hi i recently bought a truck which is 200 miles from me; it is a 97 f superduty which is the equivalent of a f450 i beleive. the "only thing wrong with it is it needs a stabilizer bar BECAUSE IT WILL DO A DEATH WOBBLE FROM TIME TO TIME". this guy i bought this from was supposed to split the tow with me now he s weazling out of it. so i have to drive this to my place. Will a bad stabilizer bar cause this intermittent death wobble? the front wheel looked straight as i checked them for signs of worn ball joints. and i didnt notice a tow in or out issue. I alsio found a replacement stabilizer form advcance auto for only 30 bux does that seem too cheap? the stabilizer thats broken resembles a shock, in case i am flubbin up the terminology of steering stabilizer. ANY Help IS GREATLY APPRECIATED as i am gettin ready to dump another 250 in gas to get up there and have someone drive it back with me. I saw similar issues about this but they pertained to f350 s and it sounded like the stabilizers for those were not too important. Are they a lot more important for these F450 ? thANKS

 

That screwed up stabilizer won't cause it but it sure won't help prevent it.

Proper tire pressure according to the door sticker

Proper alignment.

Good shocks all around

no loose parts on front end.

That will help it.

 

I had the same issue. After replacing the front tires, all is well.

 

my jeep had the same death wobble, i replaced the stabilizer got it aligned and new tires and was good to go, My jeep only did it at certain speeds so maybe if u drive at a constant speed you might be ok, that is if its all highway driving

 

mine had worn center bushings( super dutys have a soild front axel, i think) a loose or broken shock also caused it on my old 250. but it was only triggered by a "perfect" bump in the road. i actually knew where it was gonna happen, witch made it easy to test after all was replaced

 

thanx u guys that sounds good should i be concerned with the king pins after 97 000 on truck or is this less likely the issue

 

also check the trac bar bushings. I have had a F-superduty with very slightly loose trac bar bushing death wobble

 

I had the death wobble and a broken stabilizer bar. A new stabilizer bar and new tie rods helped, but getting new tires was the only thing that made the wobble go away.

 

if it's a '97 it won't have kingpins in the front end. Just balljoints.

 

2wd F-superduties (OBS f450's) have king pins

 

oh... my bad

 

The 97 F-SuperDuty has a one piece axle in the front. It should have 10 lug wheels if it's a Super Duty. Check kingpins as well as tie rod ends. Steering arm too. There aren't too many moving parts on these front ends. Also check front hubs for some slop in the wheel bearings. Tires and shocks also need to be considered.

 

thanx again it def has 10 lugs and i hopefully will have the truckj in a week or two as the guy screwed up the title on me