DUKW Death Wobble - Solution?

Anyone ever experienced the dreaded death wobble - but on a DUKW (Not CUCV)?
Within the last 6 months I have had 4 different drivers all experience the death wobble, and I cant seem to narrow down the problem. It normally occurs at about 35 to 40 mph, usually following a change of road condition, pot hole, etc. (When seen from a following vehicle the front wheels look like they are going to come off!).

Remedies tried so far include: Tire inflation/deflation, wheel nuts, wheel balancing, steering box overhaul etc, but without any noticible difference.

All suggestions welcome. (I have located, via search, all suggested remedies for CUCV with no luck so far).

Ryan (RDUKW), have you ever experienced this? I am more than willing to revisit anything I have already tried if this has resolved the issue for someone else.

Thanks,

Julian (aka "Needle")

I personally have not had it happen in my DUKW. But I have been in DUKW's that did do it and usually it originates from a sloppy steering box or ball joints and when you hit a bump it starts to wobble and the slop just amplifies it. I would go around all your ball joints with a pry bar looking for any movement and also put someone in the DUKW and have them move the wheel back and forth looking for loose joints.

Ryan

Did you balance all your drive shafts? Are they equiped with new (Not NOS) joints. Are the joints propperly greased?
Wolf

Wolf.Dose said:

Did you balance all your drive shafts? Are they equiped with new (Not NOS) joints. Are the joints propperly greased?
Wolf

Click to expand...

I have never heard of a drive shaft causing death wobble. If a drive shaft was out of balance or U joints worn it would cause a vibration not the front wheels to wobble like they were coming of the truck.

Ryan

Also check your toe and make sure your toed in.

Ryan

Thanks for the quick replies. When the temperature gets down to below 110 in the main workshop, and the B-29 gets out of my way, I will try your suggestions.

As for drive shafts....I have no idea how old they are or when they were last balanced. Also I dont know if the joints are New/NOS joints etc, but they are well greased. I may have to go further into the drive train if I can't find any "slop" anywhere else.


And I do walk funny, but I'm not sure if thats due to toe in or these ****ed plastic kneecaps

Julian

Ryan,

Do you know what the recommended toe-in should be? (I'm at home and the manual is somewhere in the workshop, so I am just being lazy by asking)

Thanks.

The TM 9-801 calls out 1/16" to 3/16" toe in. I typically error on the higher end.

Ryan

Split the difference and go for 1/8th in.. that's the number I see in other TM's.

King pins are another suspect... basically your wheels are not being held straight and tight allowing them to wobble. You should be seeing tire cupping also.. so start wiggeling things like tie rods, hubs, knuckles and 2x check the wheel bearing preload... anything that would allow the tire/steering to wobble.