So I get a letter from Ford for my SD... Looks like a recall notice at first BUT... It's a notice about front end shimmy.. "Literature Program 09L02" Affectionately known to us as ..The Death Wobble


"Your vehicle may experience shimmy, a severe vibration and oscillation in the steering wheel that begins after the vehicle travels over a bump or dip in the road and does not dampen out by itself. The condition may cause the cab to vibrate significantly.
Shimmy differs from the more typical, slight oscillation of the steering wheel that may occur immediately following wheel impacts and disappears on it's own. This type of steering wheel oscillation is a normal characteristic of most trucks, especially a 4x4 vehicle with a solid front axle."


HERE'S MY FAVORITE PART :


"What should you do?"
"TO PREVENT SHIMMY:"
"Maintain Recommended Tire Inflation Pressures"


Then it goes on to show you where the tire pressure label is..tells you to use only the sizes that came on it, not to make suspension modifications to the truck or modify it.


All in all,,,a bland c.y.a. drafted by the lawyers

 

For some reason I just knew it would end up being my fault.......it usually is!!!

 

Yup, the word at my dealership is that ford is working on a fix :O that just means they dont know what to tell you yet.

We've replaced some pretty random stuff with varying results.

 

Probably "Sell you a new truck"

 

Ha ha ha. I got nothing to do with sales, so I don't make money by convincing you to buy a new one.

Although there have been pinpoint tests that end in "Replace vehicle and retest."

 

I've gotten that letter about 3 times now in the 10 years I've owned my 06. I always read it and file 13 it. They've all said the same thing and I'm guilty of all the "issues created by the end user", however I don't have any steering issues, and never have.

Sarge

 

I've had it happen one time, & it was one of the scariest experiences I've ever had in a vehicle. It didn't help that I was towing an 8000 pound generator when it happened. It literally felt like all 4 wheels lost the lug nuts & were falling off at 65 MPH. The truck didn't stop violently shaking until it came to a complete stop.

I got the same letter too.

 

Yeah, I got that letter years ago. I also experienced the death wobble. I also had to stop to get it to calm down. I don't really approve of the sort of suspension Ford used on the coil spring trucks. They should have done better than that.

 

It happened to me in my 06. It had under 20k miles on it. I was lucky to get her onto the side of the road. I was going 70mph in the hammer lane and went over a bridge overpass and wham!
It never happened again.
Years later it happened to a coworker and I in our work truck on the exact same spot. We've both been over that stretch of road thousands of times and never had an issue before or since.
Nobody believes you until it happens to them.