Cucv front end shaking problems

[VLAD1234]

I recently purchased a 1986 m1008. The truck was sold with military h1 wheels and tires on it with no stock alternatives. After reaching 35-40 m.p.h. The front end begins to wobble violently. I was told the steering box was bad and replacing it did not help at all. I was further told the next step was to replace the shocks and bushings. I'm seeking a second opinion before going forward with those repairs. Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[glcaines]

Assuming the front end is not worn out, I would take it to a front end shop and get them to spin the wheels while on the vehicle. It could be a bent wheel, bad tire, etc. I had an old Chevy truck that did really bad, starting at about 30 MPH. It turned out to be a bad tire. Looking at the tire, it appeared to be perfect. After swapping the wheel and tire with a rear wheel, the problem went away. The bad tire did fine on the rear.

 

[dstang97]

replace king pin bushings. Off road Design ~30 bucks

 

[Cucvnut]

welcome to the world of death wobble its an easy fix like Dstang said

 

[steelsoldiers]

Sounds like a case of "Death Wobble." It seems to be fairly common across all brands of solid axle trucks. I had it in my 1009 and it had bad ball-joints. I had it in my Ram 2500 and it was a bad track bar bushing.

The king-pins are a fairly common source of DW in the Dana 60 in CUCV M1008's and would probably be the first thing I would check too. Jack the front end off the ground and see if you have any lateral play or clunking when trying to move both the top and bottom of the tire in and out. It's best if you can have someone watching the outer "C" when doing this so you don't mistake wheel bearing slop for king pin slop. HTH.

 

[WARWAG]

Rebuild the King Pins. Simple fix. I will be doing it as well even though I dont have the Death Wobble yet. My truck wants to follow grooves and such. Either way you should just rebuild them. Its cheap and then you wont have to worry about it for decades! Get plenty of high end grease as well. Also check your tie rod ends. have someone turn the wheel as you watch the tie rod ends. See if theres any play. Dont grease them first! Check them as they are now. If theres no play then go ahead and grease them while your there. Another thing to check are the tires themselves. That can be a huge problem if there out of round, unbalanced or you have a bent rim. That will give you all kinds of grief. You may want to have them balanced if you havent done that yet. The wrangler H1 tires just suck on the street anyway. Good off road but ride like crap even when you can get them balanced.

 

[Marty G]

if the h1 wheels have Bean recentered Thea mite be welded in off center (most wear)
Spin them on a balancer and see if the wheel wobbles.

 

[dave wells]

mine had the same problem so i ask a good buddy who is a ase mechanic he told me to pack wheel bearings and crazy as it sounds to turn rotars an replace brakes i did and since then i havent had a problem dives like new truck
so i would check rotars and wheel bearing hope this helps

 

[alpm3]

steering stbilizer shock

 

[alpm3]

just did one at the unit i still work at an army base as contractor

 

[Rich Johnson]

I have the death wobble a little bit too. Usually manifests when I am slowing down and turning the wheel. I will look into the kingpins after I fix all the other darn problems I have.

 

[junkridge]

replace king pin bushings. Off road Design ~30 bucks

 

[ken]

Get someone to slightly turn the steering wheel back and forth. While you get under the front ans inspect the tierod ends and leafspring bushings. Also whach the kingpin bushings to see if they just rotate like they are sopposed to. Or if the move in a way they shouldn't. That way you can replace what is bad instead of chasing it.My 86 M1028 has the death wobble also. My problem is EVERYTHING is wore out. No one ever greased anything in this truck. I have replaced everything but the wheel bearings so far. And it will still do it when coasting about 40MPH.

 

[ranchhopper]

steering stbilizer shock

I agree I just replaced mine and the wobble went away its a cheap fix.

 

[merace19]

I had a 1008 with hummer rims and tires. The tires are just like squares at time. Or a ply in them was broke. Bias ply just road e like crap.
i swapped them with a set of goodyears and the wobble went away. Hummer tires can look new but have been supject to some nasty offroading

 

[DokWatson]

Steering stabilizers only hide the real problems.

A few things to check-

Get the tires checked out and balanced should be the first step.

Tighten every castle nut you can find on the front end, make sure it has a cotter pin.

Jack truck up, push on the wheels to check for play in the tie rod. If the wheel can move -without- the tie rod moving even a little bit is too much play.


Check the steering box bolts, make sure they are tight. Check the steering block bolts too. If these break on the road, you have zero steering.

If that doesn't fix it, need to tear into the knuckle and replace kingpin components.

 

[ranchhopper]

I know what the problem is on my truck the front rotors are a bit warped but with the cold weather I am going to run it until good weather comes back. My steering stabilizer was leaking fluid it was so bad when I took it off there was no resistance at all when pushing the ram in. It had a death wobble only when hitting the hooks hard I can feel the warped rotors when applying the brakes but the new stabilizer took away the wobble when braking hard.

 

[SPECIALTYLC]

The factory doesnt put those stabilizer shocks on there for looks. Its to stop the wobble which a brand NEW truck can have.

 

[rnd-motorsports]

Yes as stated change the king pins first the dana 60 is known for this!! LOOK here! Dana 60 Kingpin Springs and Bushings Kits from Offroad Design 4x4 Parts Good luck