Dreaded Dodge "Death Shudder"?

Pangela

Pangela

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Has anyone ever experienced this?
Took my truck in to the shop today. To a very reputable diesel mechanic in the area. And He fixed a number of things on my pickup, did an awesome job. Squeezed me in right away, thanks to the recommendation from a mutual friend.

When I was on the phone with him, describing what my truck will sometimes do, right away, he recognized the symptoms and diagnosed it as possibly being the Dodge Death Shudder.

When he drove it, he confirmed it.

Apparently while on the freeway or traveling at high speeds, if you hit a bump or hit the brakes, for instance, when I come off the freeway, onto the off-ramps is when it happens the most. I brake, and he starts in with this shimmy that just turns into a phenomenal shudder that can even whack the steering wheel out of your hands (this was the mechanics example of severity, not mine, but it's true lol).

Just wondering if anyone else has felt this.
Ang
 
I've noticed my wifes new truck has a shake when slowing down. I'm thinking its the rotors thought, I'll know more once I have them turned or replaced.
 
Sounds like Death wobble- I've experienced that on my 3d gen when the track bar fell off (oops). It it is too bad to handle, talk to Don Thuren over at Thurenfab.com. he's a great guy and has been working on death wobble for a while.
 
Yeah, I guess it's called that too, Death Wobble lol. It doesn't do it on me all the time... just sometimes, and I too, initially thought rotors... and had it at the tire shop, got it aligned, rotated, balanced, etc, the works... they told me the rotors were fine, I figured they weren't quite right in the head when it kept doing it, guess it's this funky Death deal. lol
 
wow i hope i never get the wobble or maybe i have i dunno i just run everyoneelse off the road on a normal day lol
 
Unfortuantely, I know what you mean. I try to ignore it since it annoys the sh*t out of me. I don't even have to be on the highway for it to happen.
 
Ahh yes. The dodge death wobble. It can be cause by bad tires, bad ball joints, bad tie rods, bad track bar, bad shocks, bad steering box, bad steering stabilizer, bad air in the tires, bad star alignment, bad hair doo, bad taste in clothes, yappy dogs, pot holes, man holes, cats, bumps, curves, ripples, wind, rain, and anything and everything else imaginable. Most of the time it's a bad track bar that causes it. Other times it's not. I second talking to Thuren about it cause he seems to best understand what causes it and how to fix it.
 
ahhh I love Death wobble.... but it's not "Dodge death wobble"... It's "POS 5 link suspension death wobble"... my jeep had the same problem, i spent so much damn money on that POS to fix it. It finally ended up being my LH axle shaft u-joint (which is pretty rear for that to be the cause, but it's definitely one of them)... I installed the DT pro fab track bar on my Dodge the day after I got it just to take the most common issue out of the equation.
 
I ad a wobble issue on my Duallie- fixed it by dropping out the single steering stabilizer for a Skyjacker Dual Stabilizer set-up, fixed my wobbles- but as it was said a number of things can cause this in the 5 link front susp.
 
yeah its big money but it completely takes all the slop out of the steering and makes it very very nice. Just like driving a 3rd gen :D
 
speaking of slop in the steering... I was driving my mom's car the other day after dropping her off at the airport, and I started to drift slightly towards the other lane, so I went to adjust and nearly ended up in the ditch lmao. After driving my dodge... I'm not used to such responsive steering, and don't EVEN mention the brakes. Good lord have mercy, I nearly slammed myself into the steering wheel. That damn tin can of a car just irks me.
 
edgerat said:
if you want to FIX the problem and don't mind spendin a little dough to do it you can get this kit. http://www.nwbombers.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30971&hl=
Click to expand...
that makes the steering better at higher speeds down the freeway yea. Around town I'm told there isn't much difference.. But it won't FIX death wobble... that's the whole front end design, not just the steering box or the track bar.
 
Lucky Jeff said:
that makes the steering better at higher speeds down the freeway yea. Around town I'm told there isn't much difference.. But it won't FIX death wobble... that's the whole front end design, not just the steering box or the track bar.
Click to expand...


So does someone have some kind of re-designed front end plan for these things to actually FIX that? Or is it just kind of, fly by the seat of your pants and fix whatever parts/pieces you need to as you go. Not that I intend to do this any time soon, just curious.
 
Normally a decent front end tech can narrow the possible cause down to a very few (if that many) possible causes through inspecting wear items and then checking alignment settings. A lot of stuff under there ain't cheap, though, which sux.
 
Lucky Jeff said:
that makes the steering better at higher speeds down the freeway yea. Around town I'm told there isn't much difference.. But it won't FIX death wobble... that's the whole front end design, not just the steering box or the track bar.
Click to expand...
you sure El Jefe? From what everyone I have talked to said it took it out.
 
i had a 2003 3rd gen that at 40,000miles and it already did that too me and i had started to modify it when the death wobble ruined my plans, i changed stabilizers and went to dual and it worked for a couple months then came back, when through replacing everything and it ended up being the track bar and i learned that after getting pissed and trading it in and the dealership told me they fixed it after they told me they didnt know what it was when it was mine. :doh:
 
I went through my front end and rebuilt my track bar ends, tie rod ends and one other joint?? with Lukes links. (www.lukeslink.com)

With these you don't have to pay for a new track bar, you just rebuild the ends where the wear happens. I replaces my all my joints for around $300 and it tightened my steering a lot!

installation was simple. first one took me an hr... the next 2 took me a half hr., Once you figure it out its easy.

Lavon
 
Alot of time you replace the stabilizer with a beefer one it will quite that is what fixed mine and front ujoint on my dad's 97 where his cause.
 
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