Ok so I need some opinions. I bought my 2001 screw 4x4 about 8 months ago bone stock. I immediately cranked the torsion bars and went to get an alignment, they told me I had a lot of slop in the idler arm and a little play in the pitman arm. Soooooooooo I replaced the idler arm returned to the alignment shop and got it aligned. A couple days later I was driving to work and it started the death wobble for the first time. I took the truck to my tire shop after a couple days of ignoring it and they said the idler arm bolts had loosened on the frame so they tightened em up and I drove for the next 10k miles problem free. Well a couple months ago I got a wild hair and found leveling keys and 37's for about $100 and couldn't pass it up. I maxxed the keys and threw the tires on and drove it for about 2k miles without a hitch then it started the death wobble again. I let it wobble for 2 days before I left for vacation at which point I thought maybe one of the tires was going bad because it felt less severe than before. Well while packing up to leave for our vacation my buddy called and he was broken down near my house, so I went and worked on his truck for 2 hrs to no avail at which point I told him to come to my house with me and then just drive my truck home til he could get his truck towed. fast forward to him bringing my truck back the next day and my front passenger tire blows out. He put the spare on and returned it saying it stopped wobbling with the spare on it. Sooooo when I returned home I bought new/used wheels and tires because the blowout cracked a rim. Well on my way to hunt the next morning the truck gets death wobble EVERY bump I hit over 40 mph. After we hunt I crawl under the truck and the idler arm bolts a really loose so I tighten them up thinking that's the problem....NOPE it continues to death wobble everytime I hit a bump over 40 mph. the new/used rims and tires are stock size and seem problem free...I backed off the torsion keys some no difference. Does anyone have any ideas??? I unexpectedly haven't worked since thanksgiving and really cant just throw money at the problem til my company gets another contract or I find another job. also I was told my passenger side UCA bushings are worn out and like I said I was told the pitman arm had some slight play also the alignment is off since the torsion key install and the idler arm seems to be a little crooked from how it sat before it loosened up I don't know if this matters or not but just thought I would mention it. Sorry for the novel guys but between Christmas with three kids and losing our hours at work I am in a bind and have never ran into this death wobble before. Any and all help is appreciated!

 

everything in the front suspension can cause death wobble. Start by replacing UCA, lower ball joints, outer/ inner tie rods, pitman arm. and get a proper alignment.

 

Sorry, wish I could offer up some help.

I had that happen on a '94 4x4 F150. I bought it at about 30,000 miles. Shortly after that, I installed a 3' bodylift, 6" Skyjacker suspension lift, 38" Swampers on 12" wide Welds. Everything was brand new and the tires balanced out great. Had this same exact setup on no less than three Broncos of that era, and two other F150s of that era. This was the only one that ever had the death wobble. I know for a fact that everything in that front end was tighter than dick's hatband, and it drove as straight as an arrow.

But every once in a while, if I hit a bump just right at about 40 mph, that bitch would wobble like a rickshaw. And the only way to get it to stop, was to slow down to about 10mph, and then it would go away. Might not happen again for two or three months.

Never did figure it out, and had several experienced front-end guys check it out different racks. Everything always checked good. At that point, the only answer was to start the TAP procedure. And I wasn't going to spend that kind of money for something like this. Sold the truck to guy from about 100 miles away, and I never saw it again.

 

Have you checked ball joints, sway bar links, and tie rods? Sounds to me like something in the front suspension isn't right...

 

well its been a productive morning found another job and figured out the death wobble (I think) the new idler arm is a piece of chinese garbage and the grease fitting broke off self destructing the idler arm...luckily its still under warranty and rock auto has another one on the way thanks for the help guys and hopefully this helps anyone else that is having a death wobble issue. get it up in the air and look at everything is my best advice. it seemed obvious with it in the air and someone moving the wheels. where as yesterday with it on the ground and me alone working on it i couldn't see where the play/give was occurring.

 

The bolts on the idler arm need to be torqued down a lot more than you can torque them with your average wrenches. I don't have the exact torque specs but as I recall they are somewhere around 140 foot pounds (you can look up the exact number just as well as I can). Since they have come loose before, they may be loose now or they might have caused damage to your pittman arm or tie rod ends, or even the idler arm. Check out all of these and replace as necessary. Note that the tie rod end should not have any movement or "clicking" when you try to move them from side to side or in and out. Make sure you follow the torque specs when you put everything back together.