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Don't want this to get lost at the end of one of the looooong DW threads.
Our '17 F250 CCSB with the 6.7 started developing minor DW towards the end of the summer of '17, with about 20k miles. Ensuing chats with the service manager at Autonation Ford in Katy, TX resulted in arguments and failed attempts at a cure: he claimed it was anything from the steering stabilizer to my failure to rotate the tires every 5k miles. With no real solution found (I wasn't going to pay to install dual opposed steering stabilizers on a $50k truck!) I resorted to an alignment and regular tire rotation. It actually kept the problem from getting worse for awhile, but it was still a crapshoot any time we'd drive it on rough pavement as to whether-or-not it would happen.
Fast forward to the weekend before this past Thanksgiving (2018). We towed our redneck toy hauler and Jeep back and forth to an off-road park in central TX, and had SERIOUS DW twice. Up to that point, we had never had it happen when towing, and I can tell you it was no laughing matter. I took the truck back to the dealership the Monday before Thanksgiving, with 650 miles left on the warranty, and INSISTED they check out the entire front end.
There's a handful of causes for DW on solid front axle vehicles, the majority of which I've dealt with numerous times on our Jeeps. After the tech inspected the front end, I was notified that he found a "slightly loose" track bar joint at the axle. While they doubted it was the cause of the problem, it was prematurely worn, so they replaced it under warranty. Long story short, the problem is solved! Having dealt with loose track bars and resulting DW on Jeeps numerous times, I KNEW they'd found the problem as soon as they notified me. We've towed relatively heavy (~13k lbs) with the truck almost since the day we bought it, but I'm still surprised we'd see accelerated wear on such a critical component.
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience. In the interest of full disclosure, while they had the truck they also replaced the steering stabilizer based on an existing TSB, and I bought new tires from them. But I GUARANTEE you that it was the TB joint causing the problem!
Glad you found it! Im dealing with the same dealership with steering issues on my 2wd. Pretty sire they are tired of seeing me. I do not have DW but terrible chatter and bumpsteer in the steering. Feels like something is loose. Its really bad at 59 and beltway area. I believe that the quality of the OEM steering and suspension components are poor. Ive gone through 2 centerlinks in 7500 miles. Its like a crap shoot on if you get quality parts or not. There is simply too much play at the joints even when new. If it fixed your DW i personally would just go with AM parts when and if it ever shows up again.
I hope by MY 2019 they have this problem fixed for my sake. Both of my buddies with a 2015 and 2016 have DW.
Totally agree, but looking at my buddy's brand new '19, the track bar joint at the axle hasn't changed vs my '17. I wanted to post my experience, however, to hopefully save some people some time and headaches when it comes to diagnosis.
Glad you found it! Im dealing with the same dealership with steering issues on my 2wd. Pretty sire they are tired of seeing me. I do not have DW but terrible chatter and bumpsteer in the steering. Feels like something is loose. Its really bad at 59 and beltway area. I believe that the quality of the OEM steering and suspension components are poor. Ive gone through 2 centerlinks in 7500 miles. Its like a crap shoot on if you get quality parts or not. There is simply too much play at the joints even when new. If it fixed your DW i personally would just go with AM parts when and if it ever shows up again.
I agree with you 1,000%. Should it reappear, I will install an aftermarket track bar, likely one without a TRE-style joint at the axle.
Yeah man these trucks are heavy and the frame is VERY stiff. Pretty sure heim style joints would fix alot of these issues. The frames have no flex and it murders the steering joints. They just take the whole hit, and it leads to premature failure.
No signs of any DW on my truck yet even driving on our crappy Louisiana highways. The worse are around Lafayette and I try to avoid that area because they shake the crap out of the truck and camper too!
No signs of any DW on my truck yet even driving on our crappy Louisiana highways. The worse are around Lafayette and I try to avoid that area because they shake the crap out of the truck and camper too!
The first time we developed full-on DW was on an exit ramp around Orange, TX, on our way to Lafayette (we love Parish Brewing Co.) I have a coworker who has a '17 F250 with 35k miles and he hasn't had a single issue with DW, so it's definitely intermittent. Should it ever happen to you, just keep that track bar joint in mind!
No signs of any DW on my truck yet even driving on our crappy Louisiana highways. The worse are around Lafayette and I try to avoid that area because they shake the crap out of the truck and camper too!
Maybe its just been me but i haven't seen any reports of it happening on duallys yet. I'm at 10 k miles and have yet to even have a weird experience yet.
Mine is at the dealers again. Last week they replaced the track bar. Much better but I still have DW. Today I was told they will replace the drag link. It started at about 18,000 miles for me.
So what is the deal with this....does it just show up one day when you hit a bad section of road, it knocks the track bar loose, then it happens more consistently? Mine happened today for the first time...scared the crap out of me. I do need to get mine in for service...but wondering if now that it happened, will it start up easily again?
