I have a 2004 fx4 supercrew 4x4 , 170k miles. I bought it a few months ago and installed a 6" rough country lift and 35" tires. I noticed a little shake in the steering wheel but not too bad, just annoying. I just put on a fabtech dual steering stabilizer to remedy the problem and its much worse. What could be at fault that dual stabilizer would make it worse? I hate to just take them off, I would rather find the problem. Oh, the tires are all balanced and I had an alignment done also.

 

Both my and my dad's 04 F150s has a shimmy like that in the steering and they were stock. His Supercrew was worse than my Supercab though. He had a forced balance done several times as well as having the break rotors replaced. Both of thoes fixed the issues for a bit but it would return after abut 1500-2000 miles. The dealer never could figure it out but one of the service techs said it was because they lightened the front frame rails for 04 for crash safety reasons. I dont think that was accurate and they just told us that so we would quit bringing it back to the shop. May be something to look into though, especially with a lift.

 

I will give those a try. My ball joints are good and just tonight I checked the tie rod ends. Re torqued all my front end fasteners from the lift. I even pulled the stabilizers off and no change. I have seen others mention brake rotors but don't understand how that would cause the front end shimmy unless you were on the brakes?

 

get rid of the stabilzers, completely useless on a rack and pinion equiped truck and they do nothing but hide problems.

This either tire balance or alignment issues, first thing to do is retighten all suspension components, as if bolts are going to loosen it will be imdeiately following initial tq'ing. Next thing check to ensure the driveshafts are phased correctly (sounds dumb but it can happen). Then get it aligned (lifted IFS truck need it checked a fair bit), and while its on a rack wiggle everything , take it for a drive see if it still does it. If so get a set of stock wheels/tires from where ever and see if that helps. Then report back .

 

Mustang has everything on point except for the stock tires and wheels. Since this is a 6" lift you most likely can not use those again on the truck. Most lift kits require you to upgrade to an aftermarket wheel.

I was also wondering about the steering stabilizer. I have never heard of someone putting that on anything but a truck with a solid front axle. Also did you do all the installs yourself or hire someone to do it for you?

 

I did the install myself. I've already went over everything and re-torqued all the bolts. It has been aligned recently. The shake wasnt too bad before and I had wondered if it was a tire balance issue. I had a shop put balance beads in all 4 tires and rotate them. That's when things got worse. I have had good luck with the balance beads before. I almost hate to drive the truck now with the way the steering wheel shakes on bumps. It was at least bearable before.

 

I did find this evening that I have a bad passenger side strut. I'm going to order a couple strut/ spring assembly's and see what that does. I'll let everybody know if that works.

 

Good luck hope everything works out for you.

 

sounds like you may have the problem narrowed down. If its not the strut then it sounds like its a tire balance issue.

Actually they shouldn't. Reason being is majority of drop bracket ifs systems reuse factory components, and as such they don't change geometry and clearences, so everything including the wheels will clear.

 

You're right, but the rough country lift does require an offset wheel due to the steering knuckle. I tried to throw my stock wheels and tires back on to drive it to town for the alignment but they rubbed against the steering knuckle. Those went onto Craigslist.

 

I was curious since you went with the 6" kit did you buy the extra kicker braces for $90? They might help some with the shake you are having. I was talking to an installer and he recommended it even for the 4" kit.

 

No, I didn't buy the braces but thanks for mentioning it. I do remember those now that you brought it up. I may buy those regardless to whether the struts fix the problem or not. The struts will be in tomorrow morning and I'll put them on Wednesday. I'll be sure to check back after I install those.

 

I've had that with my old truck and it was definitely the tires in my case, especially since I got new tires only and it immediately showed up. In my case it was a combination of balancing along with tire tread. I ended up having to get different tires to get rid of it 100%.

 

Post some pictures when you get a chance as I am considering the 4" rough country lift in the next few months and would like to see yours installed on a truck.

Thanks

 

Struts seem to have fixed most of the problem. There is a very slight vibration in the wheel at 60mph which I think is a balance issue still but the bad shaking and the feel going over bumps is gone. Rides much better.