I had horrific "wobble" from 35-50 mph

a simple Dual Stabilizer killed the wobble permanantly. sorry to hear you're having such issues. are you running a single or dual setup? single just doesn't cut it IMO.

btw, I've experienced death wobble before on a a TTB 1993 Bronco with 35" tires as well. It's not necessarily a design error. It's more just a fact of life you'll have to live with when running huge tires. BTW, I solved the issue on that vehicle as well with dual stabilizers

 

Ive had the wobble once on the expressway. When I first got my truck I noticed the front end bounced normally quite a bit over bumps. Since Ive added the heavier wheels/tires ive noticed the normal bounce isnt there. There is alot less out of control feeling. I plan on new shocks/stabilizer soon so Im hoping its even better.

 

Just bought the truck a few months ago and did not have any problems. Drove it from NC to FL with no issues. On the way back we stoped to camp in Santee, SC(Tent). On a trip to pick up some supplies(beer) it happend on a off ramp on I95 at about 55-60mph thought the wheel felloff. Checked every thing under and around, looked fine. 30min later on I 95 going 60-70 mph it did it again. My 5 yr old was in the backseat thank god because it scared the s*&t out of me. Climbed under the whole truck at the camp site and could not find anything. The whole trip back was white knuckeld but it didn't do anything.
No long trips for a couple of months only around town/village driving(Ocracoke,NC) and no problems i thought it may have been a pavement thing/ freak thing. Went to nageshead,nc for some certification classes and hit a "whoop" in the road and it did it again. Took it to the local shop and the checked the whole front end out and found nothing loose , bent or broken. Rotated and balanced the tires and sugested it could be the steering stabilizer. said he had seen it on other trucks/jeeps but not a 250.
Mounted up a rancho singal stabilizer and made a 180mi trip with no issues.
Last week i had jury duty in swanquater, nc got dismissed early so i had to drive around the pamlico sound through the Dismal Swamp, past Stumpy Point 3hr trip.
There is a section of Old road that has setteld very un- evenly for about
10-20mi. It happend atleast 10 times in 15mi at speed of40mph-60mph Very violent, the only thing i can do is nail the brakes as hard as possible until 20-30 mph then it stops. I run my own trucking/ septic installation company and handel 95% of repairs myself on trucks, backhoes and exc's
and this is not a tire pressure issue
The truck(B*!ch) is a 08 F250 CC 4x4 xlt, plow package 6.4 103000mi

 

Take a look at the track bar bushings. On my '08 I can feel my front end getting progressively worse and I think I will be ordering the Ready Lift track bar in the next few months.

 

Ok, time for an update on my Death wobbles!

As mentioned in my previous post, I bought a WC Motorsports track bar and it is fitted. I also altered my castor to 1.7deg and I have not had a problem with the wobbles since. I have driven over roads and bumps that I knew set it off before and now they are not a problem. I also did more chassis bracing, remember my vehicle is not an f-series, which may have contributed as well.

The only downside to the WC bar is that it transfers a bit of vibration to the chassis when your stationary and in drive, its fine once you start moving. Was it worth the $800? Hell yes! I am so relieved that I can drive my bus again with confidence. Thanks to WC Motorsports!, Thanks Mike!

4x4Coaster.

 

Galen,
Use the TSB search and get the details for the 'oscillation' issue. Camber, shocks, tire pressure, aligmnent, steering stabilizer, checking steering components, torquing parts down to spec, etc can all be factors.

 

Great thread!! I agree with all of you who say "If you were going to **** your pants, then it was the death wobble"....I was puckering and my wife freaked out while we were driving 70 mph and hit a bridge joint that was at an angle so that the left wheel hit before the right wheel....My first reaction was that we blew a front tire, I could hardly hold onto the steering wheel it shook so bad. You Tube has a great video example.

What I want to point out is, I just bought my 2006 F350 4x4 LB crew cab. It has 105,000 miles and I don't know what the maintenance was. But I do know this FACT: It has stock tires (about 25% tread left), stock rancho suspension, no lift etc... no modifications. I immediately checked all of the ball joints and tie rods...I replaced the shocks and steering stabalizer with Rancho brand. I took it for a test drive and noticed it still had that loose feeling when I hit hard bumps, but it didn't wobble," yet", but I have only driven 10 miles since.. I am not comfortable that I have resolved the issue. I will replace my tires next, but will probably end up biting the bullet and buying the WC Motor sports Trac Rod as I never want to harm my family or anyone else in an accident as a result of the "Wobble".

