Saturday, April 17, 2010

Death Wobble solved! See initial posts below. Now to figure out why components are wearing prematurely..?

I finally got it fixed. It turns out the shop I had taken my truck to replaced the initial thing that was causing the death wobble but during their diagnosis of the track bar they had to cut off one of the bolts due to rust. They replaced it with an aftermarket bolt that was grade 8.8 instead of the 10.8 OEM bolt and they left it loose!

I paid them to do the 2008 steering update with the heavier drag links, tie rods, pitman etc.. which solved the initial issue of worn tie rods (only 40k miles on them) but because that bolt they replaced was loose the death wobble was now caused by that issue.

They ended up replacing the upper and lower ball joints on both sides and it still had the wobble. They were at a loss to explain why it still had a wobble and gave me the truck back. I took it to a Dodge dealer and they found the loose bolt and replace it. voila! no death wobble! I made the first shop pay the $140.00 Dodge bill since they blundered..

Moral of the story, always check the track bar an steering damper first!