bad shimmy after bump

[VinnyP]

Driving on highway doing 60/65, hit a bump and the wheel started to shimmy violently. Had to slow down to 40 or less before shimmy stopped. Happened 3 times on a 90 mile trip home. Very scary, had a hard time keeping truck under control. Going to call my local Ford dealer tomorrow, any insights tonight?

[mich800]

ib516 wrote:
Yep, death wobble. Common in 4x4s with solid front axles (Ram, Ford, Jeep, etc.)
There are many causes, but it's USUALLY worn front end parts.

My Ford developed it at about 150k miles. It was bad tie rod ends. Definitely unnerving when it happens.

[ib516]

Yep, death wobble. Common in 4x4s with solid front axles (Ram, Ford, Jeep, etc.)
There are many causes, but it's USUALLY worn front end parts.

[Iraqvet05]

We had a similar problem with a police car. I rotated tires and it somewhat diminished. I took the car to the shop and they found nothing with the alignment so they began looking at the wheels. About the 3 wheel in, they found the rim was bent. This was a steel rim...don’t know if an alloy rim can take that kind of impact without cracking.

[dodge_guy]

Death wobble is typically from worn/bent components. But more likely it’s just simple toe out.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Was it like this?

The little secret Ford does not want you to know.

And don't let anybody BS you by saying it's worn suspension parts "all" the time. They can be bad right out of the factory with just a handful of miles on them.

[Me_Again]

I thought only RAMs experienced the death wobble? Were you parked next to one recently?

[FishOnOne]

That's the death wobble. Worn suspension parts or worn tires are typical causes. Also underinflated tires can cause this issue too.

[VinnyP]

Thanks, I'll check in the morning

[All_I_could_aff]

Check the diagonally mounted track bar going from front axle to the frame. Looks like a tie rod, but one end mounts to the frame. Have someone rock the truck from side to side as hard as they can by pushing on the side of front bumper, while you look at both ends of the track bar. Bushings get play, and the death wobble gets you

[VinnyP]

stock height

[DutchmenSport]

I had a similar experience with a car several years ago. It bewildered me completely, but it was consistent after a certain speed. Repair shop found nothing wrong with tire balance or wheel alignmnets.

After several frustrating trips to the repair shop and several attempted fixed failures, they finally checked the actual tread of the tires. Turns out the actual tread (not cross wise, but long wise) had dips and high spots on them at different spots on the tires. When the tires got in sync with each other, just right, the uneven tread lines (long ways around the tire) would cause the car to shake violently.

They took each tire and make each tire true round and got the tread level and sheared off those high spots. After that, it rode just fine. They fixed the tires at no cost.

[radio_flyer]

Is your truck lifted or stock height? Do a search on DEATH WOBBLE, you will find lots of info.