CUCV Wobble Wobble

[CamoCUCV]

ITs happen now once to me and twice to my wife. Driving along and all of a sudden you would thing the wheel fell off or something. The whole truck shaking more like rocking motion like either flat tire or like your running over logs. When It happen to me I pulled over and immediately checked to see if the wheel fell off. BUT I cant ever find anything wrong. It will stop doing it and not do it for a month then all of a sudden again. I don't see anything loose on the suspension. I'm guessing I need to check the drums? Maybe brakes are sticking? It usually happens at lower speeds. I thought maybe the HMMWV tires could have something to do with it. Has any one ever heard of such a thing? IT's not a shake or vibration its like your driving on one oval wheel.

 

[Tinstar]

Do a search for Death Wobble.

You will get tons of info on the cause and how to fix it.

 

[cucvrus]

Do the research. It is called death wobble. It can me any number of things. Bad tires, sticking calipers, worn suspension and steering parts, steering damper, bad steering box, cracked frame, alignment, and the list goes on and on. I have had trucks that got it and it was a nightmare to resolve. i have had other trucks that I could never make do it. But if you have one that does it. It becomes a Jeep thing. Jeep= Just Empty Every Pocket. So good Luck. I am sure the HMMWV wheels and tires are NOT making the situation better. But my Son has the same 24 bolt 37" HMMWV wheels and tires with the run flats on a 1984 M1028A1 and we never balanced them. It goes down the interstate at 70 and has no shake or wobble. He tows with it all the time. Last week he had a broken spring bolt in the Dana 60 housing and only discovered it because the steering wheel was not centered anymore> Good Luck. Have a great day.

 

[CamoCUCV]

O great I love spending countless hours looking for something I don't know what it is.

 

[Chaski]

Cucvrs gave a pretty exhaustive list of causes. Only specific one I can add is kingpins. If you don't know what death wobble is you should research it on the forum so that way you can spend countless hours (maybe less) fixing the problem.

More info would help you get better answers.

What model is it?
How many miles on it?
How much lift (if any)?
Stock steering or crossover?
How fast were you going when it would start the wobble?
Did something trigger the wobble? (Rail crossing etc)?

 

[Drock]

In regards to your HMMWV tires, I had a similar experience but with the old stock 31" tall Goodyear tires when I first got my truck. Sometimes they'd run fine, then other times wobble like ****! It turned out to be the tires dry rotting from the inside. I went to get them balanced and my tire guy found handfuls of rubber dust inside the tires, knocking them out of balance randomly.

 

[dmetalmiki]

O great I love spending countless hours looking for something I don't know what it is.

You do not have to spend countless hours, first, have the tracking and alighnment checked. There IS a FAULT..check for wear, however slight, AND whilst they are checking alignment have them check wheel ballance and tires.

 

[CamoCUCV]

Cucvrs gave a pretty exhaustive list of causes. Only specific one I can add is kingpins. If you don't know what death wobble is you should research it on the forum so that way you can spend countless hours (maybe less) fixing the problem.

More info would help you get better answers.

What model is it?
How many miles on it?
How much lift (if any)?
Stock steering or crossover?
How fast were you going when it would start the wobble?
Did something trigger the wobble? (Rail crossing etc)?

Its a M1008 1984
I believe steering is stock
91000 miles
6 inch lift
started wobble for me when i was in stop and go traffic doing about 15-20mph
My wife said did it to her at slow speed too. When I stopped and took off again it stopped?

 

[Bob H]

the occurrence at slow speed indicates a tire problem to me

 

[Chaski]

Can you post a picture of your steering linkage from the box to whatever it connects to? A 6" lift is big enough that steering geometry can get a bit wonky.

Something else you can do is park somewhere good and flat like a large mega store parking lot with your wheels as straight as they can be. Make sure your tire pressures are similar. Squat behind your pickup and sight down the outside of the rear tires looking at the edge of the front ones. Do this on both sides. They should be in the same plane, or nearly the same plane. If the front wheels have negitive camber (tilt in at the top), your kingpin bushings / bearings may be toast.

A M1008 I worked on only had 24k on it, but the drivers side kingpin setup was bad enough from contamination that you could see the wheel tilted inward. We pulled it down to the knuckle and replaced the upper kingpin, spring and bushing, along with the lower bearing and race. No more wobble for that pickup. Not saying that is your problem, but sighting down the side is an easy quick and dirty check.

 

[4x4 Forever]

I have also seen it caused by a worn out steering damper....a multitude of things can cause it.