caster is at 8*.... what's up

[slickrock]

This is an old thread but I finally found my problem for wobble. I was rebuilding my axle after a CnT and my driver side lock hub was broken. Basically I could not unlock my front hub. The spring that the gear is attached to to allow it to unlock was broken so half my axle would free spin while the other half would be locked. I found this out when I went to remove my drive line from the front and when I turned it with the hubs in the unlock position, my rig moved forward. The DL should free spin.

I believe this was my problem all along. It should be another week or so before I get everything bck to gether and on the road, but I believe this was the death wobble issue and not ll the other things we tried to figure out.

One more thing to add to casues of death wobble, one hub not free spinning and another spinning.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

I went thru my 55 whe4n I got it, looking for things to do/ change to fix the play in my steering. Just a thought... how're the tires on your rig? I changed out all the links/ joints and steering box on my pig and only got marginal results. I'd have to say that when i got 4 new matching tires all balanced and equally inflated, it did more for my steering than I would have thought- prolly could have just done tires w/o having to change out all the joints/ links. Now that that set of tires is worn and overly-used, I notice similar steering characteristics. Just a thought.

 

[slickrock]

I did and changed out everything except look at the hubs. Pretty sure this was my issue.

 

[Trollhole]

Didn't scan the whole thing again. But on an SOA rig without C&T you must install the fat end of the castor shims to the back not front. The whole idea is your want your steering arms to point up more.

 

[slickrock]

After doing the shims with the fat in back, it still didn't work. Nothing I did seemed to help even with swapping tires. I believe that having one locked hub and the other open casued my wobble. I should have it all back together late this weekend if I can get time from the family. WIll know soon and wil psot results of the SOA and fixed hubs.

 

[Poser]

Unless you verify a possible solution to an issue in the exact situation/scenario in which it was occurring, you are offering nothing other than conjecture, which is something that runs rampant, not only in trying to diagnose death wobble, but the actual definition of death wobble itself.

 

[Degnol]

I did and changed out everything except look at the hubs. Pretty sure this was my issue.

Dan, unless you have some sort of bind in the front driveline, one hub being locked would not cause the DW. I am certainly no expert, but logically, it does not cause the problem. So what did you end up doing with the shims and the 8*+ caster? Sorry if I missed it.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Dan, unless you have some sort of bind in the front driveline, one hub being locked would not cause the DW. I am certainly no expert, but logically, it does not cause the problem. So what did you end up doing with the shims and the 8*+ caster? Sorry if I missed it.

I agree with the dentist.

Death wobble means something is LOOSE. If you know that bushings are new and tight, the knuckles are tight, and your caster is somewhere positive, your death wobble WILL return. It has nothing to do with a lock hub or damaged hub.

I recently had a bit of DW in my 40. Just a bit with right turns at speed. I knew everything was tight. Turns out my Saginaw box preload had loosened up just a bit. I literally tightened the preload screw 1/4 turn and the DW and vagueness in the steering is gone.

On the caster thing, I can't tell where you are. Take out the wedges, get it measured at an alignment shop. Then put in the proper shims to bring the caster to 2-4 degrees. It isn't rocket science.

 

[dgangle]

Unless you verify a possible solution to an issue in the exact situation/scenario in which it was occurring, you are offering nothing other than conjecture, which is something that runs rampant, not only in trying to diagnose death wobble, but the actual definition of death wobble itself.

....and this the exact arguement that I gave up on this thread a long, long time ago. Glad I'm not the only one that thinks this way.

When I hold my head 'this' way my wife is prettier, my life sucks less and my truck gets better gas milage!

 

[slickrock]

Well it was a thougt. there is no way to tell what is was now that the entire old front end has been thrown out and replaced with SOA (before it was 4" SUA) and brand new everything. AS I said,it was a thought. I will never trully know what the problem was.

 

[CheyenneTrucker]

i had a death wobble problem with my 40 . that was after i c&t the axel and soa and sr. i also took two leaf out . took for a test drive and all hell broak looose. scaired the crap out of me . talked to the guys at Alcan spring and he told me to put the leafs back in. did all that.and added 4* shims seem to fix the problem.

 

[Bret]

May be a stretch but is the frame cracked anywhere? Might have already been mentioned and I missed it. Seems like you've tried most everything. Gotta be overlooking something somewhere. Anyone nearby that you could start swapping parts with? maybe tires, rims, etc.