Captain’s Log, Monday:
10:30 am: I don’t get it. For no apparent reason, the truck went from a smooth running flawless example of modern refinement… to an uncontrollable terrifying vibrating paint mixer that shook my skull loose.
10:40 am: I still don’t get it. The brakes don’t feel hot. The transmission seems proper. The engine hasn’t skipped a beat (though my heart has). There was no collision. Nothing weird about the pavement surface. Crawling underneath the truck showed nothing amiss. The drivetrain looks fine. No road debris has wrapped itself around a driveshaft. The tires are sound. The hubs aren’t dented. There’s no damn reason why my truck should turn so suddenly… evil.
10:50 am: I still don’t get it. I’ve rolled forward and back. Everything smooth. Nothing out of balance. Engine is still idling smoothly and flawlessly.
10:51 am: Fuck it. I’m driving to the nearest town. Then I’m going to sell the truck and buy a mule.
Sounds like part of your steering linkage is broken. Dodge had a recall on some parts and Chevy has puny tie rods.
Also make sure that the engine brackets are all solid. I had a jeep that would, upon occasion, and complete randomly develop a death wobble that required you to stop the vehicle and get off the road very quickly because if felt like it was going to hop off the road if you didn’t. There was a specific harmonic vibration you had to get going – the right speed, the right pavement and the right small bump to get the shocks going and then the engine would hum the same song with the shocks. Terrifying.
That is what it feels like when a very heavy engine starts to bounce up and down because its become disconnected from the chassis on one side. Stopped your brackets will look fine – especially if there is the usual engine dirt on them coated in such a way to cover up the crack that developed. You start back up and everything is smooth again.
And then you hit that next bump…
If you think the truck is hard to steer, wait until you try the mule, longterm.