Hi, this is a continuation of my other post of help, someone please help me. i have come to find out that my problem is the death wobble. i was wondering if anyone here had this problem and what fixed it, my dealer in upstate ny knows absolutely nothing of this kind. i am kinda at the end of my road. need help badly dont want to get rid of the old lady but shes hurting bad and need somehing to drive. any info would be great, thanks

-Jacksland

 

I have never had a Ford shimmy, but I have had a couple of others do it. The first was a '57 CJ-5 that turned out to be the steering box. The second was a '89 KW T600. It had a new set of Bridgestone steer tires when it started to shake. After new tie rod ends, alignment and balancing the steer tires, it still had a shimmy. Bridgestone finally replaced the 2 tires (after a lot of hassle) and we never had another problem with it.
Try rotating your tires front to back and see if it makes any difference. Other than that, I don't have a clue.

alanscott

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Thank you for the suggestion but i have gone through 3 sets of diff. tires that have been balanced. and a new gear box, and new linkage, but thanks for the suggestion.

-Jacksland

 

After reading all the posts, I have also ran out of ideas. I just hope this does not happen to my truck. Try posting this in the suspension section or also try the 4x4 section. Don't limit the problem to the front end. It could be something like a bent or broken frame rail or possible something to do with the read end.



1986 F-250 6.9 diesel,4x4,XLT Lariat,Ex Cab, 8'bed,etc...

 

I will do that, thanks for the ideas, i have not posted in anywhere else besides ford-diesel.com. thanks again

-Jacksland

 

What kind of steering stabilizer do you have and where is it connected?

 

I have a single rancho stabilizer and there was a factory spot for it on the passanger side leaf spring bracket. on that bracket there was a hole so thats one end and the other is connected right to the long tie rod on the bottom. thats bout it

-Jacksland

 

I would suggest a dual stabilizer mounted in that same spot. I had a single on there yesterday and a dual today and I could tell the difference. Also how old is the stabilizer? With the death wobble going on I could imagine them getting wore out quickly. I don't know how heavy duty the rancho unit is but the skyjacker one I have is pretty beefy. At least in my case the steering stabilizer was the difference.

No stabilizer = undrivable death wobbling POS
1 stabilizer = drivable but could feel minor shaking
2 stabilizers = drives like a normal truck


I really feel for you because I was in the same boat and very frustrated but this is the way I look at it. The wobble occurs by the tires moving left to right. We don't know why, but this movement is the problem. The track bars may be bad, the spring bushings,caster, etc, but the wobble is the tires rotating back and forth . Anything done to dampen this will help. If the dual stabilizers did not work on my truck I was going to use four. Would it look dumb? probably. Would it shorten the life of my steering componets? Maybe, but it can't be worse than the death wobble. I would suggest putting the front axle on jackstands and having a buddy turn the wheel back and forth while you look under there. Also try moving the tie rods around and shaking the wheels. I know you have replaced these parts but the death wobble can wear them out in a hurry. I put on a new tie rod(the one that goes from gear box to the other rod) and it was wore out in 2 weeks. I don't know if it was defective or caused by the death wobble. Part of the problem was my steerting stabilizers were mounted at an angle back then and were causing the rods to be torqued. Another idea would be to have a buddy drive your truck while you aree riding in the back of another truck in front and watch exactly what happens when it wobbles.

 

I will add a dual on it. thanks so much for the info, i will prob. try all of them at this point. i will let ya know how it goes, thanks alot

-Jacksland

 

Have had several tow trucks with this problem. The solution I had found was track bar and stabilizer replacement and good alignment.

 

What do you consider the track bar? cause i heard of diff. things called that. god i love fords

-Jacksland

 

Other than my confidence that there is no such thing as a death wobble, I feel that lifting the entire truck off its wheels and shaking everything by hand, would be a good way of seeing what is moving where it shouldn't. Wobble can be caused by anything on the front axle, from the suspension to the diff, not just the wheels or steering, or; the frame being cracked somewhere, maybe near the suspension bushes, or the axle mount...

Wm

 

i have already tried that and cannot find out what this is. and there is a death wobble. thats the name ford gave to it, not us. its recognized by ford motor comp. as death wobble. thanks though

-Jacksland

 

Did you ever cure this?

alanscott

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[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-Jul-01 AT 08:09 PM (EST)[/font][p]My '77 with 44" gumbo's used to get that wobble badly (as you can imagine with that much tire), turns out the track arm (the big bar that locates the axle under the frame, directly behind the drag link) lower mount would work loose. I put a permanent stop to it by installing new mount hardware and urethane bushings.

Edit: the '79 also did it once, tightened lower track arm mount nut, never returned.

BFM