Stop going to the dealer - find a good, independent alignment shop (not Brakes Plus). On a '12 truck with a recently rebuilt front end, I doubt it's a hardware, tire, or stabilizer problem.

 

This subject has been beat up by us too many times. Its time Henry engineers it out, way past that time. Being involved with automotive and other R&D activities I see all the approaches being made towards a mechanical prospective. Someone needs to look at it from an analytical/scientific Six Sigma or RED X approach. It’s time for some Six Sigma DMAIC problem solving techniques to be put into practice…uuummm FORD, anyone home? It seems to be the solid axle coil sprung trucks that are most prone to this. It also seems to be a dynamic problem or a group of problems that have the same/similar outcome…death wobble. Some of this obvious e.g. beat up trucks with lack of service or just plain worn out. Let’s call this group 1. Others are brand new rigs with the same resulting problem. This is the group I’m addressing. Lets call this group 2. Coil sprung Trucks with 50K or less on the clock and nothing obviously out of spec.
There are at least two threads here that show the death wobble in action from in and outside the truck. In one of these threads someone linked in a youtube showing durability lab testing of shocks/stabilizers. If you look closely you can see the rubber bushings deteriorate on the accelerated test rig and fail to the point of play dough consistency, basically loosing all of the engineered durometer. The shock its self is fine. Once the shock and its bushings cooled back down to ambient they re-tested it. The rubber looked ok at first but failed in a shorter duration then the new out of the box shock. So to me that points to the (hot) bushings if I was to split the dictionary.
I have a 95 Jeep GC with 227K on it. Its coil sprung with a solid Dana. I replaced all the consumable steering & chassis parts up front to include a new OEM ”Spec” steering stabilizer, only exception was the kingpins as they were ok.
Driving down the pike after the repairs at 70mph I experienced the death wobble. Dam near steered me of the road at 70. I installed the original stabilizer I kept for some reason…problem solved immediately. The new stabilizer was a POS. Lets call this group 2 of the problems, bad or out of spec new parts. I believe you may be in this group.
Try replacing the shock and stabilizer bushings with poly and report back. Please do one at a time. Stabilizer first then shocks.
What was replaced in your truck and what are the specific conditions when you experience this problem?

 

The death wobble is probably the single most discussed Super Duty issue. My 2011 got the wobble on the interstate with my daughter in the truck, and I do not recall being so unnerved in my entire life (30 years as a professional Firefighter). Yes, the dealerships pretend to know nothing about the issue, and Ford simply states to inflate your tires.
What I can say after reading many (many) posts on the death wobble, is that the number one fix to the problem is replacing the trac bar ball joint (where it connects to the axle). I had the whole bar replaced with an OEM bar because the truck shop refused to install the aftermarket adjustable bar that I bought. Their reasoning was that the hemi joint was not strong enough to last. I am not necessarily agreeing with their assessment, just throwing it out there.
The second most recommended fix is dual steering stabilizers, but some of these posts of success later report that the death wobble returns. While I was getting a new Trac bar, I replaced the OEM steering stab with a HD Bilstein (single). 20,000 miles since, and no recurrence.
YMMV... good luck!

 

I'm diggin' this thread myself.....

My tired old '04 model just developed the wobs @ 150k miles. I for one am confident the tires are NOT responsible.

 

This is not just a ford issue, look up jeep or dodge death wobble and you will read the same things. It can be caused by something as minor as an alignment. This is not a fault of ford or the manufacturer, if everything is within spec and parts are not worn you will not experience this problem

 

if you use the WC kit let us know how it turns out. I've been saving their contact information in case my truck ever develops the wobble.

 

Jeep wranglers are also notorious for the exact same death wobble. Everyone says shocks, stabilizers etc.....my wrangler would get it bad, i changed and added all kinds of stuff and it still did it. Then when i took the factory tires off and jumped up to 33" Duratracs it stopped, never did it sgain. So yes, absolutely tires can cause death wobble. Granted this was on a different vehicle, and goes against the logic of what the solution should be. But it fixed it for me.

 

The wobble or shimmy is caused by play in the front suspension. Stabilizers, dampeners and shocks will help mask the problem but eventually the play will get to the point where these can't stop it. The only cure is eliminate the play, the trick is finding it.

 

Likewise, I experienced this wobble on my 1992 Range Rover, which comes with full-float solid axles front and rear. I used it for off-road driving primarily, but sometimes there were some long drives to the trailhead. The steering wheel would start shaking and the vehicle would wander quickly either left or right. You could still control the vehicle, but it was a bit disconcerting.

Problem was solved by replacing the radius arm bushings with poly bushings (both ends), and the panhard rod / track rod bushings with poly bushings. Lifting a vehicle does not help.

 

I grew up a diehard Chevy person. When it came to purchasing a new truck I couldn’t bring myself to what GM has under the front of their four wheel drives. I have a 2015 F350, three inch lift and 35's. I also increased the caster so I know I will never have death wobble. I had a Jeep years ago, death wobble is a big issue in Jeeps. One poster put up a video showing how it’s all Caster. They even loosened the track bar bolts and drove it over a bumpy road, no death wobble. They decreased the caster, tightened the track bar bolts and drove over the rough road and there was death wobble. There video compared it to a shopping cart wheel and had an animation showing how increasing the caster makes it impossible to wobble. Not my opinion but a lot of Jeepers swear by this.

 

 

Nice looking truck, Dave.

 

All agreed. Several sets/combos of problems equals same results. Common denominator = All 4wd, solid axles, coil sprung. Id imagine the rubber bushings throughout the chassis could break down with heat and repetitive use same as the shocks/stabilizer.
But my question is how is this happening on a like new stock truck with 50K or less, some with under 10K experience this. Sure be nice to have some root cause analysis to guide us. IMO this should be a safety concern.

 

I agree - this should not be happening to any trucks of this vintage. In fact, I'd be surprised if this was a routine occurrence. As the trucks get older and accumulate miles, fine, things wear out. But not at 50k.

 

The 2008 SD we have at work did this to me with 36,000 miles on it. Nothing worn out on it, & just out of warranty, so nothing was done about it. I don't drive that truck any more.

Until you experience the wobble for yourself, you can't imagine how bad it is. Especially when you are towing 8000 pounds. The wobble happened at 60 MPH, it didn't stop shaking the truck violently until I was able to get the truck off the road & stopped.