Death wobble

I have had a 1997 F150, 2004 F250, 2007 F350, and current 2012 F350. Only one that ever had anything close to "death wobble" was the 2004. And it didn't happen often or very bad very bad when it did. Or maybe it wasn't "death wobble" after all.

What spud1957 said. First time scared the bull granola outa me, took it to the dealer, like usual, can't reproduce the problem. Went to our local Autopro garage, 3 of 4 ball joints were almost separated when the truck was up on the hoist. Replaced then, problem solved, was a 3/4 Ram.

theoldwizard1 wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:
Having said that any solid front axle vehicle has the death wobble potential.

100% correct !

Yeah. This is no way just a "Ford" problem. Any truck with a solid front axle. Google Ram death wobble.

On the new models 2017+ Super Duties the steering dampener was found to have excessive free play so Ford is offering extended warranty to correct the issue. In my opinion it should have been a recall.

Not just solid front axles. The 70's era GM/Chev vans were infamous for the death wobble. I worked for a company that 20 or 30 of them & most developed it. The one I drove got so out of the blue, when driving at highway speed, that wobble would start & was so violent that there was no way to hold the steering wheel still & the whole vehicle felt like it was just going to blow up. Pretty damned scary the first time, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th...

Replacing ball joints, shocks, etc didn't clear it up, so a steering damper was installed & that did the trick.

Mine did it twice when my BF Goodrich G2 tires were near end of life. Switched tire brands and it never happened again. My 05 Super Duty which I ran mostly BF Goodrich G1 and never had the DW.

Having said that any solid front axle vehicle has the death wobble potential.