Hey all, I'm from the 7.3 forum and posting for a buddy of mine who has a 6.0. Here is the run down on his rig

2007 6.0 4x4 dully.
2" coil spacers "lift"
24" American Force 10lug wheels
35" Scorpion non aggressive street tires " idk what model "

He is having a huge shaking problem in the front end. It happens loaded or unloaded. It normally occurs between 35 and 45 mph. Mainly occurring at that speed going around right hand curves in the road. When it happens the steering wheel starts shaking back and fourth left to right violently. Then entire truck shakes so bad it feels as if its going to fall apart. After a few 100 feet it settles back in and drives normal. When i mean shake i mean we were driving the other day and i could hear the front wheels chirp a few times lol. It is front end related for sure. He has had it in the front end shop coming out with 1 new tie rod end and a new stabilizer shock. He will be checking wheel bearings/hubs this week. Everything looked fairly good under there from my view but I'm not a super expert. But wow its sketchy. I have a video of it on my phone that i will try to up load tomm if i can figure out how.

We gotta get this fixed. We have been hauling equipment with it for work lately and man its not as sketchy when it dose it un-loaded but when it happens with the CAT D3 on the trailer ur grabbing the ohhhhhhhh **** handles.

Put your thinking caps on guys !

Thanks

 

Flush the HydroBoost System

Search "DeathWobble" on FTE

 

Check the Track Bar Bushing, and Ball Joint. Check the tire pressures. Did he lower the radius arm's? Check Ball joint's, Ujoints, and Tie rod ends. Check the steering Stab.
The reason I asked about the radius arm's, is on some truck's, You actually get the caster at the minimum, or even negative, with even a 2" lift, it makes the truck dart. How ever it sound's like death wobble, and that can also be from front end geometry...IE track bar angle, in relation to Drag link, Too little caster etc. Look for worn stuff first.
Could also try a dual stabilizer, but that just band aid's the problem. (although, it usually alleviates it.)

 

Or watch this!


Josh

 

When my 2005 had some of that (mine was under braking) I fixed it by changing the track bar. It already had a new drag link and tie rod ends a little while previously. With the lift, the track bar may be incorrectly centering the front axle and it may need to be changed to an adjustable aftermarket version. The front castor also needs to be corrected with the lift, should be at maximum specification or even a little bit more.

Brian

 

How many miles on truck? Where is the back spacing since you had to use a 8/10 bolt adapter to install the wheels? As mentioned you have to look at everything, usually a pot hole starts the event or a large bump. If you can get the truck to an alignment shop they do have have adjustable upper joints to set camber and caster over OEM fixed.

 

I had same issue, very violent, Changing my u-joints solved my problems.You could not tell it was bad until I removed from the truck. The u-joint always froze up during a turn( for me it was a left turn)

 

Looking at that Video Looks Very Dangerous

Iv never heard of this happening to anything other than FORDS

How about you guys???

You could tell that guy drove along time like that he didnt even grab the wheel with his other Hand LOL

 

Wow thanks y'all for all the great input. The Vid that Bullitt390 "Josh" Posted is the exact thing its doing. It normally starts around a lefty or after hitting a bump in the road.

Benny : Flushing the Hydroboost system would be the same as flushing the P/S fluid correct ? " Just making sure were on the same page " If so how would this be related to the death wobble ???? I would think the lash in the box would need adjusting. Would fluid have that much to do with it ?

Brian and Adam : As for the front end components like i mentioned he just had it in a pretty reputable front end shop. The only place I've ever taken my trucks and ever will. They did a tie-rod end, steering stabilizer bar, track bar bushings and stabilizer shock.
As for all the other components idk. The Castors and Radious arms i have no clue about. Im still in a leaf spring world and y'all lucky 6.0 guys got the nice front ends. I don't know anything about them. Im sure the lift he got came with all that but i will check.

John : The truck has 100,325k mi. He has had these tires and wheels for a long time. Never encountered this until about 3 weeks ago. Tires are only 30% worn, still got a lot of life in them and look to be wearing good.

I am going to relay the info to him on what to look for and hopefully we can look at it closely this weekend.

 

Benny, my nephew has a 2006 Dodge 2500. I was asking how he likes his Dodge and one of the responses was that some of the Dodges have the "death wobble". I thought it was exclusive to Fords but he seemed to indicate that some Dodges have it too.
My 2005 F350 4x4 handles wonderfully, no wobble issues at all. If I only had been lucky enough to NOT have one of the faulty 6.0 heads that crack...

 

YES^^Its Both Power Steering and Power Brake

Power Steering/HydroBoost Flush
Ford Super Duty Power Steering Flush | Superdutypsd.com

Power Steering/HydroBoost Filter
Ford Super Duty Power Steering Filter | Superdutypsd.com

Well Odds are a Flush wont Solve the "DEATHWOBBLE"

But wont hurt and is a Common Maintenance Practice thats Overlooked and may help the steering GearBox Last Longer

 

Jeep's are notorius for this too. Without "high" castor, all straight axles will death wobble......The cheapest/easiest way to fix it, is to lower the rear of the axle, IE Radius arm/Controlarm drops.
If he put a leveling kit on it, chances are, his caster is on the low end of Ford's spec's.

I don't think it was so much of a problem with leaf sprung front's. (The older Jeeps, Fords, Chevy's, but the coil sprung, that use "arm's" to locate the axle.....)

 

Any straight axle truck will have the death wobble when parts are worn or out of alignment, you have to have an event to start the cycle. Duel steering shock absorbers mask or help prevent the problem from starting, so you have to look at everything involved. A new shock can be defective or fail so never assume anything, physically check all parts involved.

 

Some Great Info here and Good Ideas on things to check

Thanks Men

 

The Twin Traction Beam front end's ford used were also BAD. If something got a little loose, Hang On!