front end death wobble need help

[chevystudz7105]

a friend of mine has a 99 single cab short box chevy with a 6in lift.  when she gets up around 45-50  most of the time she gets that death wobble and has to slow down till it goes away before se can continue.  first thing i found was a bad wheel bearing so i replaced that with a new one and checked the other  which checked out fine.  no play or anything in it.   did not fix the problem.  the other thing  we found that is wrong is  where the cv shaft  bolts to the front differential  right behind that  6 bolt flange there is a bearing.   it is starting to get pretty bad so there is play in the shafto n the driver side.  so i put in a set of old cv shafts that were cut so the only part to them is the part that tightens on the wheel bearing so nothing is attached to the front diff.   we took it for a ride and it drove perfect.  well the next day  she called and said the truck still has a shake to it but not as bad as before.  then a little while later  she told me the death wobble is back when she hits and  if she lets off the gas around 50.    i have looked over tie rod ends,  idler arm, pitman arm and i cant find any steering parts that are bad.   i cant find any bolts or anything on the front end that are loose and im completely lost here on what would be causing this.  does any one have any ideas what may be causing this?     

oh and none of this started until after we rotated and balanced the tires.   and the tires are in great condition  just normal signs of wearing  on them.

thanks for any help or ideas.     

[73chevytruck]

If it all started after you had the tires. Balenced I think it has something to do with that. I had a death wobble in my 91 chevy and changed the tires and it went away.

[chevystudz7105]

is there any water in the front 2 tires       yes i said water   redo the tires or swap them around again

    hmm  and the truck drives straight   not wearing out  tires  good luck

i swapped the tires for her and when rolling them around they didnt feel like they had any water in them and didnt roll like they had water in them.   but i will check again


i wish had my old set of 6 lug wheels and tires so i could toss them on and run those and see if for some reason it is the tires, but all my stuff is 8 lug now.

[OHEARN.2012]

idk my pickup does the same thing death wobble bad between 35-35 after 55 it quits i have a bad ball joint idler arm and pitman arm my guess would be to change idler and pitman you get a lifetime waranty and there an easy fix

[bubba]

check the tow, mine was doing the same thing and i found the tires were turned in on front

[chevystudz7105]

i traded her trucks tonight and one thing i noticed on my way home is if you take off slow  it seems to get the death wobble around 45ish but if you take off a little faster  it doesnt seem to do it.     guess ill just have to wait till tomorrow  when i get out there in day light to look at it

[J.C.]

ever gotten an alignment?

[bmwallace_88]

id say pitman / idler arm as well, i had to replace them on my blazturd because of the death wobble. lol

[OHEARN.2012]

id say pitman / idler arm as well, i had to replace them on my blazturd because of the death wobble. lol

replace these and they should fix ur probs man

[Cannaert]

What kind of tires are you running, Bias Ply or Radials?  That can make a differences.
Check out all the front end parts.  Tie Rods, Center Link, Idler and Pit man arms, Adjuster selves as well.
Check you toe. Make sure the Steering wheel is straight. Get a tape measure and measure the center to center of the front of the tire and then of the rear of the tire to see what you got.  Look in a Hayes/Chiltons manual to see if its with in spec.

All this stuff can cause an issue and drive you nuts trying to find out witch thing it can be. 

[RIP_K52007]

its probably either a bad tire, a bent rim, or a bad idler arm. I had a nissan that would about throw you out of the truck around 40mph if ya didnt slow down and let it smooth out, that was the idler arm.

[old school truck dude]

Put it on the alignment machine and go somewheres else and have the tires re-balanced. 

[chevystudz7105]

the bracket that hte idler arm attaches to was bad.  helped it out but cam back.  ended up being a hump in the tire.  so she is going to be replacing them sometime soon

[old school truck dude]

bad tire will def do it