit a bump. Anything over and its bad. The truck has been to the dealership once already. There was a recall on the left tie rod. It did not need replacing but the right one did. Replaced it and had it aligned. Did the shaking on the way home from the dealer. Looked over the truck some more and found the steering dampner was a little warn and thought that maybe this could explain some of the jerking. I replaced it and it seem to be fine for a 1k mile or so and it started it again. Checked the steering dampner and it is just as stiff as when it was put in. The balljoints on both sides feel good. Nothing that I can see looks bad, broken, warn etc. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what they did to fix it. It's to the point now I don't want to drive the truck cause I"m worried something could happen and hurt myself or someone else. I appreciate any help on this.

Thanks
Chris
 
It's your track bar. Swap it out for a new one and you'll be golden. And don't get a cheap one because this needs to be rigid and cheap ones use cheap steel.
Here's what one I'd recommend if you want it to have even tighter steering than stock and last forever:
http://www.thurenfabrication.com/3rdgentrackbar.html
Or a stock one or a Moog one (don't go moog if you have bigger tires though).

Also, your new steering stabilizer is probably already shot, so replace that at the same time.

Finally, if you mount the steering stabilizer between the track bar and the crossover tube (connects the tie rods, goes the span of the axle), it will work even better than between the axle and the crossover tube.
 
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CorneliusRox said:
Finally, if you mount the steering stabilizer between the track bar and the crossover tube (connects the tie rods, goes the span of the axle), it will work even better than between the axle and the crossover tube.
Click to expand...


What do you mean by this and how would that work let alone better? I've never heard of installing a stabilizer between the trackbar and connecting tie rod.
 
I had death wobble on my 2008 with only 12K miles. At 100K I finally replaced the track bar and ball joints with Carli for both and I have yet to see anything that would remind me of the death wobble. Completely different truck now and I drove it off the lot with .9 miles on it.
 
I'm having the same problem with my 08. BD track bar, new track bar bushings, new gear box, new stabilizer. Ball joints are tight, wheel bearings are tight, all tie rods are tight, 4th gen control arms and I've had it in 2 different alignment shops. I'm putting different wheels and tires on it tomorrow to rule that out. Really thinking about trading it in.......
 
Took my 08 factory wheels with 315 70r17 bfg's on it off and put factory 05 wheels with 265 70r17 firestone's and it would not go into death wobble. I drove and hit multiple spots that always caused it and the truck took them like a champ.
 
The d rated bfg's are known to cause death wobble. Try a E rated tire and see how it does.
 
I love it when people say "it's this one part, replace it." It is rarely ever that simple. Death wobble can be caused by just about anything in the front end. A steering stabilizer just masks the actual problem.

Track bar
tires
ujoints (seized, not sloppy)
tie rods
steering box
alignment
shocks, etc
 
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I wouldn't be afraid to take it way out of spec to see if it calms down.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I have gotten about 95% of the shaking out of it now. Replaced a front hub that was warped (how I can't tell you). Put a single Rancho dampener in place of the factory one. I'm going to try the track bar I think. The bushing on the frame end of the bar has a small amount of play in it. Thanks again for your help.
 
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