F53 death wobble?

[nehuge]

Hey all:

I've heard about this 'death wobble' and I hear that it can be remedied with some sort of bar in the front?

Can you tell me in the pic just by looking at it if the front end I have is stock and that any 'bars' I see are factory? The curved one highest in the pic, is that factory or an aftermarket?

Not sure what a steering stabilizer or that sort of thing would look like really...

[mc_cc]

I experienced the death wobble in my 2006 F53 chassis about a year after I purchased it. I took it in and had everything checked out. Nothing wrong. I had the back end overloaded and was driving through heavy road construction. I have not had it since, but I slow way down now when I suspect rough roads. Been thinking about a steering stabilizer and trac bar for several years.

[dondjs]

I have a Thor, Windsport 30Q, built on a 2007 Ford Chassis. Have experienced the death wobble, have had the vehicle in numerous times. Picked it up today from the Ford Truck Center who check everything and said there was nothing wrong, rotated tires, balanced, etc.

Drove 30 miles, violent shaking and wobble. Stopped, drove 3 miles and it happened again. Now I have to limp the vehicle back to the Truck Center for more diagnosis. Now have 24K on rig.

I have lost confidence in driving this vehicle now and am wondering what is shaking loose every time this happens. Prior to the two occurrences today, It would happen every 4,000 miles or so, no one has ever found anything wrong.

Don

[topflite51]

It is rather funny that in all my years of repairing and rebuilding front ends I do not recall anyone coming in in a relatively newer unit complaining about the vaunted death wobble that Ford has. It would seem that I should remember someone having done so. I do recall people complaining about it in GM vehicles like Cad's, Buick's, Oldsmobile's, Pontiac's and Chevy's but then that wasn't because of long leaf springs, maybe it was caused by too big of coil springs. As I said before, if you have the problem something is worn and needs to be replaced. Too many Ford chassis owners do not have the problem for it to be caused by the long leaf springs. Again I add installing aftermarket items simply masks the problem, someday you will find out when the tie rod end or something else breaks and your steering becomes dangerously erratic. As to increased caster being the cause, whomever planted that seed should go to alignment school.

[liborko]

Disagree. To improve the ride, Ford now installs longer springs, more prone to "death wobble". Caster angle also has a major effect on DW and Ford specified caster angle is too high(to reduce wander) and makes things worse. Track bars and steering dampeners are effective solutions.

[topflite51]

Death wobbles are an indication of WEAR. Get it checked out if you are encountering it, and have it repaired. Add ons only mask the problem.

[John_Joey]

The only time I've ever heard of a F53 "death wobble" is on this forum. I know my first year of ownership I was driving down to Florida and was just waiting for it to happen :S, because I read it on this forum prior. Since then my 96 F53 Cruise Master has hit just about everything it can over the years and never showed any signs of not taking it on the chin like the good coach that it is (for that buy in price.)

If the OP is concern, I would take it to a qualified big truck mechanic and have the front end looked at. More then likely something is worn, and has nothing to do with this well documented "death wobble" that has no recalls or class action suit that I know of.

[fishseeker]

nehuge wrote:
Hey all:

I've heard about this 'death wobble' and I hear that it can be remedied with some sort of bar in the front?

Can you tell me in the pic just by looking at it if the front end I have is stock and that any 'bars' I see are factory? The curved one highest in the pic, is that factory or an aftermarket?

Not sure what a steering stabilizer or that sort of thing would look like really...

Kinda looks like the Sway Bar bracket bold is broke off where it goes through the frame, but might just be my old eyes. And yup Death Wooble will make you PUCKER at highway speeds. I own a Jeep!

[chuckftboy]

I agree with Scott and Richard's asessment of Death Wobble. I have experenced it in my Jeep and if I were in a MH I would not have been able to keep in on the pavement. Death Wobble is so violent, it can snap bolts in the front end. But thats not to say the OP does'nt have some serious front end vibrations. Hope you all help him find the problem.

[RV-1_2n-FUN]

I had DEATH WOBBLE on my '55 Ford Customline. Does that count? :S

[zman-az]

Remember that bridge in washington state that ripped apart in the wind, that is DW on a vehicle. If you think you have DW you don't have it. You will know when you have death wobble as you will want to stop to save your life.

It is the side to side motion of the tires that you feel, but the axel is most likely going side to side which causes the tires to move side to side. Several things cause DW. Steering, unbalanced or bad tires, bad bushings in your shackles, loose leaf spring bolts, worn out bearings in the front axel, worn out ball joints/king pins. Steering stabilizers only hide the problem. If your vehicle has ran fine and you just started getting DW I would strongly recommend you get the whole front end and tires checked over before buying a Steering Stabilizer or trac bar as something is getting ready to fail. As mentioned there are thousands of these chasis that never experienced DW, those that have it most likely have something going bad.

[liborko]

Experienced "death wobble" three times with my 2002 F53. On all three occasions I was going down hill about 30-40mph and hit a pot hole or rough road that trigered the wobble. It did not happen since I installed Bilstein steering stabilizer.

[wildmanbaker]

The track bar was installed for a different purpose. Its to keep the front axle from shifting under the frame. Long leaf springs can contribute to death wobble, but are not the cause of it. Small amounts of wear/looseness in one or more, usually all of the steering parts, cause, or contribute to the death wobble. Even small amounts of tire unbalance will cause it. A bad/broken rotor will also do it. This is very hard to correct, sometimes, without using the shotgun effect on replacing parts.

[tderonne]

"The reason it does not happen with the newer F53's is that Ford is now fitting track bars as OE equipment."

So I guess that's why shopping carts do it? No track bar? And long leaf springs?

[pkunk]

My '99 F53 does not have a trac bar and it's never shimmied.
My Dodge 2500 has coil springs, steering damper, new shocks, new king pins, and it has developed a shimmy on one certain stretch of road with some washboard. Front end alignment cured it.
So, long leaf springs w/ no trac bar are not necessarily the cause.