Gary I Report post Posted April 21, 2012 Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone on here has had steering issues with their Dodge trucks and managed to get it fixed. I have a 2006 Dodge 2500, 4x4 diesel that has the death wobble so bad I'm getting afraid to drive it. I just had the upgraded trac-bar, all new tie rods,a new steering box, alignment,and steering stabilizer installed. I have tried two different sets of tires and wheels, air pressure variations, new front shocks and anything else I could think of. It only has 65000 miles on it so it should not be completly worn out. I love the truck and hate to get rid of it because of this problem but it is uncontrollable when it goes into one of its shaking fits at 70 MPH. I drove it to Phoenix from Payson yesterday and ended up having to go 50 MPH the whole way there and back. I am supposed to drive it to Montana in 2 weeks and would like to have it safe to drive. If anyone has had similar problems and managed to actually get it fixed could you let me know what you did, where you got it done and and about how much it cost. I don't mind spending some money to get it fixed but I'm getting tired of dumping money into it and still having the problem. The dealerships don't seem too interested in curing the problem. Thanks for any help, Gary Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AverageJoe Report post Posted April 21, 2012 Is it lifted or leveled? If it is that is your problem. Every lifted dodge i know the owner ended up with horrible front end problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gary I Report post Posted April 21, 2012 Is it lifted or leveled? If it is that is your problem. Every lifted dodge i know the owner ended up with horrible front end problems. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that it has a 2 inch leveling kit on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AverageJoe Report post Posted April 21, 2012 I would take off the leveling kit if you want your problems solved. Does it have a diff drop kit along with the level? I would never lift or level a dodge after seeing the results. My friend took off the level kit about 2 years ago and has not had the problem since. He had to replace some parts after he took the kit off but it has been trouble free since. I will ask him what he did exactly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gr8 White Jr Report post Posted April 21, 2012 I would take off the leveling kit if you want your problems solved. Does it have a diff drop kit along with the level? I would never lift or level a dodge after seeing the results. My friend took off the level kit about 2 years ago and has not had the problem since. He had to replace some parts after he took the kit off but it has been trouble free since. I will ask him what he did exactly. I own a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel. Bought it brand new in '06 and have put over 150,000 miles on it now. I have a 4.5" lift and have never had any problems with the so called "death wobble". At about 75,000 miles my steering started feeling kind of sloppy and I had to have some steering linkage components replaced. Don't remember exactly what it was but it cost about $700 and I haven't had any problems since. As far as "never lifting a Dodge", just like anything else it all depends on what kind of lift you buy and who installed it. I really don't believe that a Dodge truck is any more likely to have problems when lifted than any other truck if a quality kit is installed by a qualified mechanic. Just my two cents. -Tracy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkaddict Report post Posted April 21, 2012 A friend told me this happened to him a couple of years back, don't know what he did to cure it. Google "dodge death wobble" and you will see lots of people talking about it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benbrown Report post Posted April 21, 2012 Several of the truck forums have multiple posts about Dodge diesels having front end trouble. It's not all of them, but enough that it is a topic that is addressed on these forums regularly. I just did a quick search and found accounts of failure of front end components at anywhere from 36K to about 125K miles. Apparently doesn't matter whether the truck is lifted or stock. The conventional wisdom seems to be that you will be lucky if you don't have to change most of out most of the front end parts by 100K miles. To quote one fellow that apparently had the same problem you have, "Not so much the ball joints, but the steering stabilizer bar. When that goes bad you get the "Death Wobble", well known on any Chrysler product." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted April 21, 2012 Don't overlook the hubs.I have a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4. One of my hubs went bad and created wobble problems. I replaced both of them. Also check your control arm bushings, I don't think they would be worn out at 65,000, but you never know. Motor mounts, and tranny mounts can cause problems. Are the brake calipers properly aligned and functional? I have new ball joints and ties rods on order. I will be raplacing them next week Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted April 21, 2012 I searched around the internet on this issue. Most of the complaints and issue around the death wobble seem to point at the stock trac bar. Lift kits and bigger tires seem to magnify the problem in some cases? The trac bar controls axle side to side movement, were the control arms control vertical movement. The guys that installed an aftermarket Thuren trac bar seemed to cure the problem? I have not had the death wobble problem on my ram. But the Hub problem di cause some moderate wobble and control issues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gary I Report post Posted April 22, 2012 Thanks for all of the input. This truck is the fourth dodge diesel I have owned and the only one with the death wobble. All of them have had either a lift or a leveling kit on them. Odd thing is, I like this truck the best of any of them. I like the look of the truck leveled and am inclined to leave it on. I believe there is a cure, I just need to find it before I dump too much money in it. My tires are not much bigger than stock, 285x70x17. I also have a stock set of tires and rims that are like new and they do the same thing, although maybe not as bad. Believe me, I have researched this thing to death and tried a lot of the sugestions. To the tune of almost $2000.00 so far One thing that my internet research keeps leading me back to is caster adjustment. Seems that if the caster is adjusted to +5 degrees the problem is solved. Does anyone know of a good 4x4 shop in the valley that they have used. 4x4 and suspension shops are few in Payson. Thanks for the help, Gary Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted April 22, 2012 Thanks for all of the input. This truck is the fourth dodge diesel I have owned and the only one with the death wobble. All of them have had either a lift or a leveling kit on them. Odd thing is, I like this truck the best of any of them. I like the look of the truck leveled and am inclined to leave it on. I believe there is a cure, I just need to find it before I dump too much money in it. My tires are not much bigger than stock, 285x70x17. I also have a stock set of tires and rims that are like new and they do the same thing, although maybe not as bad. Believe me, I have researched this thing to death and tried a lot of the sugestions. To the tune of almost $2000.00 so far One thing that my internet research keeps leading me back to is caster adjustment. Seems that if the caster is adjusted to +5 degrees the problem is solved. Does anyone know of a good 4x4 shop in the valley that they have used. 4x4 and suspension shops are few in Payson. Thanks for the help, Gary I saw that info on the caster adjustment also. It made me curious. Next week when I take it in for an alignment, I will ask them about that issue. They do charge $20 more for lifted trucks. I had the 285-75-16 on mine, but I just bought a new set and stepped down to the 265. Steering seems more responsive, and not so heavy feeling. I need to replace my front springs soon, and was thinking about the leveler spacer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azhuntnut Report post Posted April 22, 2012 Before you spend a bunch more money, find a discount tire that has a Road Force balancing machine. This machine will be able to tell if you have a bad tire, which is usually the problem when a death wobble occurs. A regular balancing machine will not pick up the problem. A road force machine actually has an arm that comes down and makes contact with the tire while it is spinning on the machine. Plus they mount an additional adaptor to the wheel in order for it to fit the machine perfectly. This will duplicate how the tire performs as if it was actually driving on the road. It will also tell them the best position to mount the tire on the rim, or tell them if the tire is actually "bad". It is usually not covered under manufacture warranty unless it is really bad. I have experienced this same issue with some of my lifted trucks in the past and in some cases it was a bad tire. Hope this helps. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZJARCHER Report post Posted April 22, 2012 Are you running BFGs? Our trucks haaaate BFGs. The hemis don't mind it but trucks with cummins are next to impossible to get to agree with BFGs without extensive upgrading. I'll almost guarantee that if you've got BFGs, that's the problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
out2hunt Report post Posted April 22, 2012 I switched to the Bridgestone Revo 2 from the bfg's......rides much smoother......but I too have about 2800 to replace in front end parts and my 05 has 2 in leveling kit and 96500 miles. I am in love with my truck but hate the wobble.......pm me if you figure it out please Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
out2hunt Report post Posted April 22, 2012 mine are 315 17 70..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
