Death Wobble

Like others have said, I’ve heard of it for years and even know of a few acquaintances that have experienced it but I’ve never had it effect one of my trucks.
 
Dude you know your shit. Good to know.
Just a lot of you tube and research......I heard about death wobble the week I bought my truck, scared the shitl out of me.....
 
Just a lot of you tube and research......I heard about death wobble the week I bought my truck, scared the shitl out of me.....
Ford has sold about 15 million trucks the last 20 years I’m sure a few of them are not perfect. As long as Ford stands behind their product and makes it right.

Oh I love my Tremor!
 
Ford has sold about 15 million trucks the last 20 years I’m sure a few of them are not perfect. As long as Ford stands behind their product and makes it right.

Oh I love my Tremor!
Agreed...........and from what I have seen in this forum, Ford IS standing behind their product.
 
I have built lots of solid axle suspensions and steering systems from the ground up. Death wobble is something that can happen to any vehicle, even IFS.

Usually, death wobble is caused by play in the mechanism that locates the axle or suspension under the vehicle - left to right. In our trucks, it is the track bar or panhard bar (from the drivers side frame to the passenger side of the axle) - the left to right bar that is in relative alignment with the drag link of the steering (from the steering gear box to the knuckle or tie rod, depending on setup).

When there is slop between the panhard or track bar and it's pivots, an oscillation can start - due to tire balancing, alignment, or anything that can cause a frequency based oscillation or vibration - that is not controlled by the panhard bar. The steering stays in one place, and the axle moves left and right, essentially making it like a rapid spin left and right of the steering - even though the wheel is held straight (until it is so bad you can't hold on to the steering wheel). This is the general cause of death wobble. It can be any of the parts mentioned, or even alignment issues like camber and caster, other mounting point issues like link bushings, steering box play, tie rod end slop, basically, anything that introduces "slop" in the system whether steering or axle location. That is why it is so hard to diagnose and cure.

One of my worst offenders, a Factory 2001 2WD F250 - the problem was the tie rod end at the steering box introduced the slop ( the rod end was barely worn and a year old, but had maybe a 1/16th inch of play, and my alignment - per the shop that fixed it - was drunk monkey did it) bad. A cheap part and good alignment solved the issue. The tie rod was the slop and the alignment introduced the oscillation.

I have had it in solid axle Jeeps, F250's, a 1970's Power Wagon and a couple of desert racers.

Bottom line, if the axle can shift from side to side due to mounting slop, and the steering remains fixed, the only place to "give" is the steering wheel. Death wobble is the result.

It's not rocket science, but it is hard to get everything tight enough without slop to prevent it from happening once you have got the issue..

Ed
Absolutely on the money here! This issue has been around for 30 or 40 years on straight axle vehicles of all makes. The track bar is a common culprit, check the torque spec and get a Huge torque wrench!
 
It’s funny that nobody says anything about their lift when speaking of the wobble. I wonder why? Haha
It “only” has a level kit that can’t be it.....
 
I am not an expert but I think it is extreme under/over and also significance difference between left and right.
 
I am not an expert but I think it is extreme under/over and also significance difference between left and right.
I agree I have definitely seen it with low PSI which makes sense it allows alot of play with sidewall flex.
 
Where I work we run a lot of Superduties and have been unfortunate enough to experience it first hand on a F350 with large service body. After a coworker retired I got to shuttle his old work truck back about 200 miles to the main shop and with about 170K on the odometer it would get death wobble around 75mph on harsh expansion joints. These trucks see a hard life and the front end had some worn parts. After replacing worn steering components and suspension bushings has been driving just fine ever since. A few of my coworkers have had it as well but they have all been at higher miles and fixed with replacing worn parts. DW is a possibility with any solid axle as components wear but not something I would be overly concerned with.
 
I hadn't noticed this until this last weekend. Had it serviced at 6000, a few trips before without issue. I drove up to Payson here in AZ. First curve at 65+ I noticed, it felt like the rear-end shifted and was tracking really weird around the turn. Then again on the next. I did a swerve back and forth, felt like I was on a ball bearing...got to the point of the traction control light flashing on.. pulled over to check the wheels, all appeared to be tight. Kept going, very odd, made me a little nervous, definitely not right. Going to get it in to check it out. I'll go back and reread this thread. Any other ideas?
 
I bumped 95 mph on the I 90 this morning in a bumpy section, no issues. Pulling 12K at 75 mph, no problem. I think it is like all other issues, luck of the draw and maintenance!!
 
I hadn't noticed this until this last weekend. Had it serviced at 6000, a few trips before without issue. I drove up to Payson here in AZ. First curve at 65+ I noticed, it felt like the rear-end shifted and was tracking really weird around the turn. Then again on the next. I did a swerve back and forth, felt like I was on a ball bearing...got to the point of the traction control light flashing on.. pulled over to check the wheels, all appeared to be tight. Kept going, very odd, made me a little nervous, definitely not right. Going to get it in to check it out. I'll go back and reread this thread. Any other ideas?
I feel that my truck can easily be sucked into ruts in the road and is prone to some movement when the roads have any kind of groove or expansion joints, potholes, etc. I believe the cause to be the Duratracs, which seem to be prone to wondering. This happens when empty or towing. My Tire pressures are what Ford says to run. Might be something to consider.
 
I feel that my truck can easily be sucked into ruts in the road and is prone to some movement when the roads have any kind of groove or expansion joints, potholes, etc. I believe the cause to be the Duratracs, which seem to be prone to wondering. This happens when empty or towing. My Tire pressures are what Ford says to run. Might be something to consider.

On my initial drive home, I had the exact same issue. 200 miles later, 35x1250x18s on, no more issue.
 
I hadn't noticed this until this last weekend. Had it serviced at 6000, a few trips before without issue. I drove up to Payson here in AZ. First curve at 65+ I noticed, it felt like the rear-end shifted and was tracking really weird around the turn. Then again on the next. I did a swerve back and forth, felt like I was on a ball bearing...got to the point of the traction control light flashing on.. pulled over to check the wheels, all appeared to be tight. Kept going, very odd, made me a little nervous, definitely not right. Going to get it in to check it out. I'll go back and reread this thread. Any other ideas?
So is this what the feeling is for the death wobble? I’ve had two weird instances like this in the last two weeks. One time I was swerving out of the way of someone who decided to turn left at the last minute. I just felt like as I went back-and-forth the front/rear end was loose and I was on skates. Traction light came on for a second as well but the street was completely dry.

Second time was yesterday. I drove over train tracks and it seem like a front end just lost control as I was going over bumps. It was all over the place for a couple seconds. Hopefully the fox ATS stabilizer I’m gonna order helps.
 
So...I did have another issue with my front end alignment, they fixed it. The other issue, as some of you mentioned...when they rotated my tires they did not reduce the pressure in the front tires. I had no idea....
 
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