GMC Yukon Death Wobble, need help

[Madgrty]

I have a 2wd GMC Yukon, lowered 2 inches with a ground force kit. It has KMC Slide 24" wheels on it, right around 35-40 mph I start getting death wobble. I've had the wheels checked for balancing, they are hub centric and have never caused issues for me before. The truck sat for some time while I was waiting for a good day to put a transmission in it. It's not all the time that it has death wobble, it comes and goes as it wants. While picking up speed or cruising, not on the brakes. (Sometimes it won't shake but.9/10 times the wobble is there) I have heard it make some weird noises when I make a left turn though (more of a clunk sound). I can't figure this out and I don't want to start buying parts for it just to find out it wasn't the issue. If anyone has any ideas or has had this issue before please let me know what it was! Thank you!

 

[omega123]

check all front end joints for tightness and wheelbearings could be anything up there really.

 

[Madgrty]

It seems the pitman arm and idler arm have some play in them, I guess I'll start there. I checked everything else before I wrote this, I must have missed these

 

[TheAutumnWind]

It seems the pitman arm and idler arm have some play in them, I guess I'll start there. I checked everything else before I wrote this, I must have missed these

Good start. That is a likely culprit.

 

[Madgrty]

Looking at ordering a Cognito Brace kit while I'm at it. Also, I have no steering stabilizer? Shouldn't there be one there?

 

[Donnie Yukonie]

This is the first time I hear a lowered 2wheel drive truck has the death wobble. Usually common in SAS lifted trucks or trucks with live front axles period

 

[fiatdale]

^ Yes, same here. Our wrangler had it and would scare the shit out of my wife when it would happen. Like said above, check all your ball joints, pitman, etc. If its higher mileage and never replaced - couldn't hurt to swap it all out.

In theory you shouldn't need a steering stabilizer. We had a dual on the wrangler and it still had the death wobble.

 

[Madgrty]

If it's not "Death Wobble" it's pretty close to it. Anything over 35-40 the steering wheel and front end start shaking. The faster you go the worse it gets. I have noticed around turns it seems to smooth itself out though, which would make sense as to why the pitman arm and idler arm seem loose. I too always thought death wobble was in 4x4 or lifted applications for the most part.

 

[Madgrty]

^ Yes, same here. Our wrangler had it and would scare the shit out of my wife when it would happen. Like said above, check all your ball joints, pitman, etc. If its higher mileage and never replaced - couldn't hurt to swap it all out.

In theory you shouldn't need a steering stabilizer. We had a dual on the wrangler and it still had the death wobble.

At this point I'm debating on just doing an overhaul on the front suspension parts. I'm at 130,000 miles so it probably wouldn't hurt. A lot of the miles were highway but back when I was in college, I had to drive through the city so the truck saw a lot of bad bumpy roads, which probably didn't help much. Anyone here know of any "performance" front end parts for these things? If I replace things I have a bad habit of getting anything better than OEM... Lol

 

[Donnie Yukonie]

I kinda read this thread over , since the drop did you get an alignment?