I got to thinking about this during my front end rebuild and thought I would throw out my thoughts and ideas. I would be curious what others' have done or thought also.

I was about half way through an 800 mile road trip, well over 11k gross, maybe even over 12k, when my issue came out of the closet. It scared the crap out of my copilot. We were switching off driving and I had a good handle on what was going on, but he about marked his shorts when it went off.

We got off the road and I inspected the front end. What caught my attention immediately was the pitman arm to drag link joint. There was about 1/4" of play in it. The other thing that caught my attention was the tie rod ends. There wasn't nearly as much play, but with him rocking the steering wheel I could feel the play in the joints.

The front ends on these trucks are surprisingly "simple". There are no advanced alignment adjustments that can be made - the ball joints are fixed on the 4wd's (2wd's may have an adjustable upper ball joint). So really the only adjustment that can be made is toe-in from adjusting the tie rod. The drag link adjustment simply sets the center point of the steering wheel, it has no bearing on wheel alignment.

I tried to tighten the nut on the pitman arm while I was inspecting things. It was pretty well bottomed out. The play was not in that part of the joint, though, it was the ball joint that was loose. So effectively I did nothing.

I drove 80% of the remainder of the trip, a white-knuckle thrill ride to say the least.

In the time between getting the front end work done I had to get a tractor for some work at an investment property. Before the run I swapped the front wheels side to side. They were feathered from the poor tracking and at least I wanted the feathering reversed to try to balance out the wear. During the run the front end was not wobbling at all. It was loose and I could feel, what I know now as, the steering damper popping (it has a rough spot in it that is tough to get through then loosens up on the other side causing a "bump" in the steering). I did not make any track adjustments in the tie rod, all I did was swap the front wheels side to side.

After having done the front end rebuild and understanding the alignment with the tie rod and how the truck rides minus the steering damper (I have yet to replace mine) - a few ideas I have for taming a death wobble issue in the middle of a trip are:

- Check the front tire wear. If the wear pattern shows feathering of the outer edge tread, swap them side to side
- If there feels like a "bump" in the steering turning left to right - remove the steering damper
- Add a touch more toe-in to the alignment by pulling the tie rod in. When I was setting up mine after the rebuild I went off a 1/8" toe in. I could not measure the back of the wheels as the radius arms are in the way. So I went bottom center to front (6 o-clock to 9/3 o-clock) and 1/16". Maybe subtracting 1/16" of toe-in at a time would help also.

One important, I think, note with the "bump" in the steering damper that I experienced - when I was starting off on that leg of the trip I felt it and it caught my attention to pay attention to it. What it felt like to me was counter steering against wind. I had the rack loaded with fuel tanks, generator, and some storage bins so I was tall and knew that was going to add to the play in the wind so I equated the two together and it made sense - for a while. When I started paying attention to the trees as we were driving along I didn't see enough movement in the leaves and branches to tell me that there was the amount of wind outside that was causing my counter-steering issue.

The first time I got out to inspect the steering I found the pitman arm to drag link being loose. What I added up right then was the "bump" was the joint flipping sides. In part, it was. That was only half of it, though. The steering damper was holding that back then when the steering damper loosened up the drag link would move back the other way and the pitman arm link would move back. That was causing some quite squirrley steering, to say the least. When the "bump" was still there after replacing the steering components (minus damper) I knew for sure that was an issue. So off it went and the truck drives fantastic now.

If a particular truck's death wobble issue is caused by other factors - suspension, tire, drive train modifications - there could be a lot of differences, but in my case the truck is stock and the front end was just flat worn out. Ball joints have slop in them along with the rest of the steering linkages (namely the pitman to drag link connection). Any above adjustments are only in reference to temporary bandaid solutions to calm the issue, they will never fix it in the case of worn out parts - the worn out parts need replaced.

If I had the same knowledge on the road the first 2 things i would have done are 1. swap the front tires around and 2. take the steering damper off. In my case, the tie rod ended up taking a lot of work in the shop to get the tie rod ends out. I had the tools with me on that trip, but without removing the tie rod from the truck it wouldn't have been possible to do the work. To remove the tie rod would require pickle forks and that process would damage the connections - the grease boots will be destroyed. I suppose if you are at this point and all the parts are going to be replaced shortly anyway, damaging or removing a grease boot is a moot point though.

On a side note, a large pipe wrench (monkey wrench) can make rotating the tie rod to adjust a lot easier. The one I had to use was a 10". That was pretty dinky for what I was doing in the shop, but its what I had on hand. I also used never-seize with the steering components going together. That way if things need adjusting later they will adjust easier. Trying to get the tie rod ends out took a lot of work even off the truck. On the side of the road it would have been impossible.

 

The D60 front end is alignable/adjustable through ball joint shims. The shims control both camber and caster.

What are your alignment numbers? Caster provides stability, 3 to 5 degrees is ideal. Ford spec is about 1 to 3.

 

Not to derail my own thread here, but can you copy my pictures and illustrate where these said "shims" are? My truck appears to not have them = no adjustments.





I can take a picture of all the ball joints I took off if it would help. They are all straight. There is no offset ball joint in the set up, and there is no pinch bolt on the uppers that would allow an angle adjustment in an offset ball joint even if on was used.

 

On my 2005, there was a shim that went in the top hole where the top ball joint goes up through. It drops in from the top. I was told this is where you can get an adjustable shim for. Haven't looked on my 2012.

