Ford Death Wobble?

[KK4YZ]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

It is an unfortunate and difficult problem because it is a harmonics thing. Live and long axle suspension are more susceptible because the longer distances bring the natural frequencies more in keeping with suspension response frequencies. Worn components allow things to get started, but it is fundamentally a geometry issue. A damper will shift the frequencies a bit and prevent amplification until it wears out, but once you have hundreds of thousands of trucks on the road you can't easily change up the geometry and who's to say you won't land on another one that is just as bad... Vehicle design is not for sissies.

Not to be picky, but the damper won’t shift the natural frequency of the system; only flatten it out a bit. Effective spring rate or higher effective mass will shift the natural frequency (each in opposite directions). That’s why tire design has something to do with it.
One of the proposed fixes I’ve seen is a device that will change the caster angle which I’m thinking would increase the effective spring rate....not of the suspension, but of the steering system.

[KK4YZ]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

I see that the current video from KYD concerns the Ford death wobble on their 2019 F-250. The front end starts a violent shaking. There's YouTube videos of poor quality that show it on the road, It looks like the front end is shaking apart.
I'm curious how many of you Ford owners have experienced it and if you've found a solution.
I don't think Ford has a handle on the problem, or at least the solution.
I don't think it's unique to the F-250 but all Ford pickups.

Not familiar with KYD. Who / what is that?

[SuperTrouper]

Originally Posted by KCurtis

Mid 1970s Ford Trucks had this problem too. I experienced them personally. Some things never change. UGH!

Yeah our old '73 Econoline used to scare the beejeesus out of us with the3 death wobble. Even more fun on the cross-bronx expressway in the elate 70's!

[DCPAS]

Originally Posted by KK4YZ

Not familiar with KYD. Who / what is that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUNp8Sh2GGA&t=1045s

[polarlyse]

I have a '15 F350 and it first occurred at 33k miles for me. Of course Ford said it was OK and couldn't find anything. Happened infrequently but always under the same circumstances. A high speed sweeping turn where you hit a rough spot to initiate the wobble. Never happened when we were towing but then again my speeds are much lower towing than not towing. At around 65k miles I decided to solve it and finally did but I cannot point to any single thing. I had a bunch of things done at the same time. I had the ball joint replaced on the track bar ( it showed a very little bit of play) under extended warranty. An observant Ford service manager identified this. Around the same time I had new tires, alignment and a double steering stabilizer installed. Have had NO wobble occurrences since than (94k) now. So, in my opinion, it was somewhere in these improvements but I can't pinpoint any closer than that.

[Jswill]

Now that I think about it, I've had a '72, '75, '97, '01, and now a '17. All F-250 4x4 and have never had it happen. Just lucky i guess, so far.

[grumblin]

While I've never experienced it in my '20 F-250, I'm about to put on a Fox steering stabilizer. Seems like a cheap bit of prevention. It's only a couple of bolts.

[El Pescador]

Originally Posted by Joyman

No issues yet with my 2016 F350 I recently changed the Rancho OEM shocks to Bilstein shocks and put a bilstein steering stabilizer shock on also..... Only time will know....

How many miles are on your truck and is the ride appreciably better with the Bilsteins?

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by primepower

It's not just Ford though I've seen this for Harley-Davidson and plenty of other manufacturers of all vehicles.

I've experienced it on a motorcycle and we called it a tank slapper. But on a bike the cause is the design of the front geometry. As the shocks compress, the forks get more vertical since the front end dips. There's measurements called "rake and trail" which relate the difference between a line through the steering axis and a line through the forks (not the same thing) This is done so the normal tendency of the front wheel is to go straight. If it was vertical, you could turn on a dime at any speed. (and crash)
I've heard the correct move is to open the throttle, while your brain is screaming brake!
You can experience the same effect by putting two cases of water in the front of your grocery cart. The front end goes crazy.
Alas, none of this accounts for the solid front axle, and other brands including semi's use solid front axles, so Ford has some design issue.
KYD had 18 K miles on their F-250, hardly time for worn parts.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by KK4YZ

Not familiar with KYD. Who / what is that?

It's a YouTube family that travels in an Airstream currently. They do very high quality videos of their travels. KYD = Keep Your Daydream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUNp8Sh2GGA

[primepower]

My 2012 F250 has about 36k miles. No death wobble, however recently I upgraded the shocks and steering stabilizer along with replacing all body mounts with ones from S&B. Very much improved, the drive was getting sloppy but I'm very happy again. The shocks are adjustable so I can adjust for towing or riding empty.

[wmcneil]

I have a 2021 F250 on order. Been doing a lot of reading on DW issue. The most likely real sources of the problem is loose joints in track bar or drag link. Next would be loose joints on the tie rod. The steering stabilizer helps dampen the problem with loose joints, but the real cause is the worn joints. Caster does need to be correct, and bad tires can make the problem worse. There are many reports of failure in the track bar and drag link at low milage. Many reports of ford replacements going bad again at low milage. Many of the afflicted are replacing with high quality after market parts to obtain a lasting solution. It seems possible/likely that quality of ford oem is varying very widely, as this would account for the wide variation in owners experiences.

[sheriff1]

2015 F350 CC 4x4, 60k miles. knock wood, no problems. I did replace the shocks at about 40 k with Bilsteins 5100 series. One of the OEM has failed. Only slightly better ride.

[BJL170]

I have 2017 F250 with 23000 miles. DW has happened twice. Ford has replace most of the front end the first time it happened. The second time they blamed it on the tires. Not sure I’m convinced. I’m planning on replacing the OEM shocks and front stabilizer with Bilsteins. I’ve heard from several sources this could make a difference.

[Melucy2airs]

I called the Ford dealership today regarding extended warranty for my 2019 F350, they said 7 yrs or 100,000 miles for the dampener/shocks.

[turk123]

I reported the problem I had with death wobble here in the forums and the struggle I had with Ford to resolve this issue. At the time, Ford did not have the part (front stabilizer shock) anywhere in the country. They had released the first replacement and then replaced the replacement and then did it once more. You would think they would get it right!

Turns out it was not the front stabilizer shock as any good suspension guy would tell you. My truck is a 2017 F-250 short bed 4 x 4. The years affected are 2017 thru 2019. Ford reduced the height of the suspension by almost 2" after these years. They raised it for 2017. I'm guessing this attributed to the issue.

My fix was to take it to my son's Porche tire and suspension shop. They knew exactly how to fix it. They replaced the tie rod ends with Moog parts and gave the front end a more aggressive "bite" to put pressure on the front end parts. We also replaced all the tires and they cut the tires round (guess you do this with brand new tires on a Porche). The difference was night and day with the front steering so tight, it really made it a pleasure to drive. Oh, the bad part is that it cost me $2400 I believe.

I haven't had a wobble since. The first time I experienced it was at 20,000 miles. They changed the damper shock at that time. The second time (and third and fourth and fifth and sixth!) happened exactly 20,000 miles later. Ford did not have a recall at that time and said they could not fix it as they did not have the part. I put a third party front stabilizer shock on which did nothing to stop the issue. By the way, I was told NOT to use a duel shock Fox front stabilizer system on the front. Too stiff and it can cause the wobble!

If you really want to be safe with this vehicle and protect your expensive trailer behind it, I would take it to a good alignment shop. They know how to fix it. The guy at the shop I took, showed me the slop with the Ford front end tie rods. They have rubber surrounding the tie rod. Dah! It was pathetic how much play they had.

[BJL170]

Glad to hear you were able to get it resolved. I think I’ll take your suggestion and have a good front end specialist have a look before spending any money.
Thanks

[graysailor]

No issues with my 2017 F250. Diesel.

[Ron Glow]

Originally Posted by primepower

It's not just Ford though I've seen this for Harley-Davidson and plenty of other manufacturers of all vehicles.

I’m with Molly’sdad. Sport bikes have steep steering geometry to allow for quick steering response at the expense of stability. Dampers are often standard equipment. I also had a sidecar on my 1991 FLHTC Harley and it would shake violently at times if you hit a bump. I added a VW steering stabilizer and it transformed the rig into a nice handling machine. I have owned International, Jeep, Chevy, Ford, Dodge and now a Toyota truck and have never experienced it on any of them though.

[KK4YZ]

This guy is in Buford, GA (north of metro ATL). Kind of a showman but they seem to know a lot about superduties and diesel in particular.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=87YAIasn0p0