I will ask mechanic if he saw a problem with those. Anything else it could be

 

Is your power steering pump making noise and/or is your PS fluid dark? Does the temperature affect the issues and does it happen more frequently after making turns?

This happened to me several months ago. It became pretty scary to drive and I ended up parking it for awhile after almost side swiping someone on the highway while towing my 16ft trailer.

I replaced the power steering box earlier last year, but I never replaced the PS pump, which I should have done at the same time. It has been fine ever since replacing the pump.

 

Cold or warm. No difference. There is a little whining when all the way left or right but the fluid doesn't look bad. What about steering gear box? Not that I want to keep replacing things?

 

Mine would do it in any temperature but it was more pronounced during cold weather.

Just to clarify, are you experiencing the same symptoms as the original poster (steering wheel jerks back and forth left AND right while letting go of the steering wheel) or does the steering wheel jerk randomly left OR right while driving straight down the road? The latter would indicate an issue with your power steering, more than likely a failing pump.

 

Straight down the road is fine. It all starts when I start into a turn. Sharper the turn then u get a wobble in right front and then steering wheel jerks left. Worse on a right hand turn than left. And definitely just like the above post. Like someone is grabbing wheel out of your hand!

 

Sounds like you have bad u-joints.

 

Thx for the help. I'll have my guy look at those first

 

I had the death wobble for a good while. Would come and go. Also had a howling and leaky power steering pump for about the same time. So I also assumed it was the pump. Well I have 241000 miles and figured I had gotten all the good out of this original 16 year old pump so I changed it and the leaking high pressure hose confident I had it licked.

Wrong!

So I went and bought my new u joints and dug into it. Sure enough I had one completely seized u joint on the right side which also took out my original hub locker!
These u joints are also original so I changed both sides with new and found a used hub locker for only $20! Not bad for a $200 dollar part!

After reading all the posts above and thinking of the problem as a u joint failure it started to become obvious to me what it was doing as I drove along. You can feel the binding. Sometimes it would bind and after stopping and turning the wheel full left and right a few times it would always clear.

No loss for me as I needed all these parts anyway but for you guys that are looking for the answer I recommend checking those u joints first before you blow up a hub locker like me!
And soaking them won't do much if anything. These are internally and permanently greased for the life limit of the joint. Which must be 241000 miles! LOL

 

WOW! The never ending death wobble thread!

This issue is 100% bad front axle U joints. My X did it and I've fixed many others with the same issue. The easiest way to check is to jack up a front tire off the ground turn the wheel all the way right or left then lock the hub manually. If it is a bad axle then you won't be able to spin the wheel.

 

This has been such a helpful thread. I bought a mint 2000 excursion limited (34K miles) from an older couple, 2 yrs ago, that bought it new. It sat on a conneticut driveway most of its life, now it sits in a chicago suburb driveway. More rust underneath than I would like. Its a V10. I have 54K on it now (its still being broken in). About a month ago, a range of issues started happening. Death wobble. Turned out to be the bracket welded to the front axle cracked, which held the track bar and stablizer. Had a friend weld it back together (need to find a nice rust free one off a wreck someday). Its actually very thin metal, which suprized me how weak it was.

But since that happened, I have a vibration at 45-55. I now think that problem is the rear u joints (likely rusty) and the rear differential pinion bearing. This thread pointed me in that belief. I am getting new tires, so maybe I do have a bad belt in one tire, but odds are low on that theory. The car used to vibrate only a 70 mph, but recently is bad at 45-50 and then again at 70.

Now the car is sensitive at times to steering jerk, so now I suspect the pump. I do think maybe my wife hit something, and there is a small dent in the stablizer, maybe it does not move freely, is another thought.

I like the last post, I will see if there is something binding in the front u joints. I also like the idea of locking the hubs to see if that creates a different feel. I can hardly even rotate them without using a block of wood and a small hammer. They are so tight to turn, its rediculous.

Lots to debug today of my many problems that just added up. I just want to thank all that posted over the years here to help someone like me with my many problems.

