weather change and few questions

[portlandareae28]

So pulled the 35's and aluminum wheels off of the truck (got a set of 2017 takeoffs with 300-400 miles), first trip on the freeway and the death wobble started.  as I drive the truck daily put a track bar in it the next day.  But the front end still feels sloppy, not necessarily in the steering wheel but I can feel every little bump in the floor under my clutch foot when it is resting on the floor.  Overall the truck is definitely way better with proper sized tires that it was engineered for.

 

Next, its raining again in seattle, I stop at the grocery store on my way home for my wife, every thing is fine.  I get back in the truck to leave, the first time I gently hit the brakes when rolling through the parking lot.  I barely push the pedal and it wants to lock everything up.  Once I get back up to speed, seems to go back to normal.  Is this a common problem?

 

edit:  forgot to mention the front sway bar is out, but can't imagine it would make anything feel loose

 

As Always guys, thank you in advance for any thoughts

 

Brian

 

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by portlandareae28

[Mopar1973Man]

1 hour ago, portlandareae28 said:

But the front end still feels sloppy, not necessarily in the steering wheel but I can feel every little bump in the floor under my clutch foot when it is resting on the floor

 

Check your control arm bushing. I've just seen a 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 with control arm bushing so sloppy the axle will roll forward and backwards with a little effort of push and pulling on the tires. Check your shocks this plays a roll in the death wobble. If you got a lift / leveling kit on the springs remove the kit to gain back the geometry of the axle.

2 hours ago, portlandareae28 said:

Next, its raining again in seattle, I stop at the grocery store on my way home for my wife, every thing is fine.  I get back in the truck to leave, the first time I gently hit the brakes when rolling through the parking lot.  I barely push the pedal and it wants to lock everything up.  Once I get back up to speed, seems to go back to normal.  Is this a common problem?

 

What year of truck? If your before 2001.5 you've got drum brakes and rather common when the drums have rust they will lock easy.

[portlandareae28]

thank you for the reply, couple of questions due to my ignorance

 

is there an easy way to "check the shocks" and "check control arm bushings"?  I do see a little play in the tie rod ends by having my wife turn the wheel back and forth a little.  Leveling kit was removed when tires were taken off.  

 

It is a 2001 so the brakes may have some rust, but yesterday was the first day of rain in months.

 

Thank You again for the help.

 

Brian

[Mopar1973Man]

2 minutes ago, portlandareae28 said:

is there an easy way to "check the shocks"

Unbolt the shock on the bottom and see if it push downward. If the shocks got over 100k miles it would be a good idea to just replace them. 

 

3 minutes ago, portlandareae28 said:

is there an easy way to" check control arm bushings"?

Like a friend showed me you just grab the front tire try to roll it forward and backwards with force. Like the truck I seen it on was 2005 Dodge 3500 the owner was able to show the control arm bushing failure easy as the axle rolled forward and backwards. The arms just banged back and forth on the mounts under the cab about where you feet would be. 

 

6 minutes ago, portlandareae28 said:

I do see a little play in the tie rod ends by having my wife turn the wheel back and forth a little.

Time to replace. 

 

7 minutes ago, portlandareae28 said:

It is a 2001 so the brakes may have some rust, but yesterday was the first day of rain in months.

My 1996 Dodge 1500 does the same thing it like the low speed stuff traveling my driveway to the way and just touch the brake barely the rear axle locks a few times. After driving quite a distance and using the truck it will quit. 

[portlandareae28]

Not seeing any slop in the control arm bushings, just some compression of the spring when I roll the truck back and forth with the tire.  I will try and drop the shock bolts out of the bottom this weekend.  I did have to push down on the shocks from the top in the hat with the 3 bolts when I put the  them back in after removing the level kit, but my ability to hold them down with one hand while putting the nuts on the hat bolts led me to believe they were due for some new shocks.

 

 

[portlandareae28]

well, driver's side shock is loose at the top, definitely needs to be replaced, everything up there is seized up, maybe I can put a pipe wrench on the bottom and the impact on top and tighten it up until the weekend