Thought I'd post my experience with Death Wobble that creeped up on the cruiser recently:

A couple weeks ago I began to notice a slight vibration of the front wheels especially on uneven roads and after making a turn. I checked my toe in and tie rod ends. Everything tight. It rapidly got worse until I couldn't drive it anymore. I had a sphincter-clenching experience while accelerating onto the freeway one night and took the damn thing home and started going over everything.
The strange part about this wobble was that I hadn't done any modifications to the suspension recently and I service the front end on a regular basis. I usually associate death wobble with improper caster angle. I sprung over the cruiser several years ago and set the caster at about 4* I drive it every day and it has performed great until now. I double checked the caster and it was still where it should be. The wheel bearings and trunion bearings had no play. I disassembled the tie rod to check rod ends and steering box which all seemed good.
I worked my way up the steering shaft itself. BINGO! It didnt show up while everything was still attached, but once I removed the steering shaft I discovered the slightest wear and movement in the Borgeson u-joint. I also had very slight movement of the spud shaft from the saginaw box to the u-joint. None of this showed up as play at the steering wheel, but I think it allowed the system to oscillate as it returned to center following a turn or bump in the road.
Anyway I called Borgeson. A standard needle bearing u-joint kit is available that will work with all of Borgeson's u-joint / slip joint configurations. In my case I used a 3/4 inch x 36 spline slip joint when I did the saginaw conversion.
Since many of you are using Borgeson joints for your saginaw conversions I thought I'd include a part #. It's fairly cheap and might be a good thing to throw in the trail box.
The part # for the Borgeson u-joint replacement kit is:

#INNERDS-15N $21.77

This seems to have solved my wobble, but just adds one more thing to my list of things to check before a trail ride.

I've had some death wobble that showed up in the last week or so since I changed from 35's to 37" MTR's. It seems to only show up between 20-30mph and if I hit a bump in the road or something. It is very aggressive when it happens so I have to slow way down for it to stop.

I serviced my front end in January and everything looked pretty good. I've got about 3* caster in my SUA configuration. My rod ends are only about 6 months old and seem tight.

I haven't checked my toe-in yet but plan to.

I do not have a borgeson steering shaft, so I'm not sure what to do if that's my problem.

I've got a new steering stabalizer that's already on the truck.

What is the proper toe-in measurement?

Could the addition of the bigger tires cause the wobble?

Thanks for the writup! I appreciate that and will catalog that number.

There is more information on Death Wobble on this site, so do a search.

It can be quite complex, but there are three factors that toghether lead to wheel oscillation:

1) Play in any component that locates the wheels including wheel bearings, knuckle bearings, tie rod ends, drag link, steering box, spring bushings, and now the steering shaft coupler.

2) Excess toe in or toe out to produce lateral force on the wheel or not enough caster so that the wheels are not self centering.

3) Something to initiate the oscillation, like bump steer.

Adam,

Check your u-bolts. That has been the #1 cause of the "death wobble" with LSLC trucks.

Cheers,

tp

I was at work until about 3am last night so I haven't had a lot of time to check things out but I checked the u-bolt's this morning and they were a little loose but not much so I tightened them up. TRE's still seem tight as far as I can tell. I haven't jacked up the wheels to wobble them top to bottom to see if there are any play in the bearings but wheel bearings were new in January.

Checked for cracks at the spring hangers and everything looks good. Bushings seem to be in good shape. They were new in May.

What should I look for specifically at the pitman arm, draglink, steering box?

Originally posted by adamto


What should I look for specifically at the pitman arm, draglink, steering box?

You can check for all play by jacking up the wheel and jerking it around side to side and top to bottom. If you find any play, have someone else jerk it around whil you look for what is causing the slop.

Toe in is 1/8 to 1/4 inch.