I do love the truck. I think I see a 1) new PS pump 2) new rear u joints 3) a new pinion bearing 4) rebalance of my driveshaft, and 5) an adjustment of my steering box in my future to solve my problems. Total speculation at this point, but that is what I am summing up from what I have learned here.

 

death wobble can be caused by many things. worn tie rods, worn track bar bushings, bad toe on the alignment, bad drag link.

One thin most factory front axles have in common is being on the ragged edge of having enough caster, the lack of caster will make all of these worn items more pronounced.

adding a degree or two of caster to even a worn out front end will make drive better with less possibility of becoming unstable.

 

here an update on my ex:

check power steering level, its very low and it smells burnt. Going to get some new fluid and see if it helps change the feel. Then if it does, I will drain and replace as much as I can.

Put new tires on, no difference on 45-50 vibration. I am dropping it off at a seasoned ford mechanic, he said it sounds like a u joint problem. He will take the driveshaft off, and will know right away. He doubts a car with 54k will need a pinion bearing replace. I will have him check the front u joints as described in this thread, as my car did have the death wobble (although the bracket holding the stablizer and trackbar was cracked when that happened). Maybe the front u joints pushed it to its brink. Thus, the plan is to check ALL the u joints.

I will say, I towed a lot of weight recently (10K lbs) and the vibration did get worse after going to the nursery for trees many times (5 trips, 2 hrs each). Maybe the u joints got more stressed. With the gear ratio I have (4:30?) I am able to tow up to 11K.

Baby steps towards a recovery. Joints and pump focus at the moment.

 

last likely update for me on this thread. I think my woes are going to go away.

power steering flush likely will fix my gremlin weird steering when its cold.

Mechanic found one bad u joint in front by method described in thread (turn wheel and lock hub). That was the trigger for the death ride. Getting both side fixed.

45-55 vibration turned out to be in the 2 part driveshaft. Its going to a driveshaft shop to get fixed.

Thanks for a great thread with correct inputs to solving certain issues.

even though my 'mint' 2000 excursion has only 54k miles, I think it must have sat out too much (u joints got cruddy) or pulled to much in its life. The grandpa and grandma I bought it from did have a trailer. They bought the excursion to just use on vacations and to pull 'a trailer'.

My chevy tahoe, I had to do nothing to, to get 200K miles. I think this 8000 lb beast pulling itself around, as well as trailers up to 10K pounds, must be too much for certain driveline components is my only thought. Those u joints are seeing 9 tons of fun at times.

 

My excursion has been running fine since new front u joints replaced, power steering flushed, and new driveshaft u joints. I got all this done for $1000, which included a door lock replace, by a retired ford mechanic.

No more steering erratic behavior. I think my one bad u joint in the front had to have had a roll in things, as the car had a very very slight pull to the right. Ever so slight. Now with the new u joints in front, it drives so straight, like it is brand new. I think some of these adjustments to the steering box are masking of bad u joints. I was a fan of doing that at one time, now I am glad I never messed with mine. Check your front u joints first.

Another fine day with the Ex. Back to loving it.

 

Hello All,
I have just read this thread in it's entirety. My 2002 F350 V10 with 134,500 original miles is experiencing the same drift / wander symptoms as almost everyone has complained about. I am the original owner and have replaced ball joints twice with Moog components that can be lubricated. The steering stabilizer shock has been replaced once with a Ford replacement, but I am going to replace it again with an HD aftermarket part. My four shocks are Gabrial HD and OK,. The front tires are almost new and are of a ribbed design.

Here is a difference to the problem...........My truck is a 2x4. The handling problems started after 80K. Also it seems to be worse when I tow something. The lighter the load the safer I feel. Towing my 39 foot park model trailer was a breeze when I bought it new and pulled it from Indiana to New York and the truck was also new, but when I pulled it last year for 100 miles it was a stressful drive . Correct to the Left, correct to the right, had the drunk driving feel all of the time. Had to keep the speed minus 55 mph. Steering box, power steering or front wheel bearings ?

Thx in advance.