Try 4 or 6 degree shims under the springs on the front axle. The thick part of the shim goes to the back. Mine wandered around when I got up to about 50 MPH with the original 2 degree. I put in 4 degree and now it is fine until about 80 MPH. Several people have told me that 6 degree would have been better, but I'm happy with the way it is.

 

Not so much as cause it but it can sure aggrevate it.

I actually induced the "death wobble" into my truck by accident. While working on my truck I had noticed that the tie rod assy was bowed down. Well, no biggie I thought, I got my trusty floor jackout and promptly "jacked" it back into shape. A week or so later I drove the truck and Holy Cow!! I hit one little bump going about 30mph and dang near crashed the darned thing.

I replaced tire rod ends, and a couple of spring bushings which helped it a bit but didn't make it go away. Through a tip learned from this site I checked the toe-in. Sure enough it was way out of whack. I reset the toe and......
.......no more "death wobble"

Since then I've driven the tar out of my truck with no more problems. I do get a bit of road wonder but I'm still running bias ply tires and I still haven't installed the caster shims.

Bobby

 

Hmmm.... 6 degree Caster Shims!!!!

Where do I get such things?

Spring Eye Bushings Pins? Can I put new ones in? Get those at the spring shop?

I don't have any shims in there now and when the u-bolts were loose I could see the axel move about 3/4 inch. So maybe the pins are loose.

Sounds like maybe all this little stuff could be adding up!!!!!! I'll replace it all! No Weak links left, right?

Julie!

 

Hope this helps,

 

Replacing F1 tie rods for the HD stuff is a very good idea .... and a batch cheaper to do once you realize what is possible. The larger trucks ... F4 -5 -6 have the 1" OD tie rod tube, and NAPA has the right tie rod ends to work with the F1 steering arms, and the F4+ tube. The NAPA numbers for the tie rod ends are: 269-2760 and 269-2761

If I remember correctly ... these tie rods are OEM units for Dodge pickups in the 80's and 90's. I know ..... Dodge parts on a Ford???? They do the job though .... I have them on my F1. I used the tube from a free F6 parts truck, and purchased the new tie rod ends from NAPA. Worked out to be about 1/3 the price of a new complete assembly from CPP.

RG in Spokane

 

Well first let me thank all of you for the great suggestions! They were enough to help me identify tasks as I was reading through the shop manual and a "How to.." book this weekend on front ends.

I went out and looked at a few things on the truck and ran a few tests that the books recommended.

First I jacked the wheel up off the ground, grabbed the tires and tried to shake top and bottom. There's a little movement on the passenger side (about 1/8 - 3/16 inch displacement from top and bottom of tire) and a pretty good bit of movement (about 1/2 to 5/8" movement from top and bottom of tire). So, it's king pin time. When I shook them side to side there was a slight movement (just enough to feel some) confirming the bad tie rod end - no suprise there.

Toe was about 1/8 to 1/4" OUT. So another little thing.

The drag link seemed to be ok as it only rotated and didn't rock. There was no play in the steering wheel when I held the pitman arm. Finally I checked the steering box bolts and they were tight.

There are NO shims at all between the axel and front springs. So what you guys said about shimming causing the truck to become a little harder to steer seems to apply here. I can steer the truck with one hand anytime it is moving and it's like power steering over 25 MPH. So, I have some "ease" (And possibly wander) I can shim out of it by increasing the castor angle to prevent wander.

Also, the shop manual mentions that the spring pads not being parallel will effect castor angle un evenly as well. With the bent axel, I have never checked to see if it has any twist too it. I'm not sure if the PO ever tried to do anything with it. But with that being a possibility, I've decided just to rebuild the whole mess from the ground up first to make sure everything is copa....copaset....Alright. Then I won't have to wonder if the one thing I didn't fix might still be causing problems, if it seems a little rougher than I'm used to - I'll know everything is right anyway. Like I said, my stock 55 front end was completely rebuilt when I got it and I took that truck on many drives over 500miles being very comfortable with the front end (and the whole truck).

So, here's the plan:

I'm just going to take the whole thing out and dissasemble it.

Take the hubs and drums up to the machine shop and have them plugged and redrilled for 4 1/2 in bolt pattern (about $250). Gets rid of the adaptors.

I am going to have the springs re-arched; replace the pins and bushings; install 4 degree shims and new center bolts. (about $350) The 390 torque has flattened the right spring flattened out (Front bumper is about 1 1/2 inches lower on right side).

Then, replace the bent axel with the better one, and install new kingpins (about $100). Elliminating possible alignment problems due to bend, and slop.

Install the new tie rod ends on a reinforced tie rod, and adjust toe to 1/16" toe in (about $50). Should help end wander

And, lastly, I will rebuild the drag link (about $30). Just to make it all new.

The Holiday Bonus ought to be coming in about mid January so I won't have to knock off any liquior stores to pay for it...Kind of lends new meaning to the term "Bonus Built," huh?

If I have anything left I'll get 2 new tires.

So, with all that said, have I forgotten anything???????

Thanks again for all the GREAT Advice!

Merry Christmas,

Julie