 

Update.
New tires, alingment/ toe and steering stabilizer. I cant get the truck to go into the wobble now. i have hit the same place that would cause the shudder every time before, now it holds steady.
The guy at the shop said the toe-in was a little out and the allingment was fine.
The truck still drifts(not as bad) and i still white knuckel it at every bridge, railroad x and pot hole.
Now i am geeting some white smoke sometimes even when i dont have a regen message. Happens mostly after long stops at idle(10-15min) It did it today and then messaged cleaning exhaust filter for 20miles

 

After replacing trac bar, and steering damper with no fix to the wobble, I replaced the trac bar ball joint and fixed the wobble. What a difference in the ride. I thought replacing the trac bar included this ball joint but it didn't . If anyone has this wobble, start with this $80 part (trac bar ball joint), this should be all you need.

 

I just picked up my 2008 F250 4x4 (completely stock) from the Ford dealer's service dept. I had taken it in for the wobble which only started about two months ago and it would only do it when going around a curve to the left at speeds greater than 60 mph. The front end would start shaking so violently that I was sure a wheel was coming off.

The service rep said that the truck needed an after-market dual steering stabilizer kit and that all of the front end parts were nice and tight and "doing what they were designed to do." I protested that the wobble only started about two months ago and that prior to that it was fine. To me, that indicated that something had gotten worn or broken in the front end. No, the rep said, all was fine. But that the dual stabilizer kit was going to cost me $593. I asked if it was covered by the warranty and received a negative response, since all of the front end parts were "fine."

Now, this not only didn't make sense, it was getting into my wallet. But I was over a barrel, so I told them to go ahead and fix it. Just picked it up and i find that the steering stabilizer kit tightens up the steering so much that when going around a curve the steering wheel doesn't snap back as you exit the curve like it used to do. I don't like this crap. I want the truck back like it was when I first bought it. Too early to tell if the wobble has been corrected though.

What we need here is a class action lawsuit. It seems that we are getting the run around from Ford and having to spend a bunch of money on what should be a service recall item.

 

I have a 2006 f-350 and have spent quite a bit of time trying to solve the wobble. I first got it when I put 8" coil over lift on and did not tighten the track bar mount. Since then it has been reoccurring but has improved.
First check all joints, drag link, track bar, even ball joints and radius arm linkage along with the mounts for steering box, pitman arm and track bar if one or more of those have 1/8" or more of play you will start to have a problem and I would replace the joint/fix the mount before it causes damage along the line somewhere else.

 

I have a 2006 f-350 and have spent quite a bit of time trying to solve the wobble. I first got it when I put 8" long travel coil over lift on and did not tighten the track bar mount. Since then it has been reoccurring but has improved.
First check all joints, drag link, track bar, even ball joints and radius arm linkage along with the mounts for steering box, pitman arm and track bar if one or more of those have 1/8" or more of play you will start to have a problem and I would replace the joint/fix the mount before it causes damage along the line somewhere else.

 

I replaced the joints and made sure all the mounts were secure. I also added a dual king steering stabilizer. This helped but did not completely solve the problem. I was not happy with the stock track bar so I replaced it with a more level and parallel relocate bar with oversized emf rod ends. Again this reduced the frequency of the wobble but it was still happening.

 

2 years later the drag link ball ends were prematurely worn out. Probably due to where I drive and tire size (38") then I had an idea the hardened drag link bar reminded me of a leaf spring when I stood on it. When I hit a bump any loose joint would give the tires time to gain momentum and lateral pressure would be put onto the tire, this would in turn cause the drag link to flex and act like a spring. The drag link would then would flex to a point then spring back putting the load back onto the tires in the opposite direction and the cycle repeats. Very rapidly at that. My solution Was to build my own drag link, again with oversized emf rebuildable ends. As for the bar I used 2" dom tubing with 1/2" wall. It has been 2000km and still no wobble and I have been testing it on every square edged bump I see. The bar cost no more than a ford factory bar, and when the ends wear out which I hope will take much longerthan factory they are $35 to rebuild.

 

"Did Ford actually fix the suspension issues that cause the death wobble?"

My 2011 developed the death wobble at around 25k, so I would have to say that Ford did not implement a fix after 2008.