2011 Ram "Death Wobble"

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
As long as the front end is all tight and in alignment, it should be fine.

This^

never had the death wobble on my 2008 1 ton,
but i had a 86 jeep yj that would do it.. until i replaced the horizontal steering shock. the tie rods were o.k.

Had around 20 Ram's during the years of the death wobble, out of the 20 8 actually did the death wobble. Out of the 8 5 were fixed with the recalls, the other 2 still had the wobble after the recall. I put dampeners on the 2 wobblers which didn't fix the problem but what ended up working was replacing the factory tires with 10 ply tires.

Had the recalls done on tie rods but never any sign of wobble or any other front end problems.

I did a tad of research of the so called "Death Wobble" when I experienced something that I felt certainly was a "death wobble" on my 96 Dodge 1 ton dually. Long story short after replacing a few un-necessary parts...it ended up being the driver side front "spindle". Talk about trying to find a replacement....I had to track down a junk yard one that solved the issue...thank goodness!

I've had the death wobble twice with my truck. Fixed the issue myself. Front dampener had a dead spot where if it was extended a certain amount, I had no dampening. Bought a bilstein, all good now. All solid axle front ends regardless of brand are susceptible to wobble. The Ram recall changes the steering geometry for that year to make it less susceptible to wobble, it's an updated tie rod design. Having tight components, good dampening, proper alignment and good tires with proper rotation prevents the wobble.

I have a 12 2500 and have never had the death wobble and didn't get the recall. I even called Chrysler and they explained why my truck didn't need it. Call any Ram dealer, give them your VIN and they can tell if it had the tie rod replaced. I'd be more concerned about the DPF, EGR system than the death wobble.

The DW is caused by worn steering and/or front axle components.

Father in Law's '98.5 2500, leveled
Friend had two '99 2500, one leveled, one lifted
My dad's '01 3500, stock
My '05 2500, stock
My dad's '14 3500, stock

Out of all of those, and all the miles, I know of only one death wobble episode happening, and it was to me on my dad's '01. It had at least 250k miles on it at the time, I was in a slow sweeping left turn at around 50mph, running empty. I crossed a diagonal expansion joint on the highway for a bridge and the front end started wobbling. I lightly pressed the brakes and slowed to at least under 40 and it stopped. I sped back up like nothing ever happened.
My dad said that is the first time the truck had ever done that (he was riding with me). That was a few years ago, and it hasn't done it since.

From my interweb cruising, it seems more likely to happen on a lifted/modified truck versus a stock one. With that said, it happened to me on a stock suspension, stock sized tire.

Death Wobble is the least of my worries.

Never had the problem but done the recall , no hassle .

My 11 HO Dually had the tie rod recall done and washer bottle. That's the only thing it was in the dealer for. NEVER a problem with "death wobble". I did experience it once on my 98 2500 RAM 4x4. It will wake you up!!!