death wobble

I just changed my brakes (rotors and pads.) while I was in there I noticed one of the calipers had excessive play on the slider pins so I changed it and also noticed a warn upper ball joint so that got changed out. Now I have a good case of death wobble. I took it to the shop and they went over the brakes to see if I messed something up. They couldn't find anything wrong with the brakes. They told me I may have broken a belt in one of the tires. So I rotated my tires and replaced my front shocks. Still wobbling in the steering wheel. So I took the brakes back apart and noticed the passenger side seemed to wobble when I spun it really fast so I took the rotors back to napa and exchanged both of them. Now it may be me being paranoid but now when I spin both rotors (all 5 lugs are holding the rotors tight ) they seem to sway back and forth. is it possible that both of my wheel Barings are bent. The Barings are about 3 years old. Before I did any work to the truck it had no issues it would track to the right but took a few hundred feet. Also the mechanic said the my left front tire seemed like it was wobbling when I picked the truck up and went past him.

I'd suspect wheel bearings yeah. Jack the front up and try to push the tire in and out and up and down.

the bearings seem tight there is a little play in one of the tires but no excessive play in the front end parts. the bearings are tight no movement around the center nut.

Try this...

Jeep Death Wobble

I know it's Jeep, not Dodge, but we're all Mopar anway, right? I know that the "death wobble" is particularly prevalent in Jeeps for whatever reason, but maybe you can get a clue or two from the link.

Started looking at the front end and so far the only bad component that I've found is the idler arm

oh, gawd. death- wobble again. replace everything worn out, first. beg, borrow, or steal a dial indicator and clamps, and/or magnetic base. run the dial indicator around circumference of tbe wheel bearing and on rotor mounting face. Mark the runout with a Sharpie. It shouldn't be more than a couple thousandths of an inch. Now temporarily mount the new rotors, and secure them with at least three lug nuts. Now check the runout of the new rotors. Again, runout should not exceed 0.002".and the runout should be at the same relative location as the hub. Sometimes you can orient the hub and rotor to cacel each other out. If the runout on the rotor can t be made any better than 0.002", you will have a pulsating brakes and brake pedal, and it will get worse.
My son and I were working on his Dakota R/T, and we found that the Dorman wheel bearings we had purchased were cheap but lousy replacements. Don't cheap out.

I'd take a good look at the steering stabilizer
Back in the 70s and 8s when I started lifting trucks and we got the wooble, if the front end was good it was either the stabilizer or not enough caster in the alignment

Yeret said:

Try this...

Jeep Death Wobble

I know it's Jeep, not Dodge, but we're all Mopar anway, right? I know that the "death wobble" is particularly prevalent in Jeeps for whatever reason, but maybe you can get a clue or two from the link.

Click to expand...

The jeep front ends are actually virtually identical

monteholic said:

I'd take a good look at the steering stabilizer
Back in the 70s and 8s when I started lifting trucks and we got the wooble, if the front end was good it was either the stabilizer or not enough caster in the alignment

Click to expand...

No. Stabilizer can't cause death wobble. Stabilizer simply absorbs vibrations that would normally tell you something is ****** up to give a better ride feel. In fact it's an unneeded part.

Actually you could pull the steering stabilizer off and see if you can pinpoint where the vibration/wobble is coming from

if it was an unneeded part, FCA sure wouldn't waste the money putting them on, it doesn't cause it, but it sure does help prevent it and a worn out one can sure make it worse, it absorbs the vibrations that start the wobble

increasing the caster and the installation of a quality stabilizer has cured every solid axle truck I've owned/worked on

but hey, what do I know (certified heavy truck mechanic over 30 year experience)

It's a ride comfort piece. It's unneeded. What it prevents is a negligible amount of wear. Proper caster yes will do a lot. But unless he's lifted the cause is more than likely something worn

ok so you didnt have death wobble at first.
you changed breaks and a ball joint, thats all
and now you have death wobble.
i would check to see if you seated your balljoint properly for starters, as things like wheel hubs and stabilizers wouldnt magically go bad as soon as you do your breaks/balljoint