Wanted to share some videos and my experience in the journey to get death wobble resolved in my 2017 F250 Lariat FX4 4WD.

Bought the truck with 19k on it, has always had a little steering wheel oscillation that I new was going to lead to full on death wobble. Sure enough last weekend, with ~21,500 miles on it, it went into full on death wobble with the whole fam in the truck. Girlfriend absolutely loved that... but I had warned her that I figured this was coming prior to it happening, so she was semi-prepared. Plus she's been offroading with my in my build 2005 Jeep LJ on tons, coilovers, 40s, and full hydro steering front and rear, so shes a trooper.

Called the dealer, told them... got the "we are very familiar with the issue" and parts are on back order. So begin the waiting. Also called Ford and opened a case with them, since I know good and well that replacing a damper per TSB 19-2274 superceding 18-2268 will NOT fix death wobble, only mask/hide it for some time. Probably long enough for the bumper to bumper to run out and it to be my problem...

So, got under the truck last night and had the GF jiggle the wheel. Holy crap batman. So far, in my opinion, I'm pretty confident there's a few things that are toast already. To me, it looks like the bushing/joint for the track bar at the frame end has too much play... odd, was expecting the other end (with a glorified TRE) to be toast and have play. Also, watching the drag link, at the knuckle end I can see the TRE popping up and down with a little lateral movement. At the other end of the drag link at the pitman, its popping up and down a LOT and you can even hear it popping. Sad for a truck with less than 22k miles on it.

I have videos of all 3 findings on youtube if interested.

Working with Ford and the dealer, hope to get the TSB done (new steering stabilizer), new track bar, and new drag link and ends. align it, and then see if anything else is loose... Sounds like they are going to work with me and make it happen. We'll see!

EDIT 2/24/20: Dealer installed new trackbar and drag link after showing them these videos below. Couple of days later I inspected the new parts and the track bar seems to move less, but the drag link still pops up and down like old one... appears this is by design (?). Doesn't make the audible pop though.

 

Videos:

Trackbar:

Draglink:
<- thats the one that really worries me, listen for the popping.

 

Im in the same boat....sad they dont makum like they used to....

 

No they dont... Have you started looking over yours? How many miles? Have you had the TSB done?

 

TSB done twice (every 22k miles) they say no other issues with front end (BS). I don't have the play in the TRE like you do but I am going to be proactive and purchased a Ready Lift adjustable trac bar and Fox ATS stabilizer. Going to have a independent Ford truck shop that I trust install then do a proper alignment.

 

I had a trusted shop inspect my truck. Found some play in the track bar ball joint. I ordered the Readylift Track Bar as well. I will have it installed, then aligned, and see if that helps.

The sad thing is the dealer wouldn't even inspect my truck the second time it was in for DW. Just wanted to slap another crappy Ford SS on. It's time to move to the aftermarket world and fix it the right way.

 

I'm starting to wish I went 2WD seeing all these DW posts.

 

something changed on the 2017+ trucks. Lots of speculation on other threads but it looks like we are going to have to use aftermarket parts to fix what Ford screwed up by cheaping out on the suspension bits. My independent shop (Former Ford master tech with 30+ years working on these things) is replacing complete front ends on some trucks after 40k miles. Come on man!

 

Sooner or later I suspect this will hurt resale value as well, once the word gets out they are prone to DW and premature front end wear.
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I was running Dana 60s 25 years ago and all the steering parts needed rebuilt every 15K miles.

These front ends have always been very maintenance intensive for a daily driver.

 

what?!? No. I have no idea what you were doing to those trucks, but this is wrong. In 30 years of turning wrenches, I’ve seen countless D60’s rolling on original hardware after decades of service. Even the ancient kingpin models

 

Agreed. If they were that bad everyone would be running IFS. False blanket statement by this guy.

 

Not sure what you guys with the death wobble have going, I’ve had a 17, 18 and now 19 have never seen a lick of what’s reported.

 

Whatever.

If you use 'em to pull and drive down washboard roads, they wear out fast.

About every 15K I would replace the track bar bushings, ball joints, drag link, tie rod ends, steering stabilizers, and sometimes the pitman arm.

Some reports of DW starting about that time, lots of 'em past 20K. That's about when they're wore out IME. The D60 is tough, but the coil/radius arms are just a pita to keep in good shape. That's why I washed my hands of 'em.

 

If you buy a new one every year you're probably not going to!