Death wobble from my rearend

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Obwonkonobe

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Ethan
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78
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C10 custom deluxe
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Some may have seen that I was considering an lsd, and I was about to jump on it until this. Ive started feeling really bad vibrations from my rear end 50% of the time I accelerate through turns. It just got brand new shocks and rear brakes after the problem started in an attempt to fix it, but to no avail. With the truck in park I can't shake my driveshaft so I don't think I have any play in my u joints, and their wasn't much side to side play in my axles when I shook them, maybe a 16th of an inch. On the freeway it floats down, no issues, but its still vibrating like im driving over rocks when I take turns, any advice on whag to check would be great, thanks

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rpcraft

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Just FYI death wobble is generally a thing on front axles that have a forward shackle on the leave spring. If you have it on a Chevy front axle then you need to check the rubber suspension parts or look for whatever is broken.

That being said have you done recent work aside from the brakes and shocks? It looks like you had your diff open so while you were in there did you check play or tolerances on the center chunk? Did you notice any strange wear on your ring gear or was it just a fluid change that you did?

One item to check is pinion gear bearings. Heavy vibration might be an indicator that the pinion bearing needs to be replaced. It's usually a pretty high mileage item (for a 80's GM I mean), but if you are going to do it then the LSD is definitely the way to go so far as ticking it off the list when it needs to be done.

You can check pinion bearing play by finding a nice level piece of ground and then put your e-brake on, then pop the truck in neutral (while not running). Then crawl underneath, grab the driveshaft and try to rotate it back and forth. If it is moving noticeably back and forth at the pinion yoke then you have pinion bearing slop. If it has been leaking past the pinion seal that is a dead give away as well. If you can grab the driveshaft and move the pinion yoke up, down, left, and right then that is also a dead give away.
 

Obwonkonobe

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C10 custom deluxe
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350
@rpcraft, yea I know it's just the closest feeling I can think to relate it to. And you're problably right about the pinion bearing, I'll test it soon
 

rpcraft

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Texas
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Robert
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Jimmy
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LS 6.0 364 CID
I said leave spring, lol.... glad it translated well. I was opearting on about 3 hours of sleep when i typed that book out.
 

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