My current truck is an '11 F350 SB SRW 4x4 with 20 inch wheels and the factory life that I am exchanging for a 26. While we never had the full on death wobble that some see, there were times/situations where the steering was not quite as damped as I would want it to be. While corrected alignment helped a bit, we installed an aftermarket dual steering stabilizer (made by superlift) that made a huge improvement

My understanding is the steering geometry really has not changed all that much and that the problem can still exist. Do folks still recommend steering stabilizers, or is there something else that fixes the dreaded death wobble?

Also, I have had a number (4-5) wheel bearing failures. I know there was an aftermarket kit, but it required manual locking. Does anyone know of an aftermarket kit that works with shift on the fly that is more robust/rebuildable than the stock bearings, or has that issue also been corrected?

Thanks in advance

 

I strongly suggest that you simply put fuel in it and drive it for a while. Too many times, people think they need to add seventeen different things to their vehicles from the git-go, only to realize later that they wasted money.

Enjoy it, find its flaws, etc., then decide if you want to make changes.

Good luck with the future purchase.

 

Get the locking kit, and leave them locked in the winter.

What offset are your wheels? Wrong offset eats bearings.

Pmf trac bar should fix most wobble issues. Sometimes also ball joints, pitman arm, or caster issues.

 

Wheels and tires are stock 20 inch wheels from Ford with the stock 4x4 lift (we changed nothing), so we didn't make any modifications that would impact the performance of the vehicle.The biggest mod was putting in Line-X, undercoating it, and installing a cap

The biggest problem is that I live in Delaware and less than 4 miles west of Delaware Bay (pretty much the same as the ocean in that area) less than 1/2 mile from extensive salt marshes to the south, a salt water canal and associated marshes are 4 miles to the north, and the Chesapeake Bay is less than 10 miles to our west...plus a ton of salt is dumped on the roads here in the winter, probably about as much as northern Illinois. In my experience, Ford's bearings on my 11 just could not handle it and was hoping for something more robust, or a system that I can have cleaned and repacked every year if needed.

Wobble was (mostly) corrected by ensuring correct alignment, but even then going down the Appalachian passes at interstate speeds resulted in some wobble. The dual stabilizer I put on my '11 F-350 stopped that cold. My wife scares the hell out of me when she drives those passes because she is so used to the rock solid steering on her personal vehicle and the slightest wobble throws her. I know an F-350 isn't a sporty vehicle ort even a nice SUV and I can handle it just fine (my first job was driving deliveries for a NAPA in a pickup ), but 34 years of driving sporty cars and refusing to drive the truck anytime other than long trips has put a deficiency in her skills that she refuses to correct. She even has trouble adjusting to the 4+ or so lock to lock steering ratio vs her 3 or so lock to lock steering ratio. We need the truck for towing, so we can't just get something smaller than a Super Duty type truck.

 

I'm going to drive mine for a year or so before I invest in any expensive aftermarket stuff. Make sure I don't have a lemon and just wasted the money. I purchased a new vette years ago, put in some aftermarket accessories, threw some codes a few months down the road. Chevy dealers would not work on it until I removed all of my accessories that were wired.