1983 K30 with crazy random wheel wobble

[Mr Diesel]

My 1983 K30 has a random crazy wheel hop / wobble. It has had it since I bought it, and I have not driven it much because of it. Right now it seems pretty random, usually occurring at speeds below about 35 mph. When it happens the shaking seems to come from either front wheel. I can always tell which wheel it is coming from, and sometimes it is the right, sometimes the left. It feels like the wheel is about to come off, like the wheel itself is wobbling back and forth. The truck shakes violently. The faster I am going the worse it is. The only way to get it to go away is to slow down to 10-15 mph. It feels exactly like it is coming from the wheels or hub/suspension, and I even have tried shifting into neutral to rule out drivetrain issues. Sometimes it happens when I turn, sometimes when I'm just driving straight. Bumps in the road do not seem to cause it.

I have jacked up the front end and pulled and prodded everything I can think of. The sway bar bushings and front leaf spring bushings were bad, so I replaced them. Everything else seems tight, and much of it looks new. The shocks and dampener don't look old. The steering components don't look old at all. I took the front tires to a shop and had them re-balanced. Someone told me the hubs might be grabbing so I replaced the auto lockers with new Warn lockers. I'm not sure what else to fix. At this point I'm just gonna have to jack it up again and keep looking.

I don't want to just throw money at it. Most of the stuff I have replaced was already worn out, but apparently I haven't replaced the real culprit yet. Sometime in the next few days I'm gonna jack it up again and keep looking. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[bake74]

     This time I would leave it on the ground and check all your front end components.  By jacking your truck up, you are transferring weight from being compressed to uncompressed.  Since your problem is when the weight is sprung, check it that way.
      I do not know if you have checked out your brake system or not.  I have had 2 other vehicles have the same problem in the past.  Both ended up being warped rotors.  They did not looked warped until they were checked on a machine.  But my front end would wobble and the faster I went, the worst it got.

[fitz]

Time to replace the bushings & springs in your Dana 60.
If you google "Dana 60 Death Wobble" you will find some great articles on it.

[81_Chevy]

did u check for bad ball joints?

[frotosride]

After, you try checking everyting under load jack it up, remove your tierod from both knuckels and give it all you got to try and shake the wheels individually. your spindle bearings may also be the culprit. Had the beginnings of this problem but stopped it before it got too bad. Granted i have a 10 bolt but the basic function and operation are the same.

[bd]

Recheck the front end components for looseness.  Pay particular attention to any looseness in the tie-rod & drag-link ends.  Check the frame for cracks, especially around the steering gearbox mounting.  If nothing is worn out or cracked, have the alignment checked.  Excessive caster can cause a death wobble, as well as worn parts.

[Sartobuilt]

X2 on the "death wobble".

[ehjorten]

Willing to bet it is your king-pin bushings and springs.

[Engineer]

I have rebuilt 2 Dana60 fronts.

You should know that the king pins torque to 600 ft/lbs, and it usually requires way more than that to break them loose. The king pin takes a 7/8" Allen wrench.

Search pirate4x4.com to see a step x step on how to do it.

The good news is that all of the parts are pretty cheap. Can probably get by with just the king pin, and bushing, however, I highly recommend replacing the king pin spring when doing this. Mine were all permanently compressed. Of course you will need all new seals as well.

[Engineer]

I should add that if you are running big tires adding an extra flat spacer between the spring, and bushing will help preload the pin, and bushing.

[pholliday1]

Is this truck in stock configuration, or has it been lifted? if so give details. Everyone is right your having death wobble issues.

[Mr Diesel]

Just thought I would post an FYI update on this. Finally figured out where the problem was coming from. The front hub driveshafts were dragging at random, causing the wheel hop / wobble. It did it with the old auto hubs and the brand new Warn hubs I put on.

I drove it for several hundred miles, mostly around town, with just the hubs locked. Never hopped once since they were BOTH turning instead of just one randomly dragging. I unlocked them last week and have driven it some. It hasn't hopped or wobbled yet, so I'm hoping everything is freed up and fixed. 

[pholliday1]

Can u give more details on"front hub axle dragging"?

[scorpion]

X2 on the "death wobble".

If it us, pull the king pin cover and add a washer or two or three, reinstall the cap, and grease.  That will resolve the aping tension issue and remove the death wobble and works well as long as the components haven't failed.

Seems odd that a lockout could be causing all of that though.  Death wobble doesn't usually come from the hub in my experience.  Grinding, heat, and all things really bad come from the hub.

[Mr Diesel]

Can u give more details on"front hub axle dragging"?

The driveshafts coming out of the differential and extending out to the u-joint at the wheel. These were randomly dragging, which is why sometimes the bounce came from the right and sometimes the left.