Death Shake

[mrjordan2u]

One day about 2 years ago, i was going to work, traveling around 60mph, hit a slight bump in the road, and my truck went into a "death shake". Felt like i was driving on a washboarded road, had almost no steering control while my truck went bouncing like it was having a seizure. I managed to slow my truck to a stop without injury, and then go about my way like it never happened. this happened randomly over the next month. I replaced my entire steering linkage, power steering, shocks, and sway bar. This cured my Death Shake for about 2 years until yesterday. It wasn't as intense, but felt like it wanted to do it again. anyone ever heard of this? Its kind of scary to drive over 60 now because I keep anticipating this to happen again.

[jwhiteh]

A friend of mine has a titan and it did that once or twice. I think it ended up being his tires were to soft. But I don't know for sure.

Sounds insanely scary!

[mrjordan2u]

I have brand new tires on now, and it is probably the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my truck, and I've even let my ol' lady drive me in it ONCE! lol.
I'm afraid I'm gonna end up in pieces on the side of the road one of these days.:eek:

[jwhiteh]

Hmmmm I wonder if a stiffer sway bar or stabilizer would help. It sounds like wheel hop....I would probably "S" myself!

[mrjordan2u]

Lol. yeah I had to wash my seat covers the first time it happened.
I replaced my sway bar with a stock one, I was considering stiffer though.
When it happens, it feels like my tires are jerking left to right maybe two inches each way in split second intervals. throwing me, my entire truck, and everything in my cab ALL over the place.

[jwhiteh]

Did you replace the linkage with OEM? Did you replace tie rods and ends? I can picture it exactly as you described.

Do you have a steering stabilizer on it? (Like a shockabsorber on the front axle)

[mrjordan2u]

I got an OEM steering linkage from my dodge dealer, though it wasn't like the stock one, guess they changed the set up. And it came with a steering stabilizer shock already attatched to it. and I did replace tierods as well. lol. I've pretty much replaced everything steering and suspesion related up front. Everything but my springs. I just don't know what else it could be. Do you think my axle or any of its components could be causing this?

[jwhiteh]

I assume it's a solid front axle...but I don't know what would be wrong. Springs shouldn't do it. Ball joints? Its its ISF maybe new bushings?

[mrjordan2u]

Yeah its solid. ball joints are only about 7 months old. Well, I'm gonna try a stiffer swaybar, tire rotation, and some fresh grease in all my joints. If I figure something out, I'll let ya know. Thanks for rackin your brain with me. lemme know if ya think of something else.

[jwhiteh]

Yes, I'm curious and stumped...

Keep me posted

[jwhiteh]

Bearings????

[mrjordan2u]

I'm getting those done as soon as i have the cash. its a bigger project than i have time for to do myself. I'm thinking it might be my tires? Soft sidewalls maybe?

[jwhiteh]

I understand! Lol. That brings us back to my friends titan. He had a set of toyo's on that were too soft.


On a side note...****ty thing happend to me lastnight. I was driving down a very very dark stretch of a local highway, and my headlights went out. Fried my switch! All lights come on except the important ones! Lol. I had to hold my brights on the whole way home. They wouldn't even stay on.
I too don't have the cash to fix it. Switches are spendy. So I'm goin to a pick 'n' pull tomorrow on my day off, see if I can find one that works...

[mrjordan2u]

Lol, thats sucks bad! at least your high's worked!
Well, I'm gonna so to the tire shop and see what they think of this, Probably gonna have to look for some firmer tires, I just put these BFG's on no mare than 3 months ago.
Good luck with your switch swap.

[jwhiteh]

Yup, I had to hold them on, but they worked.

Thanks,
Good luck to you too

[mrjordan2u]

Talked to my tire guy today.
He says BFGs as big as mine have fairly soft sidewalls for the size.
And with the weight of my front bumper, it could be the root of my problem.


I just realized I posted this thread in the wrong Gen category. Lol.

[mopar-or-no-car]

this was in diesel power mag. bd deisel - dieselperformance.com. death wobble fix, its an adjustable track bar. for 94-08 ram 25-3500.

[mrjordan2u]

Hell Yeah! You Rock! I'm ordering it next paycheck! Awesome find man!:D:D:D

[mopar-or-no-car]

the ad i read said death wobble fix it was for the adjustable track bar. although that steering box stabil kit looks like a good investment.

[mrjordan2u]

I saw them both, and both articles claim to fix the death wobble. what I'm planning on doing is getting the SBS first, see how that goes, then get the track bar if the SBS doesn't fix it. Either way, it sounds like a worthy investment for me.

[mopar-or-no-car]

yeah i agree, the sbs prob cheaper too!

[hessian]

Have your caster checked at an alignment shop. That was the problem with my 01, it had 40's on it too!

[rmflanigan]

I had this exact same issue with my RAM. It is under warranty so I took it to the dealer. After taking the tech on a test drive he was able to find a tech articial. They basically replaced everything past the steering box to the tie rod ends. The one item that stood out was the steering dampener. They had replaced it out with a much larger dampener.

[blueknight2]

my 2007 dodge ram 2500 diesel had had the death wobble almost since the day I bought it!!! I contact dodge customer support center and they arranged for me to take it back to the dealership for a test drive with the senior service manager? I will fill you in on what they say and or do !!!!

[mrjordan2u]

my 2007 dodge ram 2500 diesel had had the death wobble almost since the day I bought it!!! I contact dodge customer support center and they arranged for me to take it back to the dealership for a test drive with the senior service manager? I will fill you in on what they say and or do !!!!

Any developments?

[blueknight2]

well so far so good they replaced the steering damper the tie rod ends and nuts and so far no shake n bake but my big question is "will it last?"

[mrjordan2u]

I replaced my front end with an OEM from the dealer.
Its lasted about 1.5 years, but I feel it trying to wobble on me again.
My stock steering linkage had a stud mount for the dampner, but the new one they gave me has a double u-bolt mount.
What did they replace yours with?