cure for death wobble on stock m1028

[Zero_cool]

My springs look ok but both my bushings are cracked.
Does anyone have a new spring that they can grab a measurement from?

 

[Brent.Cain]

My king pin springs was about 1/4inch shorter then the new ones i put in my truck from O.R.D.

 

[sweetk30]

Dana 60 Kingpin Springs and Bushings Kits from Offroad Design 4x4 Parts pic of saged out springs.

and if all apart just put new in.

also reid racing aka old name dedenbear now makes bronze alloy mix bushings that now replace the nylon stockers and fit much tighter for less internal play on the inside of the knuckle. even have the grease groves in them to lube the king pin. also steel roll pin to keep it from spinning in the knuckle. the stock nylon bushing can smere off the index and spin around and wear the bushing out faster.

guys on few 4x4 truck sites report death wobble gone and better steering. also thay have been tested in the baja and king of the hammers races and the stock nylons are gone after a race if thay make it to the end. but the bronze unit is like new after removed and checked.

off road design sells reid parts . just call and ask for the bushings. not on there site yet.

 

[Cucvnut]

Ord and wfo along with other shops say the bronze bushings are race applications only just fyi.

 

[Zero_cool]

Sweetk30,I'm definitely going to look into the bronze bushings. I like the fact they have steel pins.
The previous owner of my 1028 installed new bushings when i bought it about a year ago and the lock tab is already sheared off.
As for the spring its hard to compare my old spring to the new one in the pic, but since my trucks still on jack stands I'll take your good advice and just install new ones.
Thanks

 

[Cucvnut]

Dana 60 HD Bronze Upper King Pin Bushings | Dana 60 Arms | WFOConcepts.com

 

[Zero_cool]

You rock bro thanks

 

[Cucvnut]

no problem just let us know how they work in a non race app.

 

[jollyroger]

I just saw this thread......

With the adding a lift, suspension or body there is a lot in the steering geometry that changes. However the most signifigant change is the 39.5 super swampers. When we started to go from 36's, 37's to 39.5's and 41's, 42's on the Dana 60's we got the death wobble bad even though we replaced everything with the kingpins.

My friend Jimmy was going to scrap his Jeep he got so frustrated with death wobble. We played with everything. Alignment, steering geometry, dampers etc. Nothing worked. He was on a brand new set of 41 inch Super Swamper IROK radials from 36 inch bias IROK's. I started playing around with it and stacked some big flat washers on top of the kingpin springs. Basically I preloaded the springs for more tension and less spring travel. It worked. We totally took the death wobble out and it was litteraly a 100 MPH Jeep on 41's.

He drove it that way for 3 years and never had a problem after that.

What I figured was the bigger tires put more loading on the kingpins because of more leverage and a heavier wheel and tire package. So the spring needs to be stronger accordingly.

And we did not have adverse wear or any broken plastic cones. And we spent hundereds of dollars to not fix it and $5 in flat washers to fix it.

We have repeated this process on several other Dana 60's in my 4x4 club and it has worked every time.

You may have other issues other than kingpin but if everything else is good then try staking a few big flat washers on top of the springs.

 

[Cucvnut]

Good post. WFO now sells steering arms where you adjust the preload on the king pin spring.

High steer arms, crossover steering, cross-over, high-steer

 

[sweetk30]

off road design also sells springless steering arms and caps . just got to call n ask. not on there site yet.

 

[Cucvnut]

we got it covered thanks

 

[Zero_cool]

Would you guys change these upper king pins? Agreeing with sweetk30s advice I'm replacing everything else while I have it taken apart.
But I have a bad shoulder and if these king pins can be salvaged then i will leave them in.

Pic 1 and 2 are driver side pic 3 and 4 are passanger side.







The lower king pins are being replaced but I was just curious if you guys would consider them to be shot.
( see pic 5 and 6 )

Thanks

 

[Cucvnut]

yes you need a bigh allen wrech. if you lived closer i would help and let you borrow my tools.

 

[Castle Bravo]

Lacking a 7/8" allen wrench, my plan to remove mine, if I ever had to, was to weld a bar to a bolt with a 7/8" head on it.

 

[Zero_cool]

Yes you would replace the uppers? Would you consider the lowwers to be shot?
I have a 7/8 " allen wrench, the only tool i dont have ( yet ) is a 3/4 " torq wrench to torq the king pins.
I do appretiate the offer of help. If you lived closer i would buy you a beer...

 

[Zero_cool]

I bought my 7/8 " allen wrench at Northern tool...$16.99 made in USA
I was thinking something like that to but my welder is cranky.

 

[Castle Bravo]

I bought my 7/8 " allen wrench at Northern tool...$16.99 made in USA
I was thinking something like that to but my welder is cranky.

Oh, thats not bad. I remember seeing one for like $90 in the past. I would buy one for $17 to save doing the welding.


Edit - I don't see any now for $90, and that does seem pretty ridiculous, so maybe I am completely mistaken.

 

[chupa]

Until I get my M1028 "death wobble" issue resolved, I just anticipate it and try to stay out of the 30-45 mph zone. Abrupt breaking tends to initiate it too.

 

[sweetk30]

ya those uppers are smoked from water inside for years. those are so bad thay would grind apart a new nylon or the reid bronze unit bushings fast.

lowers are good. just the smaller upper part is used to hold the bearing. the little rusty section just fits snug in the lower knuckle.

and watch out some guys try welded bolts / lugnuts and cheep allens and find thay break off or blow out the upper part of the kingpin.

i used a 7/8 drive allen driver on 3/4 drive tatchet and 6ft pipe over it and thay popped good and spun right out easy .

but spec is 600 ft lbs tight. and and any good heavy truck semi repair shop will have a tourqe wrench that goes to 600 ft lbs for doin semi lug nuts . the heavy duty mech might even have a 7/8 drive allen unit.