while you were driving? like you felt a little wobble and then all of a sudden its like your goin thru a parking lot hitting all them little parking stoppers? bam bam bam bam!!! until you slow down and it stops, then you can drive normally?? WTF is that all about? it happened when i had a 9" and i swore it was coming from the rear. now i got a D60 and all new front outers and brakes and master cylinder and vacuum booster and it did it again today. man i would hate to have that happen on the highway at speed, i was doing 30 or less and it felt like i had no control. i heard a girl in a car coming the other way go "whoa!!" when she saw it bucking like the bronco it was named for. the only thing thats left to have done this is the front gears and the proportioning valve. its in 2H, the front hubs were in free, so there is nothing that could have seized one wheel to make it hop. could the proportioning valve be stuck or causing a lock up? any data on this or am i just lucky? AXE

that sound like rear spiders or crown and pinion

is you drive shaft perfect( balanced, is it loose?)

YES< THANK GOD I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!

Seriously, my 77 F150 used to do that, and I could tell that it was in the front end. I repalced radius arm bushings, track bar bushings, shocks, everything. I finally figured mine was the track bar bracket that attaches to the frame on the dirvers side had come loose. Tightend it uo, and it went right awy. Damn sure is a scary feeeling, huh?

DEATH WOBBLE!!! :shocked:

I thought all of us knew what that was

check your tie rods, track bar bushings (probably the main cause of death wobble), radius arm bushings and like lilysdad said, where the track bar bracket attaches to the frame.

I had the death wobble for a while. And when I bent my track bar it got worse. But I changed the bushings and the track bar. Drives perfect now.

DEATH WOBBLE!!! :shocked:

I thought all of us knew what that was :shrug mine doesn't wobble at all???????? YET............ :mrgreen:

only happens with SFA's

unless your ttb stuff is all worn out

oh ok not anytime soon for me then :P

it can happen on the ttb (felt it on my 89) but my drop down brackets where loose :shocked:

Mine did it too....Damn drop brackets

what kind of bolts are supplied with the lift kits ????? for the brackets? grade 5/8? washer and lock washers? nylocs?

Grade 8 with those crush nutz....

my superlift came with nylon which don't work at all. I had to tighten mine every week

crush nutz....two words that SHOULDN"T go together :shocked: ow :cry:

what do crush nuts look like :cool:

jon what do you use now?

ok. well the drive shaft is fine. its balanced and tight. i used new radius arm & trac bar brackets when i did the 4" lift. tie rods are good. the trac bar drop bracket is tight. this happened with the D60 i have now and the 9" rear i had. so i cant see both rear ends having the same issues. i will look at it all again, but its all new up there but the tie rods and they look and feel ok. AXE

Crush nutz are kinda shiny, and they have little dents by the threads, and if you look at the threads it dosent look round...They kinda jam on there...

Mine does kindof the same thing. Between 45-50 mph the front sometimes pitches side to side pretty violently. I've checked and rechecked just about everything....tie rod ends, track bar (new with poly bushings), track bar mount on axle, installed dual stabilizers, checked ball joints, steering box, sway bar end links (replaced with poly) and rotated the tires. I didn't have this problem, that I noticed anyway, untill I went to 35" BFG's and it's been a PIMA since. Plus, it's probably only going to get worse cause I'm getting ready to install 37's :mad:

crush nutz....two words that SHOULDN"T go together :shocked: ow :cry:

what do crush nuts look like :cool:

jon what do you use now?

well I haven't driven the 89 in a while but I used a whole bunch of locktite. The bracket that keeps getting loose is the one for the passenger side axle. I might try stich welding it.


Axe - how's the alignment?

alignment is good. all bushings are good. everythings tight.i would hate for this to happen on the highway. keep the ideas coming, i will keep you posted. AXE

alignment is good. all bushings are good. everythings tight.i would hate for this to happen on the highway. keep the ideas coming, i will keep you posted. AXE

If the track bar bushings are good, then its probably the eye hole on the top of the axle where the track bar connects. Mine was worn out and had a lot of slop in it. You can ream it out and install a bigger bolt with a kind-of flange on it. I think Badass has a writeup on this procedure.

something is loose man. no doubt about it.


What you need to do is turn the engine on, have a friend move the wheel back and forth a little bit, not full lock to full lock.. more like 10 to 2 on the wheel. you look at everything.

-Steering box play, rag joint, steering shaft U-joint
-Tie rod ends
-track bar mounts


If everything is tight, then check your ball joints.


Now when I say tight! I mean no more than a **** hair of movement. Also if your alignment is way out it will cause aweful wobble. if you can drive thru fast enough it stops 95% of the time once past 45 :D

only jopes would speed up during a death wobble!

