Hi guys,

I have a bone stock 2017 6.2. Today my wife and I went on a road trip of 300 miles and when I hit a rough patch of pavement ( honestly not that rough) I experienced death wobble. Never felt anything like it. Went from 70+ to 20mph in the blink of an eye. My wife thought we blew a tire or something. I thought I was gonna lose control of the truck. Thankfully not much traffic. Question, is Ford aware of this and do they have a fix? Btw only 26k on truck.

 

Search death wobble (steering wheel oscillation) in this forum and you will have a few weeks of reading material. The abridged version, yes they are aware, yes they have a fix, and yes their fix is a temporary solution.

 

Fake news


at least we all wish.


Recommend you balance the tires and replace the stock steering stabilizer with a better one (search, as the dude above said)

 

Balance the tires? Why the truck is smooth at 80 mph. No vibration at all. This truck is under warranty so I don’t think I’ll be putting aftermarket anything on it until it’s fixed. If I change something and it still does it 10 to 1 Ford would blame what ever isn’t stock for the problem.

 

There is a TSB out for this. Ford will replace the steering damper which from what I read is a temporary fix and lots of guys recommend buying a better quality after market damper. If it was me, I’d let Ford do the damper and worry about spending my own money when the warranty expired. The most consistent recommendation I have heard, which is highly debatable, is the caster values being off. A little toe in helps. Good luck.

 

Well then, I wish you the best of luck. I’m sure the dealer will know everything.

 

sorry if I came across wrong. I’ve been driving for near 40 years. I know what an unbalanced wheel feels like. Vibration at different speeds. I do not have that. Second this truck is under warranty, I really think this is Fords problem. If it were out of warranty I would certainly follow your advice.

 

Are you pursuing a pound of flesh or a resolution? It’d be fair for ford to fix it. Me, I’d rather have my vehicle back on the road and fixed. You may find yourself out of commission a while looking for ford to be the solution, and you may never get one. A coworker of mine after 3 rounds with the dealer traded his 2017 on a 2020. They treated him somewhat fairly, but it’s just not what I’d want.

Death wobble is harmonic oscillation fueled by something starting to oscillate. A tire can ride smooth and still be the beginning of an oscillation. Tires, track bar, steering stabilizer, caster, shocks, other steering components are your likely culprits, in that order. Tires and steering stabilizer are usually the easiest remedy.

In any event, best of luck and sorry you’re dealing with it.

 

Take your truck to the Ford dealer. Explain what has happened with the steering wheel oscillation and they will replace your steering damper with the new upgraded version. As stated above there is a TSB on the subject. For some it's a permanent cure, for others it's a bandaid. I replaced my steering damper with a single Fox unit early on to hopefully avoid the problems you are now experiencing.

 

I had it happen to me at 27k. I know a good mechanic at a local ford dealer so I sent it to him. He replaced tierod ends and some bushings. Then replaced the steering stabilizer and balanced the tires. All is good the last 5000 miles. Ford also just sent me a letter saying if it happens again in the next 7 years or 100,000 miles they will take care of it.

 

Thats just an extension of the existing FSA for all 17-19 4x4 owners, that only consists of changing the steering stabilizer.

 

The problem with going back to Ford is you are changing out substandard worn parts for substandard new parts.

The complete drag link, tie rod ends, track bar and dampmner are not built well enough to hold up.

 

So far in all the threads on this I havnt heard of anyone who upgraded to a high quality aftermarket steering stabilizer solution experiencing it again.
The other items like tierod ends at low milage may well be the result of the POS stock stabilizer. I replaced mine with a King with 11,000 miles. Never had the DW but always had some bump steer.
When I pulled the stock unit off it had excessive free play. Therefore it was doing nothing for about 1/2" of travel...
There is now nearly zero negative steering feel from small irregularities in the road. It had bump steer the day I drove it home.
For me I never even brought it to Ford because the issue is so well nown. And those who bring it back under warranty seem to have the DW return at a higher percentage than I ever heard from guys who put a good one in.
I spent $250 and did it myself in 1/2 hour. But you need a puller to get the stocker of the tapered seat.
Ford will repair it for you. Their repair is replacing the stock one with a slightly improved new stock one.
They will mess around as if the new one will fix it. But I have no faith in that. Would you go back to the dealer for stock Ford shocks? or buy one of the several top quality after market shocks? Replace stock tires with the same stock tires? Not too many guys do that. The SS is the same thing.
That is not to say that it can never happen again. It seems that DW is inherent in a coil spring straight axle 4X4. It could happen in any vehicle as discussed here many times. But a SS thats maybe 20% as effective as necessary makes it likely... replacing that with a unit thats 30% effective may be an improvement... But not enough for me...not even free under warranty.

 

There is a TSB for what you described, I got a letter in the mail mail saying Ford extended there warranty for what we call "Death Wobble" to 7 years or 100K miles. thankfully I haven't experienced this with my truck yet (knocking on wood)

 

Out of warranty took my DW 2017 to old school alignment shop and they said although camber was in stock he did not like the difference from R to L. Realigned and new stabilizer fixed condition for me. Did get the letter extending warranty from Ford...........