wobble

[joesephus]

i am pulling my hair out, i have a quarter leaf solid axle front end set up and i have a death wobble about 45mph, i have adjusted caster to 6 degress and toe in to 1/4 inch. added a stabilizer and balanced tires, messed with shock settings and air pressures and still cant get rid of it. wobble comes on but if i accelerate hard it will diminish considerably. what do i try next?? all seems tight nothing really loose at all. also snugged up wheel bearings. help!!!!

 

[dmw56]

Try 7*-8* caster and 1/8" toe in.

 

[Bonehead]

What steering box are you using? Sometimes a worn out box will let the wheels start to go crazy. Also check every joint in the steering.

 

[busman]

You need to check your steering box, drag link geometry and and steering box mount.

 

[joesephus]

reverse corvair, new< mount solid and gussetted, any reason it comes then goes away after more acceleration?

 

[joesephus]

anyone faamiliar with the quarter elliptical set up on straight axle front ends

 

[fuzz]

Quarter eliptics shouldn't cause the wobble if mounting is tight. I don't care for the corvair box but it sounds like it's mounted properly. If your drag link is real long or flexing that could contribute. What tires are you running? If you mix bias and radials it can make it handle poorly. We could use some pictures of your set up.

 

[jakesrakes]

i have a three springer 2 in front and one in rear make sure its a wobble not a hop mine would hop at 50 mph the reason was no weight up front air press corrected that i would try a tow out of 3/16 it sounds odd but if you make your tires work against each other it might stop the death wobble one of my trucks has a wobble at 25 to 35 mine is caused by the setup i deal with it and no one wants to borrow the truck!this problem is not new a lot of early dirt guys had this but you can drive through it.quarter fronts are cool good luck. Big Mike

 

[donsrods]

If you go on any forum, death wobble is one of the most often posted problems, it seems. Most of us have experienced it at one time or another.

There are so many causes, here are a few.

Caster. Too much or too little can cause it.

Toe in. Sometimes toe out actually will cure it.

Tires. Bias plies seem more prone than radials.

Wheels. A slightly bent rim can contribute.

Shocks. This is a biggie. Weak or ineffective shocks will not keep the wheels from bouncing up and down then it starts.

Wheel bearings. Need to be in good condition and adjusted right.

Kingpins need to be in good condition.

Wheelbase. Remeasure your wheelbase on each side and make sure your suspension is square.

Worn tie rod ends.

Steering box. Either worn or loosely adjusted. Make sure it it adjusted on the high spot in the center (it feels tighter there that is how you know)

Is your tie rod behind axle. If so, get a SoCal stabilizer it will definitely help.

Swap tires from one side to the other. Usually, the wobble starts with the passenger side wheel and transmits to the other wheel.

Out of round tires. If you can put your fronts temporarily on the back, do a smokey burn out and "shave" them more round. Or have a truck tire place shave them on a machine.

Once your car has serious death wobble you will never really relax again, wondering when it will happen the next time.

Don

Post up some good pictures of your entire front end so we can better offer some suggestions.

 

[rustybeercan]

Once your car has serious death wobble you will never really relax again, wondering when it will happen the next time.

What he said!

Beercan

 

[chipper]

I had that problem to, On mine I set the caster at 7 deg. and the toe in at 1/8 in.above or below that did not help and as Don said it is hard to get over the feeling once it has happened but I took mine up to 80 several times now just a bit of the spook left

 

[joesephus]

I balanced tireas again and swapped sides, set caster to 4 1/2 degrees, 1/8 toe in, new tie rod ends, dropped air pressure to 25 lbs. and steering stabilizer, it is much better now but like ya sound always wondering when its gonna reappear, I thought it ws just my paranoid nature lol

 

[jfg455]

Just an FYI on tire balance. There is static balance IE: spinning it on the balancer and adding weights to achieve 0's. And then there is dynamic balancing or raod force balance. You can have a tire/balance that static balances to 0 and will still shake do to an out of round casing or even a "thick" or "hard" spot in the tire itself. Takes a road force style machine to do both types of balances. Just my $.01

 

[kelseydum]

I experienced this recently at about the same speed. Turned out it was my front left tire... waaay out of round. I did have my caster at about 9 and dialed it down to about a 7. I've put at least 4-5 hours of driving on it since then at speeds varying from 5 mph to 65 mph and on some bumpy back roads.

.... Everything seems good since I got a new tire, but like Don said... you'll always be wondering when it will happen again. My wife was with me when it happened and is kinda scared to ride with me now.