I had to death wobble because I put my lug on backwards

 

interesting, I thought the procedure was the same for both...I will have to check the manual in the morning..it was the only one i saw in chapter 16(I think)

 

Alright I think you're right, "death wobble" is I believe technically when you do a link type suspension and your geometry is off and the faster you drive the worse it gets, but regardless of what you want to call it the truck shakes violently back and forth, like make you bounce out of your seat and in to the passenger seat when you are right at like 43mph, right in the middle of the shake. It's almost like harmonics when turning a brake rotor, there's a sweet spot thats really bad.

 

If it is always at the exact same speed, I would say something to do with the tires is the culprit that at least starts it. Usually bad suspension parts may cause problems in a speed range but are set off by a bump or similar in the road.

 

+1. I missed where you said it only happened at the same speed. The problem is often when vehicles have aftermarket rims with the incorrect bore for the hub; hubcentric rings are often used. Basically the whole rim/tire is off of center, or your tires are out of round. My guess at least..

Do you have a friend you can swap shoes with for a test drive?

 

Can also happen with high steer setups when the track bar and drag link angles aren't similar, but I think its worse with coil setups.

 

I had a very similar problem. The truck had sat for a long time and the belts had shifted in one of my rear tires, making the tire out of round. just for kicks take off your tires and roll them across the garage floor. you'll defiantly notice if you have one out of round.

 

Do you mean tie rod?? Track bar is removed on high steer/leaf spring trucks, no way it would be able to be attached as it would bind etc..

 

Alright so my truck got put on the back burner for a little while but I finally fixed it. The solution was to replace the steering stabilizer and rotate the wheels. When I took off the old stabilizer to look at it, it would compress alright but then it would extend all by itself. These stabilizers are supposed to be neutrally balanced by the pressure on both sides of the valve inside, but mine had less pressure on one side than the other and therefor was obviously bad and was acting like a pogo stick in the middle of my steering linkage causing my severe wobble. My tires had effectively been worn by this and needed to be rotated. So after replacing the stabilizer and rotating my tires I now have no vibrations except for those of an old truck, as it should be. I want to thank everyone that posted in this thread, you have all been a great help and I look forward to many more dealings with you all on this site, thank you.

 

My truck had death wobble on it, had to run so much toe out on the road for a week or two to get it not to try and kill me.

Hit a bump going above 30mph and your slamming on your brakes to stop it......My death wobble was caused by the trunion bearings not properly being preloaded..... one side had 30-40lbs of preload, other side had nothing.

 

Was this an aftermarket stabilizer? If so, sounds like someone used a regular gas pressure shock absorber there instead of a real steering stabilizer shock. In addition to being non-pressurized, the stabilizers are also set up to work horizontally (normal shocks like to be vertical) and they also have equal damping on both compression and rebound.

 

I believe that it was a stock piece and had been on there for almost twenty years. Now the weird thing about it is that it had like a tie rod end on the end of it (like a ball pivot like TRE's or ball joints have) and the one I got from NAPA didn't have that, it just had a hole with a stud that goes through it, and everywhere I looked for a new one, none were like the one I took off, but the pic in my haynes manual looked the same as what I took off which is why I think it was stock.

 

been a while since ive been on the forum. but i have read your entire thread and have yet to see what actually is causing your death wobble. and yes death wobble is what your having. the truck is lifted is it not? do you have longer swing shackles than factory? if so make sure your pinion didnt rotate downwards and throw your caster off. the issue that almost everyone seems to miss on this subject is exactly that. they put a steering stabilizer on it and call it fixed. no actually you just put a bandaid on a bigger problem. check your pinion angle if its off put factory length shackles back on it or use some degree shims between the axle and leaf springs you will never have the issue again

 

The truck that had the issue is completly stock except for an MSD ignition under the hood. Check out my album in my profile it's the tan one with a topper. My death wobble didn't start until almost a year after having bought it with little more than new tires and a few oil changes being done to it before the wobble started. I agree that many things can cause death wobble and in most cases I'd be the first to say that the stabilizer is not the cause, which is partly why it took me so long to figure it out. But in this case the stabilizer was actually rebounding after compressing instead of being neutral so it was acting like a spring where one shouldn't be, in the middle of my steering linckage. Which is why I'm confident that it was the "ancient" stock stabilizer. Everything else checked out so by process of elimination, the fact that the stabilizer is the only part of the steering not doing it's job, it's the cause and not the effect. For someone in a similar position I'd say check everything else first because the stabilizer can mask a more serious issue and despite my conviction that it was my stabilizer only time will tell if I'm wrong, but for now she runs great!

 

i appologize i was assuming it was the one on your profile pic. but we all know what assume means it makes an ass out of u and me. but ill agree a stabilizer should not act like a gas charged shock absorber im glad you got her back to normal

 

This is just a note to all the newbies..
(I know I don't have many posts on this site, but not new to forums by any means)
All I did was google "Death wobble Toyota 1st gen"
This post popped up... I read it completely.. Had the same symptoms OP was having & ran down to the parts house & grabbed a SS as well.. (POOF) fixed!! With no need to start another post!!
Not trying to pick on anyone.. Thread jack.. Nor change any subjects..
I just really like reading all the posts on forum sites, & it is always much easier when there is not post after post of the same thing...
<rant over>

 

By SS, I assume you mean steering stabilizer. Yes, that often may help, but realize in some ways that is just a bandaid that is masking the underlying issue. I had DW on my '85 back about a dozen years ago after I installed rear up front (RUF) springs and lowered my front spring hanger. I had a stabilizer, figured it was worn out so got a new one. Still had the wobble anytime I hit a bump between 35-40 MPH. Finally tracked down the root cause to a caster angle change due to the dropped front spring hanger. Simple fix was to length the spring shackles to account for the hanger drop in order to level out the springs and thus the axle and viola, the DW vanished. I even removed the stabilizer and even with unevenly worn bias ply Swamper tires up front, that front end was rock solid. I could hit the biggest bump at 35-40 and you would feel the tires shake then immediately dampen out even without a stabilizer. Before you would hit a bump and the tire shake would grow and grow due to the resonance. Adding a stabilizer can change that resonant frequency a bit (actually they more or less narrow the resonant frequency band, so like in my case maybe 35-40 MPH was bad w/ a stabilizer and w/o one, it might be bad from 30-45 MPH) but if the front end is inherently unstable, as it is with true DW, then a stabilizer will not "fix" it. Now if you did not have true DW, then yes a stabilizer will help with a somewhat loose, wobbly front end. But if the front end is tight and the geometry is correct, you should be able to run fine w/o a stabilizer. That is the reason you have steering alignment specs.

 

I fully understand all of what you said..
I should have been more clear with my own situation in that mine was MUCH less troublesome (of at least sounds that way)
I do know that there is always the chance of it only being a "bandaid"
I took mine out.. it was garbage... so I replaced it..
Plain & simple.. I would not run without one.. So that's not even a topic to get into..
Next week 63's & "RUF" (as you called it) will be going in so I will have those gremlins to deal with at that time...
The whole truck will get new bushings.. bearings.. & anything else it will need...
But like I said.. SS was bad.. so it got replaced.. AND it eliminated my slight shimmy from 30-37 mph..

 

i will have to agree with the above. if the pinion is rotated upward the caster is thrown all out of whack. i am running yota axles under my samurai with hi steer and 42" tsls and have never once had one sign of death wobble. the geometry is correct and there is no stabilizer. i am not arguing that when yours wore out and you replaced it your problem went away. im just saying there is wear somewhere else that it is having to compensate for.