I have a 1997 Chevy K1500 Extended Cab and I bought it from a friend
that had installed a 6
-inch lift and a 3-inch body lift to clear 35's. Anyway my problem is
anywhere between 35-50 driving down the road if I go over bumps in the
road the front end starts to shake really bad causing me to slow down
til it stops. The only way it doesn't do this is if I'm on a road
thats real smooth and I can get the speed up to 50+ . Different people
have told me its the lower idler arm or something else is wrong with
the front end. I've checked over almost the whole damn thing and I'm
just not sure what the problem is but it's annoying. Any suggestions
or advice would be appreciated.

are the tires all the same kind. no retreads right.

md

That is called 'The Death Wobble' and is pretty bad news.

You can have the steering geometry out to cause this or a worn part can
cause it. If the steering damper shock is worn out it can 'contribute'
to this.

If you go under and have someone turn the steering from pin to pin while
you watch you can usually see play in a worn out part. Lots of times it
will be an up and down movement in the joint. The pitman gets an up and
down movement when it's dead too. If you have a track bar watch for
side to side play in that.

If you take the weight off the wheels, you can see if there is any play
in them from a worn out wheel bearing.

It can be an accumulative effect of still safe but worn parts... When I
got my CJ7 it had close to 8" of steering wheel slop. All the
individual parts were safe enough to pass inspection, but add up all the
play and wow...

I would be taking it in to see if they can do a front end alignment and
inspection.

Some lifts are done so poorly you end up with a 'trailer queen' that has
to be flat bed towed to the trail to use only at slow speeds off road.
That usually happens to folks that 'know better' or are too smart to
take all the advise given seriously.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

mac wrote:
>
> I have a 1997 Chevy K1500 Extended Cab and I bought it from a friend
> that had installed a 6
> -inch lift and a 3-inch body lift to clear 35's. Anyway my problem is
> anywhere between 35-50 driving down the road if I go over bumps in the
> road the front end starts to shake really bad causing me to slow down
> til it stops. The only way it doesn't do this is if I'm on a road
> thats real smooth and I can get the speed up to 50+ . Different people
> have told me its the lower idler arm or something else is wrong with
> the front end. I've checked over almost the whole damn thing and I'm
> just not sure what the problem is but it's annoying. Any suggestions
> or advice would be appreciated.

all the same and fairly new except for the back ones are wearing a
little faster because of the detroit locker in the rear.

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 11:38:45 -0400, Mike Romain <romainm@sympatico.ca>
wrote:

>That is called 'The Death Wobble' and is pretty bad news.
>
>You can have the steering geometry out to cause this or a worn part can
>cause it. If the steering damper shock is worn out it can 'contribute'
>to this.
>
>If you go under and have someone turn the steering from pin to pin while
>you watch you can usually see play in a worn out part. Lots of times it
>will be an up and down movement in the joint. The pitman gets an up and
>down movement when it's dead too. If you have a track bar watch for
>side to side play in that.
>
>If you take the weight off the wheels, you can see if there is any play
>in them from a worn out wheel bearing.
>
>It can be an accumulative effect of still safe but worn parts... When I
>got my CJ7 it had close to 8" of steering wheel slop. All the
>individual parts were safe enough to pass inspection, but add up all the
>play and wow...
>
>I would be taking it in to see if they can do a front end alignment and
>inspection.
>

You can check the above but when you lifted it the stock alignment
spec go out the window and can no longer be used to keep front end
stable. Add a little more chamber and toe and more caster qand the
problem will go away.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com

Thanks SnowMan