Death wobble!! (1 Viewer)

[swilson]

Holy cow! Never experienced a death wobble before. Hope to never again!

I just replaced the steering box on my FJ40 (Saginaw) because the one I had was faulty. While I was there I noticed the front end was toed-out a lot. Big enough to see with the naked eye. Measured it and it was 1.5" toed-out. Guess I overlooked it when I finished final assembly last year.

I seem to recall that 1/4" toe-in is a desirable number... at least for stock vehicles. I got mine to 1/2" toe-in and called it good. Went for a test ride and every time I get to 20 mph the death wobble starts.

So for you guys running big tires, what are you setting the toe-in at? I'm using 38.5" Swampers.

Thanks!

 

[Betarocker]

How's the caster set? It too contributes to death wobble if not proper.

My toe-in is just in a touch. 37x13.50R18. Different vehicle though...04 F-350

 

[Fast Eddy]

Way less than 1/2". Shoot for 1/8".

 

[yOHda]

1/8" of toe in, as Fast Eddy said, is what ive always done. probably goes without saying, but have you checked TRE's, steering arms, ubolts, leaf springs, etc. to make sure they are in good condition/tight?

 

[Isotel]

Deffinatly get all over it, and get it fixed without driving it too much, Every single moving part on that front end needs to be inspected.. Also try swapping tires front to rear.

 

[swilson]

:whoops: it was two loose TREs. I really didn't know they could wear in and get loose. I torqued them down correctly and put the cotter pins in place when I did the final assembly on the 40, just 800 miles ago. I suspect some of the problem was it wasn't bare metal to metal contact since I had painted the steering arms before assy. I'm sure the paint broke down quickly and created a loose connection.

They went unnoticed because the slop in the poorly assembled (by a professional PS shop) steering box was so huge... that and the extreme toe-out had kept the tires from behaving badly.

Anyway thanks for the help. All is tight now. Toe-in is set correctly. And most importantly, not only is there no death wobble, but the steering feels amazing.