[llih]

Hi just returned from a trip of about 800 miles. Was only about a block from my house and the truck developed a terrible death wobble. This was not a slight front wheel shimmy, but a gut wrenching, tooth jarring wobble. The entire truck shook like it was going to come a part. I stopped, the wobble went a way. I proceeded on home with only 2 stop signs ahead. . At the next stop the truck did it again. The second stop no wobble. I raised the truck up today and put it on jack stands. I had a friend turn the wheel and I watched for anything that looked abnormal. Everything seemed to be pretty good. I checked the bolts on the steering box, and they were tight. I checked the steering dampener and it was a little weak, so I replaced it. I noticed the front tires which have only about 7000 miles on them looked to be wearing a little unevenly. The center is a bit higher then the outsides. I attributed this as maybe being a bit low on pressure. I was running them at 45psi before the trip. I raised up the pressure to 55psi for the trip. The tires are 235/85 Wranglers. I checked the toe in and it seems to be close to 3/16 inch.
Well after all was looked at I decided to take it for a drive again. I let down the passenger side. While in the process of removing the jack stand from the driver's side, the shock on the passenger side started leaking. The oil in the KYB Monomax all ran out. Now I am wondering if the shock was the cause of the death wobble or should I be looking at something else.

Sorry for the long post
Brad

[johnnyd92]

I had the same thing happen on my 78 K20. What it turned out to be was a module in the distributor. It is very rare for it to go out, but my pickup did the same thing, I replaced it and it has been fine for the last two years.

[llih]

Thanks I will check that out.