Death Wobble Diagnosis Help

I'm currently diagnosing my recent occurrence of death wobble, just looking to pick some brains on the issue. Here's the rundown: 2003 Denali XL AWD, 192K mi. I replaced inner/outer tie rods (ACDelco Pro) and wheel hubs (Timken) and had an alignment done immediately after (around March 2022).

Wobble crept in slowly on my way back from a trip to Tampa (700mi round) this past weekend, and it's now in full send (basically undrivable). I jacked it up and checked all of the lugs and for play in the hubs, all are solid. I'm going to get the tires rebalanced and rotate them this week just to eliminate that (305/40R22s all round, about 4K miles on them). Next I'll check the CV Axles and U-Joints on both driveshafts. Beyond that, what should I be checking (and potentially replacing) to identify and resolve the issue? If you've experienced this, what did you conclude was causing it?

I'm very tempted to proactively replace all of the main suspension parts to prevent issues down the road, but my wallet would prefer I snowball it, cheapest parts first.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Describe the death wobble please for us not-so-smart folks.

Waitaminutehere, this isn’t a Jeep forum.

The only time I’ve have anything similar to death wobble was related to the wheels.

I had 24x10 iroc replica wheels that would follow the road like crazy. If there were any imperfections in the road my wheels would follow it left and right. I considered installing aftermarket steering stabilizer but I never did.

Another time I bought some 2nd hand wheels that had a smaller 6 lug pattern like the trailblazers. Well a “qualified machine shop” bored the holes out to fit larger lug pattern. 1 trip down the highway and it wobbled so bad at one point that’s all I needed to scrap them wheels and cut my losses.

Never happened with any of the other wheels I ran on the Tahoe. If I was you I’d say you’re in the right track and rotate wheels front to back and see if maybe one of your wheels is way out of whack.

Chase, how about the control arm bushings and ball joints? If they were replaced, when and with what? Sway bar bushings and end links? Shocks? Springs?

There was a guy on here with a lifted truck that had an awful wobble. He finally pulled the passenger side strut assembly out and discovered that the shock's strut rod was broken in half, it nearly killed him went he took it apart. Different generation but worth a look.

Big Mama said:

Describe the death wobble please for us not-so-smart folks.

Click to expand...

So it's basically a wobble (side to side or up and down movement) of the vehicle during accel/decel and it's felt mostly through the steering wheel and center console. It shakes to the point of spewing drinks in the cup holders, rattling anything that may be loose, and makes you feel like the vehicle is going to explode or fall apart. At best, it's extremely hard to control the steering wheel until you reduce speed or come to a stop.

From what I've gathered here and on other sources, the tires/wheels seem to be the most common culprit (lumps, flat spots, unbalanced), which is why I'm having them balanced and rotated first. I have already got underneath and checked my tie rods, hubs, cv axles, end links, u-joints, and pitman/idler arms, so if it isn't the tires then I'm at a loss. There's a laundry list of components that could cause it. I may end up letting a shop "diagnose" it, but I never feel confident that they can find anything that I can't.

swathdiver said:

Chase, how about the control arm bushings and ball joints? If they were replaced, when and with what? Sway bar bushings and end links? Shocks? Springs?

There was a guy on here with a lifted truck that had an awful wobble. He finally pulled the passenger side strut assembly out and discovered that the shock's strut rod was broken in half, it nearly killed him went he took it apart. Different generation but worth a look.

Click to expand...

Solid idea, I appreciate it. I got new ACDelco Pro upper arms (not installed), but after examining the OEMs on the vehicle when I did my hubs and tie rods the ball joint and everything looked fine. Sway bar end links look fine as well, no play. I am considering shocks since it has 192K on it, I just want to make sure I get the right ones to avoid the autoride issues I've read about here.

My last daily was an 05 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. So while I have not personally suffered "Death Wobble", it is an area I have seen others dealing with often.
Majority of cases come back to worn track bars or drag links.

Track bar keeps the solid axle in line with the vehicle's center line while it is flexing and moving up and down.
If a track bar is worn, the axle can start shifting side to side after hitting bumps or uneven road. NOT GOOD!

The drag link connects the Pitman arm to the tie rod to control steering movement left and right. Worn drag links can allow the wheels and hubs to flop left and right and make the steering uncontrollable at times. NOT GOOD either...

That said... The Tahoes don't have a solid axle, track bar or drag links.

If you were experiencing anything like the true "Death Wobble" seen on solid axle vehicles like the Jeeps... I would agree that you might look at wheels/tires and the things connected between the pitman arm and the hubs. You already did the tie rods, so maybe some other connecting point between the steering box and the hubs are the issue?

I am not a Tahoe steering or suspension expert. Just thought I would pass along the little bit I knew about true death wobble, just in case it helps you in your diagnosis.

Good luck!!

You also need an alignment. Check Caster.

Ford SD pickups were famous for this.

have the front inspected (or get under there and get a helper to move the steering back and forth and take a very close look) and have the alignment re-checked maybe something came loose enough to throw it off, in my experience it's always been an alignment issue. I have had tires & wheels cause vibration but not wobble.