Hey guys,

So a couple weeks ago I posted about a death wobble when I would hit bumps at 110 km/hr. Changed my track bar, and it did tighten up the steering, but it's still there. I took it in to a mechanic a couple days ago to get my tires aligned, and he couldn't find anything wore out, apart from some small play in the passenger ball joint. I'd link to the original post (I put up a bunch of pictures) but I'm on mobile.

The only thing that I can think of that might cause it is the shock the connects to the tire bar (not sure what it's exactly called). It's got a whole bunch of oil and grease on it, so I think it might be shot. Any ideas?

 

Got a tire separating or one with fix-a-flat in it?

 

They're getting worn down, and I know one of them has a patch in it, but no fix-a-flat or anything like that. No separating either.

 

Rotate your tires front to rear and see what happens.

 

I just got the tires balanced and cleaned. They were out slightly, but not horribly. They didn't rotate them though, so I'll do that today.

 

Get a crowbar, prybar, or something with a lot of leverage and second pair of eyes. Then, jack up the front of your vehicle, put jack stands under the axle tubes, and pry up on the tire from the bottom. If you see movement, your ball joints are bad.

Next, stick that prybar into the yokes where your axle u-joints are and pry. If you see movement, your front axle u-joints are bad. You can also stick your hand in there and slowly rotate your wheel back and forth and if you feel movement, your axle u-joints are bad.

Next, check your control arm bushings. Upper control arm bushings going bad are one of the lead problems of death wobble. Pry bars should make a good check for that too. The front bushing shouldn't have much movement. If it's loose, it's time to replace with some Moog-brand ones.

Also, it doesn't hurt to check all the other bushings in your control arms.

Lastly, make sure your track bar bracket is tight against the unibody frame rail, and that the bolt bole to the axle side of the track bar isn't wallowed out. If wallowed out, you may need to weld on a washer to close the hole up a bit. Any play in this bolt can allow unwanted movement that can result in death wobble.

 

Checked the ball joints and axle ujoints already. Got my mechanic to check them for good measure, they're fine. Control arms are good as well, my mechanic checked those for me as well.

Tie rods are fine, the track bar is new (it was shot, I replaced it a week ago. There was no wallow or anything in the mounts). My shocks aren't in the best shape, but I don't think that causes wobble.

Replacing the track bar did tighten up the steering a bit, it wasn't near as squirrely going over bumps. But the death wobble still happens occasionally.

Sway bar is fine, new bushings and sway bar links as of two days ago.

I feel like I'm going to end up replacing everything in the front end to fix this.

 

Check the tie rod and your drag link as well. Hard to imagine all of those grease boots are all good. Another issue that the ball joints may have may not me immediately noticable. Take a tire off and then try to move the entire knuckle. BTW that front shock is called a steering stabilizer. Replace that last because it can temporarily hide death wobble. Many just get really strong ones to do just that but I don't want band aids...especially on the steering system.

ALSO, you can draw white lines on all the moving steering parts and then film them while you turn the wheel.

Watch this: