scarry wheel hop

[riotwarrior]

Just replaced the king pins on my Dana 60 front end, wasn't fun, but wasn't all that bad. Found the kits real reasonable and then located not one, but two 7/8 inch allen wrenchs and a 3/4 impact 7/8 Socket. 7/8 allen wrench and a 5 foot piece of cheater bar and they came right out! All back together and death wobble gone! My king pins were very pitted (water intrusion) and the lower bearings were all but seized up.

What...NO pictures? ***

 

[sle2115]

I had knee surgery and it took me 6 months! lol I worked in snow and whatever, but the camera stayed inside. There is a great write up on it already, so I didn't figure anyone needed my .02 on it. 4WD Factory is an awesome place to deal with though, it's where the parts came from.

 

[purg113]

this is happening on my 4x4 but while it is in 2wd and it has only happend on this 1/2 mile streach of road on my way to work.
I have some play in my steering but other than that everything looks and feels tight.

 

[redneckaggie]

play in the steering and a loose steering stabilizer combined could most def give you that issue

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

If it only happens on the same 1/2 mile stretch of road then i would say the truck is just fine.

take a different route and see what happens. does it do it on ANY road at 40mph?

There is a stretch of e-way by me that feels like the whoop section of a supercross track. truck rides smooth as silk on the rest of the e-way, but go threw that section and it is insane. not really a pounding ride or anything but just flat annoying.

 

[purg113]

I just had it do it to me on a difrent roat at around 40-45 mph after a slite curve in the road so I will look at the stabilizer and the play in the wheel.
I cant take a difrent road to work unless i want to go 15 miles out of my way.

 

[NO_SPRK]

X2 on 4wd factory. Good old boys from Texas. Great prices and service. I've bought a few king pin kits

I had knee surgery and it took me 6 months! lol I worked in snow and whatever, but the camera stayed inside. There is a great write up on it already, so I didn't figure anyone needed my .02 on it. 4WD Factory is an awesome place to deal with though, it's where the parts came from.

 

[PackRat239]

Wheel bearings and ball joints fixed my death wobble, which is what you describe. Pretty scary huh.

 

[franshisca]

This is happening in a 2WD, correct?

Shocks and tie rods are suspect. Could be ball joints, radius arm bushings or twin I beam bushings, too. Could be tire problems, but those usually get worse as speed rises, like improperly balanced tires.

i beleive this might be a desiel forum but i am having the same problem on my truck a 1990 GMC Sierra 3500 7.4 liter 1 ton four wheel drive (gas).
And i get this violent crazy hopping and shaking in the front on when i hit about 25 to 30 mph while driving. I have to hold the steering wheel tight to keep it from going all over the place. And i have to completely stop to make it go away. ITs driving my crazy.
In front only. i have put new shocks, rotors, brake, changed the steering tie rods, the center drag link tie rods, the steering damper is still good, (bought a new to be safe but havnt installed it) put new tires. Nothing changed My truck has king pins and cant really find what the symptoms are to see iif their bad or not. Also with the truck on in park position. i turn the steering back and forth but could hear a noise very hard to pin point, i know it only comes when i pmove the steering wheel back and forth. need help.
this is the most exspensive process of elimination

 

[fordf350man]

first thing i would do is isntall the steering dampner, that makes a massive difference when you have death wobble, now to check your king pins i would set the front end on jack stands so your tires are off the ground, then use a pry bar and move the tire in different directions such as up and down and watch to see if there is any play, now what kind of noise are you hearing? is a clunk noise? try having someone turn the wheel while you are watching the steering linkage, also you can set your hand on the different joints to see if you can feel the noise you are hearing to pin point the noise, just BE CAREFULL dont get your hand caught when the wheel is being turned, just be smart about it,

 

[rlb245]

My 87 had the death wobble when I bought it but I didn't no of and never herd of such a thing so I treated it like any other front end problem.
1. replaced steering idle arm
2. replaced pit-man arm
3. replaced ball joints
4. replaced wheel bearings
5. replaced tie rods
6. replaced drag link
7. 6 new tires
8. front end alignment

All this I did because of the wobble that frankly scared the hell out of me when it first happened. Now I figured I'm good to go right. NOT! it still happens but with way less frequency. It's only when i hit a buffalo pot hole "a basement some one forgot to put a house over" that it happens now. The only things that I haven done is
1. new bushing in twin I beam suspension.
2. a steering dampener
3. a sway-bar system

A work in progress. I got to love this truck (cha ching)

 

[franshisca]

first thing i would do is isntall the steering dampner, that makes a massive difference when you have death wobble, now to check your king pins i would set the front end on jack stands so your tires are off the ground, then use a pry bar and move the tire in different directions such as up and down and watch to see if there is any play, now what kind of noise are you hearing? is a clunk noise? try having someone turn the wheel while you are watching the steering linkage, also you can set your hand on the different joints to see if you can feel the noise you are hearing to pin point the noise, just BE CAREFULL dont get your hand caught when the wheel is being turned, just be smart about it,

Okay. steering damper will be changed Things I havnt changed but was also recommened to was the idel arm ir pitman arm.
Also I was told that the stabalizer bar should have nothing to do with it. And my next question is how can you tell if leaf springs are bad. I looked under while someone was moving the steering but still hard to find the noise I think it might be coming from somewhere by leaf spring then my dad told me it sounds like its right in the front.

 

[fordf350man]

i have seen stabilizers fix death wobble, you can even watch some youtube videos of that, now i forgot about general motors having idler arms, been a few years since i quit the gm dealer, yes check pitman and idler arms, could be the problem, those cause allot of steering slop in gm trucks, the leaf spring can start to sag and you would have to check your ground clearance to the factory spec to see if they are wearing down, but i would look more into a leaf spring bushing

 

[79jasper]

Franshisca, I can guarantee that your truck does NOT have king pins. It has ball joints.

Check your control arm bushings. And where the control arm bolts to the frame.
Also sway bar and end link bushings.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Franshisca do check your control arm bolts and bushings closely. I had a guy tell me that his mid 1990's chevy 3500 actually dropped a lower control arm on the road. He wasn't going very fast and was able to stop and back off the road. He and his family got a ride home and he was able to get the parts and fix it the next day, but he was VERY lucky. Don't let that happen to you.