Another one! with a question

IDIDieselJohn

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Hi everyone, been a while.

So I just acquired a 1991 F350 4x4 dually 5spd 7.3, cab/chassis truck.

Great shape, 204,000km (127k miles), clean inside and out, everything works. However, i've noticed a few times hitting bumps on the road, a certain way, it'll do a death wobble on me, didn't happen at hwy speeds, around 45mph both times.

What do you have to do to eliminate death wobble exactly? Everything in the front end is nice and tight, and I greased everything when I did the oil change yesterday.


Also, the glow plug harness, is in very poor shape, seems to work good, but the connectors are mostly all fallen apart. Anyone know where to get them still? I heard their discontinued from IH?



Heres some pics of the beast!

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Previous owner made the side walls, witch i'm going to take down, he used it to haul firewood.
 

Greg5OH

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glow plug ends, use the blue bullet connectors. fits great, and super cheap!
clean interior!
 

no mufflers

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I've heard some people say if the steering stabilizer goes bad you can get bump steer. not sure if your truck has one.
 

ifrythings

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Track bar bushings are the number 1 cause of death wobble, then worn out part and lack of preload on the kingpins, steering damper helps but it only masks the real problem. Any loose parts or play in the steering will cause or contribute to the death wobble including bad tires.
 

Koch13351

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A buddy of mine had death wobble at 45 mph too. It was the kingpins. They were SHOT! PO didn't ever grease them.
 

LCAM-01XA

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Like said, first check your wheel bearings and tighten them as needed. Then check the kingpins, need tight wheel bearings to check kingpins for slop. Address kingpins as needed. Replace the tracbar bushings, I don't care if they look good, on a work truck they are shot. Use polyurethane for replacements, cheap enough and super easy to install, plus they will make sure the axle stays put. Steering damper is kinda nice if you drive on rough roads a lot, but really not required for the thing to be safe to drive.
 

Wvdirtroad

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jhenegh

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Those connectors can be bought at O'Reilly auto parts and I'm sure other places for half that price. Already figured that out the hard way myself after eBay!
 

LCAM-01XA

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One thing to keep in mind regarding the bullet connectors, the factory ones are actually spring-loaded, they will maintain proper contact with the glowplug regardless of how hot things get and what expands and what doesn't. Most aftermarket connectors lack those springs, as the description of that ebay item explains. If anyone knows of a source for spring-loaded bullet connectors like the factory used, we'd love to hear from you! Don't care if they're not heat-shrinkable, that's easy enough to fix.

BTW most connectors sourced from large parts stores are of poor to so-so quality. Same is true for most large hardware stores. We use generic low-cost heat-shrink connectors for the low-current non-vital stuff, but for the stuff that has to actually carry decent current we pay a visit to a big-truck service and repair shop. If you put the two connectors side by side, you'll know right away why paying extra for the Freightshaker/Kitty/whatever stuff is actually worth it.
 

IDIDieselJohn

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Front end is all nice and tight, checked it already. Greased everything. The 2 lower king pin grease nipples are both ripped off though. I have another D60 axle that's on the F350 I'm gonna scrap soon, can I just remove the 4 big bolts holding the cover, and swap covers or is something gonna come out that's not suppose to? I never took apart 4x4 king pins before. not to sure I'd want to drill in that.


And just to be sure, the track bar is the bar that goes from one side of the frame, to the other side of the axle correct?
 

79jasper

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Yup on the track bar.
I guess you could "try" a easy out on the broken zerks. Lol

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laserjock

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That's not a cap. Those are the lower king pins. I beat for a long while to get mine out. I ended up replacing them. They are available.

While you have it apart, might consider going ahead and changing the bearing, race, seals etc.
 
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