My folks have a 2005 F-350 6.0 4X4 Dually. Now just so you know I am 23 and a college student/Diesel Mechanic and not a 13 year old teenager. This death wobble issue has me just about to find the engineers who designed these trucks and sock the out of them. You would think that when you pay 50K+ for a new truck it should be good for at least 10 years. Well ours has 58,000 miles and this Death wobble issue just about makes me S*%$ my pants every time it happens. And it seems to want to happen at highway speeds and when it happens on highway 41/46 here in california. I can remember ford sending a letter which stated they know about the problem and ford recommended to just slow down? I have just about had it with these american truck companies. My 91 F-250 is great. But come on a 05' with 58,000 miles and death wobble. This is ridiculous.

So I had the front end guy at work check out the front end and he found play in the Trac Bar Ball Joint. So after reading the TSB on AllData and following Fords recommendation I replaced the stock steering stabilizer and the bracket with updated parts. I also Replaced the Trac Bar and trac bar Ball Joint on the front differential. Well this weekend it is obvious that after doing the previous it did not solve the problem. Looking at the front tires the outer treads are worn down to what looks like 1/4" more than the inner treads. I know we have got our money out of the BF Goodwriches that came with the truck new but I do not understand how tires could be the only cause of this death wobble.

Now we have a lance camper that we haul with the truck, and did haul this weekend. Looking at the truck with the camper on it the truck sags in the rear as you would expect it. So I thought well maybe the camper is causing the alignment to be thrown off and causing the tires to wear unevenly. But of the 58,000 miles I would say somewhere around 15,000 miles is with hauling the camper.

So what have you guys done to solve this very dangerous Death Wobble. My pop just walked in and he said he searched the web and people are having this problem with excursions, expeditions, F-150's and more.

 

This is an ugly problem chased by many people and not just on ford products. It can be found in various flavors among, chebbys, jeeps, etc. Unfortunately there is rarely a black and white fix and as often as not it is a combination of issues. Steering stabilizers and what-not are almost never the fix. At best it will control and hide the problem, but it is not the fix.

I'd start simple and work up from there. Make sure your front tires are good and make sure they are balanced properly. Odds are it won't fix your problem, but it should be done anyway. Make sure your tire rod ends and ball joints are solid and not sloppy and get a front end alignment done. If anything is out or iffy, replace it. Alignment should be done last since it won't do any good if the front end parts are out of whack.

Death wobble is usually caused by slop in your front end. Wobble starts and at the right speeds the oscillations can intensify to down right dangerous proportions. I had a Chebby truck once that did it so bad the front end of the truck would leave the ground, one side at a time. Left, right, rinse and repeat until I pretty much came to a stop.

It's never fun to chase down and can be downright frustrating. All you can do is keep at. If you have the money you can just replace every slop producing wear component in the front end, from wheel bearings to tie rod ends, at once and call it a day.

Not the news you wanted to hear I imagine but sometimes it just shakes out that way. Good luck.

 

What WOBBLE?
i have heard of this solving the problem.

 

Are the shocks good?

 

Well with doing a little more research by searching the forum, which is what I should have done in the first place but didn't because I was and still am about this. I know that it is just the way it goes but it just really sucks that whenever you go on a camping trip with your family you have to worry about a firing ring breaking in a head gasket, a EGR cooler cracking, an intercooler hose blowing off, a FICM going out, or loosing control of your truck and having your family, camper and truck, horse trailer and horses rolled over on the side of the road. I am really going to try and get a 03' F-350 4X4 Dually 7.3 with 30,000 I know of that is available because it sounds like the 99-04's don't have this issue as bad. Not only that but you do not have to lift the cab to pull the engine. But it is going to be hard selling a 6.0 because most everyone knows of the issues or will by little research.

Any how it is looking like this issue can be caused by: shocks, alignment, tire psi, stabilizer shock, Ball joints, Traction Bar design almost anything in the front end it seems like. Maybe thats why ford doesn't recall this because the whole front suspension would have to be replaced in a lot of cases. But maybe, this is just a guess, they do not recall or at least be of more help because it is not a single issue like a psi switch on the master cylinder shorting out and getting a wire red hot and up in flames she goes.

 

jonsk is right - might seem a bit expensive to some but it FIXES the problem. Read what they have to say about the cause - they've solved it!

 

I dunnooo. I'm a bit skeptical there. As far as I can tell all they are selling you is a relocated track bar to bring the angles of the trackbar and draglink in line, which is great for reducing bump steer. I watched their video and I've never seen, experienced, or even heard of death wobble (like in the video) being caused by a track bar. Shoot, a lot of vehicles don't even have them. Tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings, etc, yes. Anything that will allow the wheels to move independently of each other or the rest of the steering system. The track bar keeps the axle centered under the vehicle and I can't imagine one being sloppy enough to cause the issues the OP mentioned. Different issues definitely, but not his.

I'm wrong on a daily basis, but I'm not sold on that one.

 

"Assuming" all components are in good shape and properly aligned, trucks can still exhibit the death wobble and have.

The instance with the SD's (and others) is the fact that the steering geometry is per say, not "true".
As previously mentioned (1000's of times) that "many" other instances can contribute to the DW. Although the WC Motorsport kit may alleviate the problem and may counteract other problems, once components start to wear but inevitably may not always completely eliminate it.

 

I would have to agree with on this one for all the same reasons. I have seen Chevys do the death wobble and it would scare the heck out of ya. usually ball joints is the culprit. but even worn out pitman and idler arms can be help intensifie the problem.

 

My 2005 F-350 was cured. 1. air pressure front tires to spec. 2. Replace front shocks.
( Billstein shocks )

Take to aspirins, and keep on camping/trucking...

 

I bought and installed a set of used tires (33x12.5") on my 89 F250 and within 3 miles experienced the death wobble. Removed the tires and put my old 33x12.5" on and never had the problem again.


I believe 100% the cause is always tires. The wobble can be found in everything from cars, trucks, vans, in any make all the way to farm tractors, lawn mowers, and shopping carts. Only thing in common with all of them is old worn tires.

 

Wrong.

Although worn, old or out of round tires may in fact be a "cause" for the DW it is NOT "always" the culprit. Happens on new factory vehicles as well.

My truck with 45K and factory BFG's did it and they were perfectly fine. Was not the cause in my case.

 

Not to nit-pick here... but 45K on factory rubber? You did have old worn tires.

 

My truck did with under 10k on it. They changed the camber angle and it has been better since.

 

Is this a problem with just older trucks or are the new 2011 SuperDuty's prone to this scenario as well?