Death Shake

[Mcfly]

since my sas, i have the death shake, is the only way to fix this to use a steering stabilizer?

[bbagwell]

Check to make sure all your steering parts are tight, then check the balance of your front tires. A steering stabalizer is a band aid covering up the real problem.

[86DezertRcer]

Also you might want to make sure your knuckles are shimmed correctly and your wheel bearings are not loose. But true a steering stabilizer is only a bandaid on the problem. Good luck

[Mcfly]

it didnt shake with same wheels and tires before, i work for les schwab i know that they are ok, when i hit a bump steering flops side to side, there is no play anywhere

[KToy]

then its your shims or you knuckles are loose. my friend had a loose tierod and then his trunion bearings were bad and his did the same thing.

[stump runner]

when i hit a bump steering flops side to side, there is no play anywhere

so do you mean bump-steer? is your tie rod (Pittman arm to passenger knuckle) parallel to the axle or at an angle to it. angled+no pan hard bar=bump-steer. bump-steer+soft-springs=scary ride. tie rod should be parallel to the axle or if there is one it should be parallel to the pan-hard bar.

[ryan]

so do you mean bump-steer? is your tie rod (Pittman arm to passenger knuckle) parallel to the axle or at an angle to it. angled+no pan hard bar=bump-steer. bump-steer+soft-springs=scary ride. tie rod should be parallel to the axle or if there is one it should be parallel to the pan-hard bar.

What is a pan-hard bar? And that rod between the pitman and the passenger knuckle I believe is called the drag link, and the rod between the two knuckles is called the tie rod.

[stump runner]

sorry - you're right drag link not tie rod.
pan hard bar isn't normaly used w/ leaf springs but sometimes is. it runs from the frame on driver side to axle on passenger side and provides axle stability from side to side. mostly used w/ 4 link suspension or to add stability with high arch springs.
hope this helps.
also got to thinking today - are your nuckles tight? bad nuckles/ balljoints/ kingpins/ tierod ends will also give a scarry ride. not sure what axle you've used for your SAS. need more info to help more.

[Mcfly]

i checked everything, and its all good, spring scaled the knuckles and everything, i do have pretty soft springs though, i put a steering stabilizer on it and it drives great, i used an 1985 toyota axle, rebuilt, all new

[stump runner]

so what then did you mean by this ?

when i hit a bump steering flops side to side

it sounds like when you go over a bump the truck steers itself. did you check your drag link angle in relation to the axle? it may be as easy to fix as a drop pittman arm. did you use rear springs that relocate the axle forward of factory position? if so did you also move the steering box as well? if only the axle was moved that would also give a bump steer also. i'm running out of ideas.