mysterious death wobble

[chris989]

Hello all,
1989 v2500, 2 inch lift, 37 falkens

A few months ago i experienced my first ever wobble in this truck. Other than a tire rotation and new steering box nothing has changed. It wasn't horrific but definitely a shock since for more than a decade and many many miles it has never done it.

I've been under the truck all morning and nothing looks a miss.. all tight, no movement in and joint, bushing or bearing. (that i can detect)

If you ever had this and figured out the culprit, please share.

Thank you,
Chris

[GM72K10]

My death wobble was caused by a partially restricted front brake hose. Put on new front brake hoses and problem went away! Took quite a while to figure that out.

[dagnabbitt]

It's scary. On my truck it was the tires, severe cupping. Always happened when tires were cold at 45 mph. With a lift and 37s I would take a look.

Its intermittent because the tires are essentially out of round, and the death wobble only occurs when they all hit the same flat spot at the same time.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by GM72K10

My death wobble was caused by a partially restricted front brake hose. Put on new front brake hoses and problem went away! Took quite a while to figure that out.

I've had this on Chevrolet trucks before. On mine it felt more like a hard shuddering.

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

It's scary. On my truck it was the tires, severe cupping. Always happened when tires were cold at 45 mph. With a lift and 37s I would take a look.

Its intermittent because the tires are essentially out of round, and the death wobble only occurs when they all hit the same flat spot at the same time.

Had this on my Jeep, new tires cured it.

[Willie Makeit]

Worn ball joints have been known to cause this as well.

[old Rusty C10]

do you have the proper or a new steering damper on it ( the shock crossways on the front end) i had a truck that that piece was shot and caused a wobble after the sloppy steering box was replaced

[Stepside Jim]

Mine was ball joints...

[Dead Parrot]

Happened after tire rotation? Suspect bad or out of balance front tires. Especially if it was a front to back swap.

On my 84 K30, replacing the bushings between the axle and steering fixed it.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Dead Parrot

Happened after tire rotation? Suspect bad or out of balance front tires. Especially if it was a front to back swap.

On my 84 K30, replacing the bushings between the axle and steering fixed it.

I assume you are talking about the king pin bushing on the Dana 60? The 10 bolt in his 3/4 ton won’t have those. I’d look into the tires more as well. I’ve even had a late model 3/4 ton IFS GMC that got death wobble because the tires were shot. That’s not supposed to be able to happen on IFS stuff. If it came from out of the blue I’d start with the things most recently changed first. When you add the bigger tires any issues with them just get amplified compared to stock size tires. Toe will cause it too if not set right, with 37’s I’d be shooting for closer to 1/4 toe in if it was me.

[cadillac_al]

2" isn't much lift to cause a problem. I have had my K20 for 30 years and had the 2" lift and 35's for 20 years. The only time I had death wobble is when I had too much mud in the wheels. With clean wheels it will roll nice and smooth at 70-80 mph. On my Jeep Grand Cherokee the only time I had death wobble was with old flat spot tires. I always blame the tires first