"Death Wobble" updated, fixed

[GWolfe]

I've heard about it but never experienced it until recently.

We have a 2017 F250 4wd at work with around 26,000 miles on it, gas engine. At any speed above about 45MPH the steering wheel will start to shake, some times pretty bad. It takes a bump, like an expansion joint on a bridge, to get it started, sometimes it will be a little wobble in the steering wheel that goes away, other times it gets bad enough that it is hard to control the truck until you get it slowed down to under 35MPH.

We had it into the dealer who told us that a fix had just been figured out and that we were waiting on parts and sent us on our way. The service adviser said that he hoped a recall would be coming but he wasn't holding his breath.

I was just wondering if any of you had experienced this and what you did to fix it? Right now the truck is stuck to city streets with no highway driving which really adds to the drive time when you have to go across town.

We have four F250s in our fleet ranging from a 2005 with the 6.0l Powerstroke, an 08 with the Triton 5.4l, and two 2017s with the 6.2l gas, this one truck is the only one with this problem. Funny the other three are used as plow trucks in the winter, this one just sits.

[philh]

GWolfe wrote:
OP here, well it's fixed, so far so good. Looks like all they did was put a steering stabilizer on it, I'll get a pic today. I wasn't the one who picked it up and no paper work came with it which I thought was a little weird maybe Ford does things different when it's under warranty.

No, you should have gotten paperwork with it

[Grit_dog]

Me Again wrote:
Shortly after buying our new 2001.5 RAM in June of 2001, I cracked in more caster myself. Sold it 14 years later and 100K+ miles. I installed a 3rd gen track bar early on, and put on a steering box brace. Everything else was original and I never had a DW event. The drivers side OEM track bar end was an issue on 2nd gen RAMs. Chris

Knocking on wood, I'm at 175k on our 3rd Gen, on all original steering components, even the purportedly maligned "Y steering" linkage. I have replaced shocks and steering stabilizer (about 140k miles ago) and added a steering box brace (100k miles ago) and she drives straight as an arrow, doesn't eat up tires at all, doesn't wander and not a hint of the dw. I keep thinking it might be time to rebuild the front end and then realize it's not and I'm lucky! lol

I do have toe set a about dead 0 and caster in the high 4s.

There are 3 different root causes of dw that I see. 1 is worn/broken components/tires. 2 is bad steering geometry, either through mis adjustment or lift kits etc. 3 is very few alignment "techs" actually understand steering geometry and know how to adjust anything other than what the machine tells them to.

[Grit_dog]

GWolfe wrote:
OP here, well it's fixed, so far so good. Looks like all they did was put a steering stabilizer on it, I'll get a pic today. I wasn't the one who picked it up and no paper work came with it which I thought was a little weird maybe Ford does things different when it's under warranty.

Thanks for circling back and closing the loop on your thread.

However, it is extremely unlikely that the original steering stabilizer (going bad, was it leaking?) is the cause, so beware and realize that there is a greater than average chance that something else is amiss. A steering stabilizer's function isn't to mask or prevent another issue. It is primarily to dampen/control bump steer.
Hope it fixes the issue though.

[Me_Again]

Shortly after buying our new 2001.5 RAM in June of 2001, I cracked in more caster myself. Sold it 14 years later and 100K+ miles. I installed a 3rd gen track bar early on, and put on a steering box brace. Everything else was original and I never had a DW event. The drivers side OEM track bar end was an issue on 2nd gen RAMs. Chris

[GWolfe]

OP here, well it's fixed, so far so good. Looks like all they did was put a steering stabilizer on it, I'll get a pic today. I wasn't the one who picked it up and no paper work came with it which I thought was a little weird maybe Ford does things different when it's under warranty.

[ksss]

I had DW on my Chevy 84 K-30 SRW 4X4. Hit a bump at 45 mph and it would shake violently. Cant remember either what I did to fix it, dual front stablizers was a part of it I remember that, but it was brutal.

[larry_barnhart]

My 1949 ford pickup had a DW but I fixed it. Can't remember what I did. that was 60 years ago.

chevman

[blofgren]

larry barnhart wrote:
So what brand has the most Death Wobble?

chevman

You're safe, Chevman; it's definitely not GM! 😉

[blofgren]

Grit dog wrote:
Hate getting the dw on a grocery cart! I tried explaining to the head cart guy (you know, the one pushing the stack of carts back into the store) that he really needs to look at the caster and the ball joints and what kinda rubber is on those front wheels, because death wobble is a serious thing.
Stopped me dead in my tracks once in the store in a very awkward spot, right by the feminine products......coulda been bad if I didn't get that cart back under control!

:B

[GWolfe]

Grit dog wrote:
topped me dead in my tracks once in the store in a very awkward spot, right by the feminine products......coulda been bad if I didn't get that cart back under control!

Uh huh 😉

[Grit_dog]

Hate getting the dw on a grocery cart! I tried explaining to the head cart guy (you know, the one pushing the stack of carts back into the store) that he really needs to look at the caster and the ball joints and what kinda rubber is on those front wheels, because death wobble is a serious thing.
Stopped me dead in my tracks once in the store in a very awkward spot, right by the feminine products......coulda been bad if I didn't get that cart back under control!

[Me_Again]

BenK wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:
So what brand has the most Death Wobble?

chevman

OK Alliance, World’s Largest Shopping Cart Maker

https://www.okalliance.com/2010/12/worlds-largest-shopping-cart-maker/


About half of the shopping carts at my local supermarket has this death wobble... :B

I will take that over one that pulls to the left or right!! :E :E :E

[BenK]

larry barnhart wrote:
So what brand has the most Death Wobble?

chevman

OK Alliance, World’s Largest Shopping Cart Maker

https://www.okalliance.com/2010/12/worlds-largest-shopping-cart-maker/


About half of the shopping carts at my local supermarket has this death wobble... :B

[specta]

Me Again wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:
So what brand has the most Death Wobble?

chevman

International Travelall.

LOL :B