Death Wobble
 

I have a 1968 GMC 1500 2wd and it has a death wobble from hell when i hit a bump in the road. I assume it is caused by wheel bearings, tie rods, ball joints, and pitman arm and sterring box. Should i replace it all or just start with obvious. I recieved this truck from my father in law and it has been in their family since 1972 so i do not want to do things half assed.

Re: Death Wobble
 

Look at the last 9 words in your original statement ... that might be the best advice you might receive.

Barry

Re: Death Wobble
 

worn ball joints are notorious for the dreaded wobble ...

Re: Death Wobble
 

if you wait for it to fail piece by piece you may end up with nothing and the crusher gets what left of the twisted wreckage

Re: Death Wobble
 

I had DW on my 82 and ended up swapping out all tie rods, ball joints, pitman arm, idler arm and control arm bushings. Might as well do it all while you are there, rather than having to keep taking it apart when you replace another part later still trying to fix it.

Re: Death Wobble
 

Take it to a shop and have them inspect it. It could be an idler arm. And you should also renew the brake system as soon as possible.

Re: Death Wobble
 

Each time I buy one of these old trucks to fix up I take it to a shop to have a safety inspection done, of course it helps that my oldest son is a safety inspector where he works.

As stated above it is best to fix everything at once, but sometimes the budget gets in the way.

Some things are easy to check and replace like the idler and pitman arms and normally will not require a re-alignment.

Bottom line-make sure the truck is safe!!!

Re: Death Wobble
 

If it was a newer vehicle or a different problem I wouldn't have said just replace everything, but in an old vehicle if one joint is going out, there is a good chance that the others are too.

Re: Death Wobble
 

I replaced everything from the idler arm, center link, tie rod assemblies, pitman and gearbox. Now it handles like new.

Re: Death Wobble
 

Thats what i thought just thought i would check.