Wow guys, what's with all the Ford bashing on FTE? Sheesh, thought I had stumbled into a chevy forum for a minute...

Happy to report that my 05 with 78k has been absolutely flawless in terms of wobble. It's spent 4 seasons now carrying a 1200lb 11' Blizzard plow on the front as well, which is over what's recommended by both plow and truck manufacturer, but the truck handles it like a champ! I wouldn't trade my Ford super duties for anything, best trucks I've ever owned, period.

I think the death wobble has been blown out of proportion. For every 1 truck that wobbles, there's probably 100 that dont. I firmly believe that Ford believed when engineering these trucks that they were the best design. I have to agree with them, there's a lot of advantages with coils over leafs, not the least of which is cheap upgrade-ability to heavier springs, maneuverability (nothing like a crew cab turning sharper than a regular cab), and a decent ride loaded or unloaded. So a few trucks have problems, at least this one is easy to fix. I'd much rather put in a dual stabilizer in my Ford than replace brakes every 10k and trannies every 40k as was the case when I owned chevy's...

Cheer up guys, fix it and move on, not worth getting your undies in a bunch.

 

How hard is to change to a dual stablizer? Is it just a bolt on type deal? I don't have the wobble....yet.. but like to head off a potential problem.

 

Mine does it every now and again, mainly its when the road is too bad to be driving 75 on anyways. The hump from pavement to asphalt always swells up in the summer heat here, so that hop gets it going sometimes. Real simple for me though, I'm going with an Icon dual stab setup when I put the front end replacement on, no big deal and an easy fix.

If you have this problem, pony up the $300 to get a better steering stab and move on with your life. Don't cry like a girl and whine that Ford hates you. Find problem, fix problem, move on.

Edit: Dual stabs are a bolt on in the driveway project that anyone with a socket set can do. One bolt out of the diff cover, a few clamps on the tie rod, install the two shocks and you're done.

 

Good to read the comments from Texas and Wizard I was starting to get a little paranoid over my decision to come back to Ford from Chev. Chev crossed the line when I could adjust the alignment of my bumper with nothing more than my right arm.

 

one that wobbles as bad as they do is too many . Maybe you should experience it and see if its over blown ! maybe the next time it will be the sd that crosses into youre lane kiling youre family . absoulutlety unexcusable actions from ford . It is a big deal !!

 

When the wobble happens to you and it will, after u clean out your shorts u will probably be plowing with a yota pruis. When the wobble strikes it fills like the pickup is going to desenigrate or explode and you loose all steering and it is hard to even brake. You can not control the vehicle or even keep it in a straight line. So unless u have experenced the wobble u really can't speak much about it. I know for i am a death wobble survivor.

 

Like I said, fix it and move on. It's not worth getting upset over. If you know your truck has a problem, fix it. Recall or not, it's your responsibility to make sure your vehicle is safe. Dont wait for Ford to issue a recall before you fix it. Ford has done their due dilligence to rectify this via a TSB covered under warranty, for the few trucks that develop this. I also have yet to hear of a supper duty with a "death wobble" cause an accident, much less a fatalaity. I'm far more worried about getting killed by a drunk on the road than the one superduty that mysteriously develops a death wobble out of nowhere and crosses into my lane.

Wow guys... Deep breath...

 

The entire problem is a resonance between the steering box and spool valve, and the rest of the front suspension. Once it gets started, the front suspension is moving one way, pulls on the steering box, the box reacts and pulls back the other way, and the front suspension starts moving too fast, and pushes the box back the other way, the box reacts, and so on and so on.

Too much box lash, not enough hydraulic pressure, too much give in the front end, you name it, it all sets up for a bad vibration


When I got my '01, it had the stock stabilizer, but still was amazingly BAD on rough roads. The bump steer was horrible. I had to upgrade the shocks and the stabilizer, and it's been gone for 6 years now.

It wasn't the "death wobble", but it was still horrific.

 

I'm not Ford bashing.
But I've never experienced anything like what my truck did the other day. And if I was in heavy traffic it may well have caused a wreck.
I just want a fix for the problem and it appears the dual stabilzer setup may be the answer so I will probably try that.
I've had many Fords over the years and currently have a 55 Ford, 69 Cougar, 03 Taurus and the 06 SD. So I like Fords just don't want to crash in one because something is funky with the front end.

 

Some people don't like when you tell it as it is. Just like to call it "Ford bashing". I've went through BS stuff with other Ford vehicles where Ford knew they put out bad parts and flawed designs and just ignored it and let the consumer worry about it. I know Ford is not the only company to do this but thats not my point. I agree put a more substantial stabilizer on it to help reduce the problem even though it should have been done right from the factory.

Mine was like that also and mine didn't come with a stabilizer at all. It was those skinny 235/85 tires that was the main culprit. The steering smoothed out incredibly when I put the 285/75s on.

 

I had the 235's on it too... 265's then 285's twice, no issues, but still have the Rancho 9000x's on it and the Rancho stabilizer.

But I also had the Heavy-Service Suspension package, so I had the stabilizer on it.

But yeah, "ford bashing" is one thing... Let's keep this to a purely TECHNICAL discussion and leave the corporate mis-deeds out of this.