 

I have a 2015 F-350, short bed SRW w/ 4x4, currently 66k. I have experienced a few death wobble episodes with the first happening around 30k miles. I took it to the dealer for an inspection under warranty and, of course, they found nothing and could not get a repeat performance. It's happened a few times since them with most being at the same location. It's a sweeping, high speed, left turn on a highway ramp. At speeds around 60-65 mph if I hit a rough patch (no potholes) of concrete roadway the steering will show a vibration every time. Occasionally it will erupt from a slight shimmy to a full scale wobble requiring me to slow to below 40mph to stop. Just a few weeks ago for the first time it happened again but this time on a straightaway road with just some rough concrete. With plans to take it to Ford again I took it first to a reputable front end shop to get an outside opinion and take that analysis to Ford. The opinion was "nothing found" all seemed tight to him. I'm due for tires and when done that will take care of some of the variables such as tires, balance and alignment. Moving forward to this past week I was at Ford for an oil change (discount coupon) and had a chance to speak with the truck service manager. He came out to look it over and found a slight bit of movement in the track rod ball joint and said it "could" lead to a wobble and offered to fix it under my extended warranty. So I'm hoping that I've FINALLY found a service department that knows what they are doing. I've given up on the other dealers closer to home. He said this condition was not readily observed when the truck is on a lift and that it must be on the ground and wiggle the steering with the engine running. Now, my independent shop had recommended installing a double steering stabilizer and I have the kit to do that. The service Mgr agreed that that might also help with these heavy suspension systems.

As an aside, last year I installed new shocks (Bilstein) and steering stabilizer. Sorry for the lengthy story but it was necessary to fully explain.

So, Hoping that I'm on a track to eliminate the death wobble.

ThanX all,
Roger from NJ

 

Roger -

Thanks for the explanation. That is quite a run-around.

You state that the issue is fairly repeatable in a particular area that you frequent. I would be curious if you experiment with some things and drive through the same spot under different settings if you have the opportunity to do so. Settings such as swapping tires side to side, with/without stabilizer/damper, ect. You say you have a double stabilizer to install. I would be curious about that as well.

To elaborate on my issue - on the long trip the issue was nearly constant. It was not an odd-ball, hit a pot-hole, and off it goes type deal. The first spot that it got real bad for me was on pavement in a construction zone where the shoulder had new pavement to get traffic further over to the right. Half the truck was on the new pavement and the other half was on the old pavement. This was after I inspected the components and found how loose they were. I did not get the "wobble" prior, just the feeling like I was counter-steering against the wind deal. Once I hit the pavement difference then the wobble was severe and hard to control. Once I got off the odd pavement it settled back to the "counter steering against the wind" deal.

Until I replaced the front end components I had problems - not all "wobbling", but my point is the issues I experienced were enough to nearly render the truck un-driveable and not something that happened once and everything was "tight" liable to never happen again on the trip. To my original point of this thread, its that type of scenario that I was attempting to address, and have some address of in this discussion, so if on the road others can be a bit more prepared to handle it.

I have had the same knowledge of the "death wobble" occurrences for years reading these forums and when I experienced the issues I was not concerned with what was going on enough to kill my trip and kill my plans following it parking the truck 3 states from home and waiting through the weekend held up in a hotel to get a service department to look at it Monday morning. I dealt with it and got home, but I could have done a few things that made the ride smoother and, relatively, safer. That is the knowledge I was hoping to compile - from my experience and others.

 

Yes it is repeatable for me. I drive the same route every few weeks and it's consistant at that spot. I've only had the DW happen one time at another spot. Can't recall where. Fortunately it has never happened while towing our RV trailer but then again my speed is much more conservative when towing. Each time has been in the 60-65 mph range although the slight shimmy does occur at lower speeds but not even close to erupting into the DW. I have not tried switching tires around. I'm about to make the appt. at Ford to have the track bar done then see what happens. But in the same breath I'm due for tires and that will take care of balance and alignment after the tires. For me it's an annoyance and does not prevent my driving the truck. It's not even close to that yet.

Roger from NJ

 

Yep, it is definitely repeatable. I get mine the same way Roger does, a sweeping left turn above 45 mph and then hit an expansion joint in a bridge in my town, I can make it happen any time. But since I know how to cause it, I also figured out a way to prevent it at that location. I move as far left as I can in the lane, and just before I hit the expansion joint I yank the wheel slightly to the right so it is actually hitting the joint head on (evenly with both front tires).

 

yup that's where they live. top of the 'C' shaped casting that's on the axle tube. The shim moves the top ball joint stud and in turn changes the angle of the knuckle relative to the vehicle.

 

 

I'm about to try a couple of different options to deal with my DW issue. Just a week ago I had it into a good front end shop for inspection. While they couldn't put a finger on any direct cause he did feel that a double stabilizer installation might help. So I have that to be installed. In getting new tires very soon I'll take care of the balance issue but I also have a set of dynamic balancers to put on. These are from a company called Centramatic and they will continually balance the rotating wheel much like the glass beads used in heavy trucks. Also I have an appointment on Monday to have the track bar ball joint replaced at Ford under extended warranty. My truck is fully stock with the 20" wheels and 66k miles. While this is just an annoyance to me now I think it will only get worse over time so I want to try to deal with this now. OH, and lets not forget I'll be getting alignment after the tires.


ThanX all,
Roger from NJ

 

Works for me every truck two and a half inch to three and a half inch lift with a traction relocation bracket and of course new shock absorbers every 25000 miles like clockwork especially with a 9-6 v-plow hanging off the front end. Never experienced the death wobble after these changes including 325 65 18 oversized tires with 9 inch rim with 0 offset can't even make the truck get the death wobble take care

 

I vote for the extremely rare for me DW. ALWAYS happens on a long gentle left sweeping curve too. Always happened to me when I was going 75-80 mph. Front end is completely tight. I do not have a steering stabilizer at all. Tires are getting wore so maybe that is a slight culprit.