Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 51

Thread: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

  1. #21
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Surrey , B.C.
    Posts
    1,292

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Quote Originally Posted by Muledeercrazy2 View Post
    I have the BD diesel sector shaft/ steering stabilizer. When Dodge looked at my truck, they said there was some play in it (not sure where), but that it wouldnt be causing my grief since I just change the steering gear. I looked at a video yesterday showing how much play is in the stock steering gear new (without the stabilizer), and i am wondering if they are wrong.

    Very little play in the track bar, I guess I could have put a dial on it but I dropped the truck off at a mechanic today.
    Any side play in the sector shaft tells a person, that the DSS (Sector Shaft Stabilizer) is not installed correctly. Zero side play when installed correctly.
    Lots of things in the Ram front end can cause play/ wander. The steering gear is not always the problem. Easy way to eliminate the gear as the problem on a Ram. Steering must be centered to test (heading straight down the road) as there is a high spot on the center of all steering gear box's. (Rack&pinion has no high spot) Test off of center and there will be play. With the truck idling go under the front end and reach up with your left hand and grab the coupler were it goes into the steering gear. This takes the intermediate shaft out of the equation. Now rotate the input shaft back and forth and watch the pitman arm. If the pitman activates as soon as you rotate the input to the left and right, then the gear is working as it should. and your play is elsewhere in the front end. One of the biggest mistakes I see is people who try to adjust the steering gear. An over adjusted steering gear will not activate the pitman arm immediately. Manual gears are adjustable in the vehicle. Power steering gears are NOT!! A hair over adjustment on a power gear will cause your vehicle to wander down the road, as the sector teeth are now binding in the piston. Your alignment can not over come the binding hence the wander down the road with the driver having to over correct all the time.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    N. Okanagan
    Posts
    14,182

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Changing one tie rod end and the steering dampener cured my Ddw
    sure it shakes a little bit, but nothing ditch-to-ditch
    Never say whoa in the middle of a mud hole

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    2,429

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Quote Originally Posted by Downwindtracker2 View Post
    Some Schooling. All solid axels can give you death wobble, just the nature of the design. Both sides are tied together. One problem will migrate to the other side. But a solid axel will give you about 3" more of effective ground clearance. That's why when Toyotas changed to IFS, they savvy guys bolted the old solid axels back on. A 5-link front suspension is brilliant, it gives almost as good as IFS ride and handling with all the advantages of a solid axel. To achieve this AMC did some complex link geometry on the Cherokee. Chrysler took over AMC and their engineers. When GM tried to use a 5-link front suspension, their engineers gave up, through up their hands and ran the links straight. This geometry comes with a price, steering tracking. I've been driving a 5-link front suspension since '94, you don't take your hand off the wheel.

    The CTD is by far the best diesel, but it's not light. So front wear is a problem. A level wear that acceptable on IFS, will cause steering problems. I learned that expensive lesson on my '08. It steers good now.
    Tires are critical . I bought some Nittos. 2 blocks away from Kal Tire, it was Oh F***, that wasn't the only words I used. Big tires take expensive modifications, that may or not work. See GM's experience. If GM engineers had problems how can you expect some aftermarket welder to solve them?
    The frame under the steering box has flex, they beefed it up in '08, and steering is problem with design anyway at the best of times. Also the steering box output shaft has a bushing instead of a bearing. BD sells a reinforcement support with a bearing, it's must on these trucks.

    My friend drove his Dodge down a guad trail that would have ripped the guts out of a Chevy, so it's the price you pay for capability .
    A "5 link" or a parallel 4 link with panhard is not a great design. Because of the panhard bar, the axle has to walk side to side under articulation. There is a reason you see thousands of death wobble threads about cherokees, grand cherokees, and dodges.
    Chev never tried a link suspension on a solid front end. Their IFS is tragic though. Best fixed with an '05+ Ford front end.

    A well built triangulated 4 link is more stable, more predictable, but more difficult to package, and build correctly, than the parallel 4 link and panhard.
    A parallel 4 link you only need to worry about link separation at both ends, and panhard angle/length relative to steering angles. A triangulated one, you need to calculate roll center, as well as squat/anti squat which is affected by link separation, and lengths. But properly built (which is easily done these days in a garage with resources found online), it will out perform a suspension with a panhard or track bar.
    Further, straight or bent links make no difference, as the relationship of one end of the link to the other on a straight line is what is relevant to the geometry. Running bent lower links for more clearance, Clarence, is of no consequence to the performance of the suspension. Same reason a track bar can have a curve. The shape of the bar doesn't matter, it's the location of the ends that counts.

    IFS gives better ground clearance, but a solid axle used to give better articulation. Modern IFS designs are on par with the solid front ends of old. And IFS front ends still tie both knuckles together. You just have two tie rods, attached to the drag link between the steering box and idler arm. Poor alignment, tire wear, tire balancing, bent wheels, and even tire pressure can all cause death wobble, regardless of suspension design.
    Last edited by Squamch; 08-23-2019 at 06:46 PM.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    3,338

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Yes they did,the Envoy/Blazer when it first came out. It even used a straight six, OHC, though.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    2,429

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Quote Originally Posted by Downwindtracker2 View Post
    Yes they did,the Envoy/Blazer when it first came out. It even used a straight six, OHC, though.
    My apologies, I thought we were talking about front axles.
    The only thing I like as much as trucks, is guns.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    6-8
    Posts
    1,307

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Steady bearing?

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Posts
    377

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    With the jeeps it's usually a combination of things that causes it, most of which you have changed. Track bar being the biggest issue.

    One jeep I had though I couldn't figure out for the longest time. Ended up being a brake caliper. Very intermittent but every so often slowing through 70km it would shake so bad I thought the whole jeep was coming apart..

    Death wobble is no joke

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    4

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    What load rating are the tires you are running? You want to run E load tires /10 ply the death wobble can come from vibrations thru the sidewalls of taller tires if they aren’t E rated.
    2010 Ram 3500 on 35” duratracs I run stock rims never had a problem

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Region 9
    Posts
    415

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble

    Quote Originally Posted by robert05 View Post
    Most times it is the track bar, do not try and rebuild with new bushings, buy a new one from Dodge. Speaking from experience with a 2003.
    This is accurate. Two of the highest quality suspension manufacturers for dodges, carli and thuren, have addressed this is most often the problem most of the time. Do not buy a mopar track bar, buy one from carli or thuren. The mopar bar by design just acts and flex’s like a spring.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Region 9
    Posts
    415

    Re: Dodge Ram Help/ Suggestions- DEATH Wobble


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •