08 with death wobble & vib - Page 8

**adkl1** · 01-07-2008, 06:17 PM

its for sure death wobble just go to the jeep forums they have alot of problems with this mostly on lifted jeeps but stock ones have it too... it could be alot of things up front causing it so its hard to find witch part is defective...

Clancy · 01-07-2008, 07:26 PM

Wow - I've been ignoring this thread up until now but I just read it all, and wow.

Here are my thoughts; The Goodyears suck. I've never owned a set of goodyear that made it more than 75% to the designed lifetime and retained any amount of roundness - I've always had at least one of the go out of round. But that's not the problem here as previous tests have demonstrated...

Also - if it was in the wheel/tires up front, the steering would would definitely be shaking too. Several trucks back I had a Tacoma with Firestones (the ones that blew up or whatever they did.) They were very sensitive too, well, everything. Some days they were smooth, so days they were rough as a cob. never figured out the pattern - they were just plain freaky tires. But again, it's not the tires...

Did anyone follow you to watch the rear tires roll at wobble speed?

Another crazy idea might be to strap it to a dyno and put a cam-corder under the truck on the driveshaft and/or rear and drive it to wobble speed. Surely something is not aligned right...

**adkl1** · 01-07-2008, 07:40 PM

im getting no feeling out of the steering wheel but i can feel the suspention going crazy.. its hard to explain i guess but it just feels like the shocks cant keep up with the bumps... But as far as the side to side shake/vib i really think it is coming from the drive train sense it gets worse if the motor loads up like going up a hill with cruise control on...

PatrickL · 01-07-2008, 08:13 PM

I am very interested to find out what is going on with this problem. I am in the process of trying to sell my tacoma so I can afford a Pro-4x KC. I am a bit concerned about picking up a truck that has a such a problem so please keep us informed on what you find out.

One question though....is this isolated to the 08's or do the 08.5's have the same problem. If they don't that might help those of you with 08's figure out what is going on and get it fixed. That whole 08 vs 08.5 thing seems odd to me so maybe it was a way they could fix such problems in the middle of a model year.

TNPro4x · 01-07-2008, 08:28 PM

OK!!! Just came off the highway about an hour ago. At about 60mph it starts. At cruise during a 3 mile straight stretch of smooth highway, middle lane, I set cruise at 70mph. No vibration at all through steering wheel. Tracked starighter than any other car/truck I have ever owned. I was actually surprised how long it stayed between the lines with out any input... OK< heres the PROBLEM, as stated earlier by many others the rear end of the truck, the bed especially, starts vibrating. I can see the rear view mirrors start to vibrate too. Now during the vibration I tried a quick lane change and the trucks handles just fine however the vibration is still there to the point of seeing the bed vibrate in the vibrating mirors.. lol ( that just sounds funny). Anyways, I sped up to 80 and pfm vibration gone... Maybe just a slight residual but the faster I went the more it became stable up to 105mph then stretch over and slowed back down to 70mph where once again vibration came back. I tried a few more times back and forth on the same stretch of highway and did notice whenever engine is loaded( being tourqued) the vibration is more pronounced than when just coasting. Ok, so short of propping the truck up on jacks and taking it up to 70mph and posting the video on youtube and letting all the world watch my stupid act of destroying a 35k truck while it falls of the jacks and crashes into my house.... I have no idea on how to find out what is actually causing the vibration.

Now, I hate rancho shocks, bought them for an old CJ7 I had and realized they where junk an got rid of them. Hopefully the PRG performance setup will be a much needed improvement, BUT I have a gut feeling its not JUST the shocks and must bee something more causing this vibration. BUT then why at 100 is the truck really stable??? Hopefully somebody out there smarter than me can solve this problem.... Bueller< Bueller....

Clancy · 01-07-2008, 08:49 PM

Dyno and a camcorder should show all - especially since you guys are claiming its worse under load...

HudsonValleyTitan · 01-07-2008, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatrickL

I am very interested to find out what is going on with this problem. I am in the process of trying to sell my tacoma so I can afford a Pro-4x KC. I am a bit concerned about picking up a truck that has a such a problem so please keep us informed on what you find out.

One question though....is this isolated to the 08's or do the 08.5's have the same problem. If they don't that might help those of you with 08's figure out what is going on and get it fixed. That whole 08 vs 08.5 thing seems odd to me so maybe it was a way they could fix such problems in the middle of a model year.

I have an 08 PRO-4X CC LWB and have no vibrations at all, so we know it's not one particular model. I have yet to take it on the highway though so I'll do that tomorrow and let you all know if and what I find.

Herbpov · 01-07-2008, 09:47 PM

It's called HARMONIC MOTION.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_harmonic_motion

HudsonValleyTitan · 01-07-2008, 10:17 PM

Ok...so he plays the harmonica! STOP IT! Problem solved...lol.

TitanJim · 01-08-2008, 06:55 AM

Same exact problem here on my '07 SE non-offroad Crew Cab (late build date of 3/07). Uphill seems worse, between 70 and 75 mph. I am having a hard time believing it is the shocks, even on the the smoothest highways, the vibration is bad.

BayStateSuks · 01-08-2008, 09:17 AM

Any ideas what a new driveshaft for an '08 would cost? Not sure if you could convince Nissan to replace the driveshaft and see if that does it and if not take it back off without any expense to you.

I like the idea about strapping it to a dyno and recording the vibration from various parts. I bet there is some vibrational harmonics from the driveshaft at certain speeds causing the whole rearend to oscillate at a similar frequency. Only way to fix that is a new driveshaft or rebalancing of the old one.

I do know that the driveshaft on my '08 and the one on my '05 are different. The one on the '05, even after 2+ years of New England winters, was still spotless (presumably because it was aluminum). On my '08 there was rust on the driveshaft right after I drove it off the lot. So, there must have been some change in materials used in the driveshaft somewhere along the way.

**adkl1** · 01-08-2008, 01:45 PM

I'm going to ask them about dropping a shaft off of a new none vibrating truck on there lot to just see... or its coming from the rear end somewhere....

HudsonValleyTitan · 01-08-2008, 03:02 PM

I just looked at my driveshaft and yeah, it's not only smaller in diameter than my 04 was, but it's not aluminum anymore either. So that has changed and may be the culprit.

TNPro4x · 01-08-2008, 05:12 PM

yup, I bet it is the driveshaft. I have never seen anything with as many welded weights on it to make it balanced... Just cant be good if it needs that many weights. Nope!!!

GoFast33 · 01-08-2008, 08:23 PM

OK, just read the ENTIRE thread and I am concerned. I have an '08 Pro LWB with only a hundred miles or so on it and have not noticed any of these symptoms, but I plan on putting the PC 6" lift with 35" tires within a week. I hope that the problem doesn't mysteriously start as soon as I install the lift...I'm sure the dealer will blame it all on the aftermarket "alteration". For those of you that are having this problem, was it apparent from the get-go or did it start happening after xx miles? To the OP, I feel for ya, brother, and hope that you get this nightmare resolved soon.