Death Wobble!

[turk123]

I bought the Michelin road tires not the AT’s. Shop recommended them as I do not do off road. Quieter and much better in the rain.

[Life is a Highway]

18-2268 4 wheel drive sustained steering wheel oscillation above 45 built or before 2018- covered 2017-2019

Service procedures

Steering linkage damper
1 degree adjuster
3/4 degree adjuster
1/2 degree adjuster
1/4 degree adjuster
Castle nut
Cotter pin

[turk123]

Well, Custom alignment dropped the price $200. That was nice. Not really sure why?

The truck steers wonderfully! It is very tight and when I went down Monterey rd (very rough) I could tell it was very tight. No sideward shake like I had before. I'm thinking this will could solve the issue.

[Firemanram]

Copied this from the Ford death wobble page on Facebook;

[Gsmblue]

Hopefully this cures the problem, safe travels!

[turk123]

By the way, the total cost for custom alignments work? $2600.00 including the tires.

That is an expensive fix. Let's hope it works. The alternative was to live with the knowledge that at any time the wobble could strike. I guess I will always cringe a little when hitting rough road and I don't even want to think about crossing Indiana on my way home, but I've done all I can. If this doesn't work and it happens again, I will be having a long conversation with Ford.

I also have done all I can with this truck if it later involves a trade. The sad thing right now is that I am not loving my Ford. Time will tell.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by Spartan Rick

I will also say, I've had F150s and driven F250s for work over the years. My trailer is under 6000Lbs. With v8 or ecoboost I've had no trouble towing, and I get to live with the F150 front end. Around 2004 the F150 basically got the F250 rear end as towing capacities climbed and climbed. I really wonder if all the F250 owners really need them vs a good F150 with tow package. (if that is needed anyways now?)

Many of us started out with F150's and they surely have the torque with the Echoboost especially, to pull any one of the AS's. However, when moving to a larger AS, the 3/4T and 1T TV's offer a night and day experience in many areas, including handling, bigger brakes, more payload, and for diesel engines, the added value of 900+ lbs torque plus the engine exhaust brake. (you have to drive pulling a trailer to appreciate vs the F150)

I loved my F150 Platinum Echoboost 4x4 with "Tow Package" for pulling our 3 different model 25' AS's; but when I went up to the 28' I also moved up to the F250 model we have now for 75k miles over 2.5 years...miss the maneuvering and parking of the F150 and the maintenance costs, but for pulling our AS on trips with our 28', the F250 is hands down a much better experience...

[Gene]

Turk, I would still be having anxiety driving that truck, but I hope you have found the right repair.

As was previously suggested, having a lawyer pursue your claim might get better and faster results. I am possibly prejudiced since I am one (long retired), but claims for your expenses on the road because Ford cannot fix this (no parts for one thing) plus getting the truck fixed for good may get you more action. Manufacturers trying to ignore customers because they have no idea what to do or don't want to spend the money is not unusual, but the people who keep after them may get treated better. When I have a problem with a warranty that has not been honored or a product that is poorly manufactured, I write the CEO or president. That usually gets better results. You can send it certified with return receipt that only can be signed by the CEO or President. They don't like that, but it gets it on their desk (if only briefly sometimes). Midlevel warranty guys know how to stall and say "no". They may be powerless to do the right thing because of orders from above. I go around them.

[Firemanram]

If anyone has or knows anyone that has or had the ford “death wobble” the here’s the class action suit. Contact info at the bottom of the article.

https://www.mccunewright.com/blog/20...class-action-/

[turk123]

After reading the class action suit, Ford has clearly pushed off the complaint as improper maintenance to the truck. Unfortunately, it is Ford who has maintained my truck for three years! Like the discovery that Ford service department greased my right universal joint and forgot to grease the left one.

I'm not a fan of class action suits though as only the lawyers prevail on both sides. The Ford owner will get one free oil change and an apology if that!

[OTRA15]

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with the details and costs. This is a very helpful thread IMO.

A Happy [wobble-free] New Year to all !!!

Peter

[Gene]

I agree some lawyers pursue class action suits with little chance of much recovery to extort something from a company, but in my experience most lawyers don't act like that. Most of us have a lot of disrespect (or worse) for lawyers who game the system.

