Death wobble over bumps or train tracks

We have found when driving the PW, if we hit a bump, and not even a big bump, the front end seems to be difficult to control. Jumps around. Our neighbour said he had a friend with a PW and it had same issue

Looks like there is already a steering stabilizer on but am not 100 % sure

Has anyone else noticed this, if so did you find a solution


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Most likely a track bar lol.....they're notorious for death wobble issues....if your newer ram is equipped with one lol

Check the track bar, steering linkages and the hubs. You'll need to tug on everything with a prybar. Steering alignment is another thing to check as well.

Death wobbles are common on solid axel front ends with any make. I test drove a PW with 1200 kms(miles??) and it had a death wobble. Also drove a f250 that had a death wobble. If under warrantee take it back and have them fix it. If not take it to a good front end specialist. There is something warn out, loose or out of alignment.


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Girlpower, from reading into a few of your posts, it sadly seems that someone has bent, broke or otherwise boogered up the front end of your truck in the time before you purchased it.

Mine is tight, though will give an extra bounce or two of the front tires when running real fast, with the tires aired down when hitting a bump or two in succession.

This is different though (more like dribbling a basket ball really fast) than the "Death Wobble" which is a side-to-side motion of the front wheels. Though both can feel somewhat dramatic and difficult to tell apart from inside the cab while driving.

I think you said before that you went in for a front end alignment and the Tech said the adjustment was maxed out on one side? Sounds like something is bent and still giving you problems.

There are so many different components that can cause death wobble that it's hard to solve sometimes. How many miles on on the truck, more important the tires? The stock BFGs are known to cause problems after they some miles on them. Another big one is the track bar. I think spending a few bucks on a high quality track bar (Carli or Thuren) is a great investment.

Thanks all. I am thinking that Brakelate may be correct as we did find a scrape on the plastic fender underneath after we bought although you think the dealer would notice when doing the alignment. Going to take to dealer out of town. Hate to say I don't have much faith in the dealer and service department here in town.

Was suppose to to have less issues when buying a brand new vehicle.. Sigh

The tires are stock but we are replacing as we want 10 ply tires since w carrying the quad on the back. Will see what the other out of town service dept says


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Also try looking for death wobble diagnostic information on Jeep Wrangler websites. They seem to love death wobble more than the Power Wagon.

no issues with mine

Girlpower, I know this is an old thread, but how did this ever turn out?

Get it fixed? If so, what was it?

At 35k on mine now, it is starting to show signs of Death Wobble coming on. The tires are now worn, not in perfect balance and not exactly matching in psi due to a slow leak I picked up recently in the R/F tire.

All likely contribute to the issue. Just wondered what the best
ONE Stop - longest lasting cure would be to do, before I swap to new tires / whees.

Mine may just need a new BallJoint, and re-torque on everything, but since I am over 2.5 hrs from any RAM dealer, I likey will have a Big-O type alignment shop look it over and do any work for me, despite still being on the factory warranty, just out of convenience, if I can trust that they have the part and know-how to fix it right, once an for all. But, at 35k, it seems very premature for front end components to start wearing out and failing, even considering how much time it is spent off highway, swimming through streams, snow and sitting in deep frozen mud.

This is, after all, why I stepped up and bought the Power Wagon in the first place, thought I would rather pay for the extra reliability, durability and strength up front and in one payment, rather than piecing out the work down the road, with all the inconvenience, if thngs started to fail later in life.

I experienced the same thing you describe with the jarring up and down death wobble, not the side to side in December. My PW only has 25000 very easy miles on it. I was 3 months out of warranty but the dealer looked at the front end and replaced the steering stabilizer, which they said was leaking and rotated my tires free of charge. They said the front tires were showing more wear than the rear so they put the backs on the front and visa versa. I have not had the DW since. I feel this is just a band aid though so I'm still going to upgrade the trackbar and ball joints when I find some money. Oh, and I still have the original tires, which may be part of the problem. There is oodles of threads about this on the PW registry forum and I read and researched every one until my eyes bled.

Wonder if the problems, as was the DW on the older cheby trucks, isn't caused by the front suspension sag causing the caster angle of the front suspension to be too great. Many times the sag isn't really noticeable just from looking. That would be my first suspicion.

I had this same problem recently. A couple weeks ago we got a pretty ad snow and as i went over a bridge joint i experienced what i thought was the dreaded "Death Wobble". How i contributed to a big chuck of snow/ice wedged between my tire and fender as it only happened a couple times. With 46,000 miles on the original tires and wheels they were pretty worn with multiple plugs, after the snow melted and the roads were clear it happened to me a couple more times as i crossed a joint in the road. Since i was scheduled to get new wheels and tires i was hoping that wold solve the problem i waited before doing anything else. Fast forward with New tires and wheels on going over the same areas in the road that i experienced the "DW" nothing happen'd. Truck drove like a cadillac , so when i got home i unloaded the old wheels and tires and while doing so i noticed a vibration/noise in the two tires that were mounted on the front. Come to find out that there was two good size tire weights that where loose and rattling on the wheel. I wouldn't think that that would be bad enough to experience what i did however it hasn't happened since i got the new wheels and tires. Although i want to replace some front end parts soon tis seems to have solved my problem, a simple weight on the wheel was the culprit.