It makes mine go away. Can hardly feel it at 85...lol

I could do it with an unbalanced wheel but I don't think I'd be able to during a death wobble

Trust me...it sux between 45-50....after 55 you hardly notice it.

only jopes would speed up during a death wobble!


do some searching and alot of reading on DW, you will find out exactly what I said about it.

i am having the same problem with 79 couldit be in the rear end, mine has been welded tight every time i turn it sounds like i am kiling cat, i have had to tighten my front end 4 time in the last two months,

Death wobble only happens from the front axles.

a similar problem happened with my 81 bronco .... things the check - rims for warping, drive shaft slip yoke (remove and inspect the splines), CV ball stud, front wheel bearings, ball joints, radius arm bushings, suspension bracketry, tie rods, axle shafts for straightness, axle housing for straightness, rear wheel bearings. In my case it was a combo of a worn out slip yoke and a warped rim. the rim would actually toss the rear of the truck around at h-way speeds :shocked: the slip would make a vibration that felt and sounded like tire lugs hitting the fenders and then CLUNK and no vibe - this happened during acceleration/deceleration at about 80km (50mph) ... a worn CV ball stud will cause a similar reaction.

sounds similar to my friends k-5 blazer. Once he hit like 30 mph it did the death wobble too. it was fixed by a fresh tire alignment, and new steering stabalizers

had my FSB for 2 years now, and 4 times randomly while driving down the freeway, I would get the death wobble in the front....I was actually driving behind my wife one time when she was driving it, and it started happening, Looking at the front wheels, I could watch the TOP of the wheel move in and out of the wheel well...

The funny thing with my Bronco is, if you slow down to about 10mph, its stops.....and doesnt happen again for like 6 months.......

Ive taken it up to 85 before and i get no vibration there, so its not really a high speed problem, usually just happens at 35-60

Im going to check my front drop brackets now that you guys mention it though...

86 BRONCO, 4" SUPERLIFT on 35's

Looking at the front wheels, I could watch the TOP of the wheel move in and out of the wheel well...
Check your ball joints.

haha, he said **** hair

Have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth while you look things over in the front end.Check the pitman arm and tie rod for loose or worn ends, steering box where it mounts on the frame to make sure it is not loose or flexing the frame, and the track bar. If you have even minor movement in the track bar or track bar mount it can cause this wobble. If there is movement in the track bar be sure to remove the bolt that holds the track bar to the frame mount, drop the upper end of the track bar and inspect the bolt hole in the frame bracket for ANY wear. This is a very common cause of "death wobble". Also I have seen worn radius arm bushings cause it.
Any combination of these things could be your problem.
:banghead
Good luck.
:thumbup

Have someone else drive the truck at the magic speed on a four lane. You drive another car and look at it from all angles. Once you see what is bouncing and wobbleing it will be much easier to fix. My guess is a bad tire. Rotate front to back and see if there is any difference.

haha. yeah, this is a problem for me too. usually happens around 30-35 mph, and hitting a pothole or some sort of sharp bump in the road. last time it happened was when i had 3 girls in the truck. man that was loud as all of em in unison started freaking out. :thumbup

mine has done it on this one stretch of road most often. like its just the right pattern of bumps & joints to cause it. i swear the rear hops too. my tool box used to move all over the place back there. all my bushings are new. everything else is tight. pretty weird. who dug up this old thread?

I would almost bet it will come down to a worn track bar mount bracket with a bolt hole that the bolt does not fit into snugly and/or the frame flexing at the mounting point of the steering box. :shrug :thumbup

99% of the time its fine. when i did the lift i used all new poly up front. the only thing i didnt replace is the ball joints. i used a drop bracket for the trac bar and all new hardware so i did check everything out while the lift went in. i will wait til after the 60 goes in to do anything else.

Has your truck ever bucked and shooked violently while you were driving? like you felt a little wobble and then all of a sudden its like your goin thru a parking lot hitting all them little parking stoppers? bam bam bam bam!!! until you slow down and it stops AXE Lol, thought I could relate an instance I had, only it happened to Tammi and I once. Biggest difference was my leaf-spring D60. Far worse than the dreaded Death Wobble, I couldn't stop it! I wasdn't even in the driver's seat! Be warned, if left unchecked, this particular oscillation can result in KIDS! :shocked

hell id go for a little of that myself. my ex sure could oscillate around a fixed point. must have been all the time she spent on the pole at her former job

my truck had the DW.....First problem was a loose tracbar mount....Second was unbalanced 44s....To fix the second problem,i threw some golf balls inside the 44s :thumbup

If the track bar bushings are good, then its probably the eye hole on the top of the axle where the track bar connects. Mine was worn out and had a lot of slop in it. You can ream it out and install a bigger bolt with a kind-of flange on it. I think Badass has a writeup on this procedure.
This is an area that often gets overlooked. All of the suggestions mentioned so far can cause the problem you describe to varying degrees. I went through the same thing about ten years ago and finally tracked it down to what is written above. I think there is a very good chance that this is where your solution is.

yep.

I bored out the axle mount, machined a bushing, and pressed it into the axle.

i had the same wobble, but it would only happen to me about 4-8 times a year, periodically i'd retorque everything, and it always seemed tight, but about 4-8 times a year i'd hit a bump and she'd buck like a real bronco; one day I hear a squeak on the tight left turn, take the wheel off and realize my Balljoints had about two inches of play; i changed them out and she hasn't bucked in almost a year.

This just happened to me tonight on my way home. It was crazy, and I had a cop right behind me that just drove right on by as I pulled to the shoulder. Got out and looked, didn't see anything hanging. Glad I did a search and found some useful advice.