Another side of this is that Congress made it difficult to pursue class action suits and the Supreme Court has helped there too so that an individual cannot sure a manufacturer unless the individual is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you have a $20 bill dispute, how do you stand a chance? Even a $5,000 claim is expensive to pursue. Evidence such as technical reports, securing experts (some charge more than a lot of lawyers) and research is expensive too. Now that many sales contracts contain language that you must submit to arbitration (also promo9ted by the supreme court), you have even less chance of winning. I am guessing, but a Ford contract probably requires you submit to arbitration in Michigan. Most customers lose arbitration cases. Arbitration was promoted in the 1920's to give average people am efficient and effective way to resolve disputes, but the system has been taken over by corporations.

Those companies think they can act with some impunity and all moat people can do is post bad reviews online. "Some impunity" is not quite a grammatically proper phrase, but most act with total impunity until there are enough bad reviews and lots of publicity about a problem, then after stonewalling as long as they can, they give in or buy off the noisiest people. Otherwise, it pays to produce poorly performing products. That may have been part of the decision of companies selling appliances in the US to make them cheaply and they don't care they wear out in 5 or 10 years. Wealthy people remodel their kitchens every few years it seems, so the people with the most resources to go after bad corporations don't keep the appliances (or cars and trucks) long enough to care about poor workmanship and design.

So keep making noise and post reviews everywhere you can. Document everything., Get the names of everyone you talk to, especially at Ford and the dealers. Make sure you fie a complaint to NTSB. Anytime you have an expense that can attributed to this problem, save all the receipts. Write down what people tell you about the problem and their experiences with Ford.

I have no idea whether the law firm that has started a class action is good, bad or anything else. It would be best to contact a lawyer with warranty and product liability lawsuit experience and ask that lawyer about the class action and what you should do for now. A letter from a lawyer to Ford management may help. If you can't stand it anymore and buy another brand truck, any money you lose on the trade may be apart of a claim too because many people are not going to want to buy a death wobble vehicle and trade or sale of that ford may bring little money. And if you do decide to buy a Dodge/Ram, I have heard several times the front end of those trucks have to be rebuilt every 5,000 miles. It looks like a solid front axle should be avoided. The stresses on the front end apparently cannot be controlled for very long with anything the manufacturers add on to stabilize the truck. Rather than design a front end with less stress, they seem to use bandaids to fix it and eventually every bandaid fails. That leaves Chevy and a heavy duty vehicle such as a Peterbuilt or possibly some other heavy duty trucks (can you tow with a Unimog?) as something to explore, but I would, if possible avoid solid front axles on a heavy duty vehicle.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, as a new car dealer mechanic since 1968, I would like to defend the Ford dealer. I worked at several dealers of different brands, but specialized in Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Now that I have been retired for more than a decade, I find myself on the other side of the fence. My new F-150 had some concerns, and put as simply as possible, todays mechanics can't fix anything without a check engine light, a stored code, or a TSB. With sarcasim, I often ask them: "What is the code for a loose lug nut?"

[OTRA15]

Amen to that, Bob, well said.

The service manager at our Ford dealer is an old-timer, and we chuckle about the sad state of affairs with the young mechanics. Sometimes my layman's guess about a problem is closer than the mechanic's without a diagnostic code from the computer.



Started with a 1970 Econoline with a service manual . . . points, plugs, radiator, water pump . . . all DIY along with the obvious oil/filter changes. Three on the tree, small V-8 [302?], original clutch when sold at 145k. "Keep it simple, Stu" cars were great.

Peter

[lsbrodsky]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Amen to that, Bob, well said.

The service manager at our Ford dealer is an old-timer, and we chuckle about the sad state of affairs with the young mechanics. Sometimes my layman's guess about a problem is closer than the mechanic's without a diagnostic code from the computer.



Started with a 1970 Econoline with a service manual . . . points, plugs, radiator, water pump . . . all DIY along with the obvious oil/filter changes. Three on the tree, small V-8 [302?], original clutch when sold at 145k. "Keep it simple, Stu" cars were great.

Peter

My wife thinks we should get a car of that era to avoid any problems when we are hit with an EMP and all of the modern electronics fry....
Larry

[OTRA15]

Yeah . . . we think about that too . . .



Unfortunately, unless you have stored up gas at a secure location, none of us will get very far, because the entire infrastructure related to driving long distances [gas pumps etc.] will also be down. A good topic for the Off-topic forum maybe? You lead the way Larry . . .

Peter

[Isuzusweet]

This is why I'm looking forward to electric vehicles, as they are far simpler and have far fewer moving parts than ICE vehicles.

Electric motors have just one moving part, an armature. Electric car moving parts will be, steering components, suspension, wipers, mirrors, handles, switches, doors, trunks, frunks, and that's about it.

Most problems with Tesla's can actually be solved with a telephone call, and their remote access to your car.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[Firemanram]

Originally Posted by turk123

After reading the class action suit, Ford has clearly pushed off the complaint as improper maintenance to the truck. Unfortunately, it is Ford who has maintained my truck for three years! Like the discovery that Ford service department greased my right universal joint and forgot to grease the left one.

I'm not a fan of class action suits though as only the lawyers prevail on both sides. The Ford owner will get one free oil change and an apology if that!

It’s happening to the brand new trucks with less than 6k miles so that blows the poor maintenance out!! Also some before they acquire 50k so the maintenance would fit that bill.

[tjdonahoe]

Fords right side tie rod is just a rubber bushing...

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by Gene

I agree some lawyers pursue class action suits with little chance of much recovery to extort something from a company, but in my experience most lawyers don't act like that. Most of us have a lot of disrespect (or worse) for lawyers who game the system.

Another side of this is that Congress made it difficult to pursue class action suits and the Supreme Court has helped there too so that an individual cannot sure a manufacturer unless the individual is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you have a $20 bill dispute, how do you stand a chance? Even a $5,000 claim is expensive to pursue. Evidence such as technical reports, securing experts (some charge more than a lot of lawyers) and research is expensive too. Now that many sales contracts contain language that you must submit to arbitration (also promo9ted by the supreme court), you have even less chance of winning. I am guessing, but a Ford contract probably requires you submit to arbitration in Michigan. Most customers lose arbitration cases. Arbitration was promoted in the 1920's to give average people am efficient and effective way to resolve disputes, but the system has been taken over by corporations.

Those companies think they can act with some impunity and all moat people can do is post bad reviews online. "Some impunity" is not quite a grammatically proper phrase, but most act with total impunity until there are enough bad reviews and lots of publicity about a problem, then after stonewalling as long as they can, they give in or buy off the noisiest people. Otherwise, it pays to produce poorly performing products. That may have been part of the decision of companies selling appliances in the US to make them cheaply and they don't care they wear out in 5 or 10 years. Wealthy people remodel their kitchens every few years it seems, so the people with the most resources to go after bad corporations don't keep the appliances (or cars and trucks) long enough to care about poor workmanship and design.

So keep making noise and post reviews everywhere you can. Document everything., Get the names of everyone you talk to, especially at Ford and the dealers. Make sure you fie a complaint to NTSB. Anytime you have an expense that can attributed to this problem, save all the receipts. Write down what people tell you about the problem and their experiences with Ford.

I have no idea whether the law firm that has started a class action is good, bad or anything else. It would be best to contact a lawyer with warranty and product liability lawsuit experience and ask that lawyer about the class action and what you should do for now. A letter from a lawyer to Ford management may help. If you can't stand it anymore and buy another brand truck, any money you lose on the trade may be apart of a claim too because many people are not going to want to buy a death wobble vehicle and trade or sale of that ford may bring little money. And if you do decide to buy a Dodge/Ram, I have heard several times the front end of those trucks have to be rebuilt every 5,000 miles. It looks like a solid front axle should be avoided. The stresses on the front end apparently cannot be controlled for very long with anything the manufacturers add on to stabilize the truck. Rather than design a front end with less stress, they seem to use bandaids to fix it and eventually every bandaid fails. That leaves Chevy and a heavy duty vehicle such as a Peterbuilt or possibly some other heavy duty trucks (can you tow with a Unimog?) as something to explore, but I would, if possible avoid solid front axles on a heavy duty vehicle.

..in 2007 ,I knew several who collected sizeable checks from Chrysler..for engine problems...4500-7500.......all my big trucks have soLid front axles...1.4 million on one and never touched it...