# Death Wobble -- '94 F350



## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Sorry the long read.....

Two wheel drive, LWB, 7.3L diesel.

Headed up to Aggieland Sunday morning. Making the entrance from I45 onto 610W, in the middle of the curve I thought the front end was going to fall apart. About gave my wife a heart attack. Had to almost stop before it quit wobbling violently. Same thing happened twice more when taking the curves at each corner of 610. Everything is fine until I hit a significant curve in the road then all &$^^ breaks loose. No frontend vibration, etc. except going around curves.
Did some testing on the trip home (wife stayed overnight) and discovered that if I don't decelerate the wobble isn't 'too bad' and even improves somewhat if I accelerate.

After looking things over briefly Monday morning it appeared my front tires had some 'ridges' in a couple places and the tires have quite a few miles on them so had all new tires put on. Went for a test drive and same thing.

Jacked up the front end to check tie rods, tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. Everything in the front end is tight. Zero play anywhere. Had front end aligned about two years ago as I had some wear on outside of one front tire.

This has me stumped. Any suggestions/ideas/etc????


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## dk2429 (Mar 27, 2015)

Common problem on the Fords. I dont know anything about it, but I know there's folks on here that had the same issue. They'll chime in


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Mainly happens on curves to port too huh? :smile:

Replace the steering stabilizer (Steering shock absorber), they go out around every 200,000 miles or so.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Death wobble in the old Fords is a bushing issue. Replace them all. 
Cant remember if the two wheel drives have a trac bar but the trac bar bushings are almost always the culprit. Otherwise just get after all those other bushings. Cheap to replace yourself just a lot of work.

Everything else is like steering stabilizers and trying to tighten steering gear box etc is just masking the bigger issue and will wear those parts faster. Start replacing those bushings.


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

sgrem said:


> Death wobble in the old Fords is a bushing issue. Replace them all.
> Cant remember if the two wheel drives have a trac bar but the trac bar bushings are almost always the culprit. Otherwise just get after all those other bushings. Cheap to replace yourself just a lot of work.
> 
> Everything else is like steering stabilizers and trying to tighten steering gear box etc is just masking the bigger issue and will wear those parts faster. Start replacing those bushings.


No track bar, the 2WD front ends are independent suspension. Everything must be work out if you have death wobble with ind suspension, it usually happens with 4WD truck with a solid front axle.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

yep i couldnt remember ......
...... start replacing front end parts. Ball joints and arms and bushings before it eats your steering gear box.

Rotate and balance tires too. See if the issue follows a tire.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Thanks for the feedback guys. My initial thought was to replace all/most of the front end parts due to it's age but was hoping there was something specific to address. Did ball joints a couple years ago so one of the toughest jobs is already out of the way. I need another project to keep me busy during this cold weather.........right.

Harbor --- I thought the port curve was the primary problem until I came to the starboard curve heading west on 610 south at Post Oak and found out differently. lol

Steven -- new set of tires Monday morning.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

As in you just got new tires? (Maybe new tires created a new problem if not balanced correctly)

Or scheduled for new this coming Monday?


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## Stack (Sep 15, 2012)

*I feel your pain*

I have an 2008 F250 4x4 LWB. I tried everything. Track bar, twice replaced, helped for a little while, tie rods - no help. Eventually replaced everything at once on the front end. Have not had the wobble since. At the time of replacement everything seemed as if it was "tight", but after replacing the upper & lower ball joints, tie rods and track bar the death wobble has been defeated.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

sgrem said:


> As in you just got new tires? (Maybe new tires created a new problem if not balanced correctly)
> 
> Or scheduled for new this coming Monday?


I had the problem Sunday. Got new tires the next day/yesterday. Sorry for any confusion.


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## bwguardian (Aug 30, 2005)

Steering stabilizer...I had a 97 F250 2wd that Ford put 3-4 of them on. Crazy thing is, I got tired of it when I got the 00 F350 4wd, and removed that and the sway bar, then added more to the front leaf spring...problem solved. 

Have you greased all the joints in the front end? How many miles on the truck?


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

I haven't greased the front end this year but will do that. This is on my annual maintenance list so it's due.

I was under the impression the steering stabilizer was only on the 4x4 trucks. As for mileage, it has 241K on it.


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## bwguardian (Aug 30, 2005)

I would also look at the rag joint between the steering box and firewall. In addition I have heard trucks with that many miles having issues with loose, sheared, cracked, etc. I-beam brackets...specifically the 2 bolts that face downward. Is the steering tight...or is there some play in it?


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

bwguardian said:


> Steering stabilizer...I had a 97 F250 2wd that Ford put 3-4 of them on. Crazy thing is, I got tired of it when I got the 00 F350 4wd, and removed that and the sway bar, then added more to the front leaf spring...problem solved.
> 
> Have you greased all the joints in the front end? How many miles on the truck?


You ran a truck with no sway bar? What kept the axle aligned?


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Trac bar keeps axle under truck. (Along with radius arms)

Sway bar just limits roll and flex.


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## bwguardian (Aug 30, 2005)

bigfishtx said:


> You ran a truck with no sway bar? What kept the axle aligned?


It's my current truck I have had since 2001 and has not had a sway bar or that steering stabilizer shock on it since I've had it. I did have Pruitt and Sons put another spring in the front to stiffen and pick it up 1.5"-2" years ago. To date no issues and I can typically run one of those freeway transition curves...like I-45 north to 610 east...faster than a little sports car.


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## O&G-HAND (Nov 27, 2017)

This happened to me in my '14 F250 a while back. Like teh OP said, had to dang near stop on 99 to get it to stop... I was ROLL'N COAL too when it started! Talk about a PUCKER FACTOR!!


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Well, I did some additional poking around last night. It appears the ibeam bushings may be bad. Even though I couldn't force any movement I did see a missing piece/section on one of the bushings. Getting new bushings today and will start on replacement this evening. Other than that I don't see any evidence of wear nor is there any play in the steering.
While I was under there I also greased all the fittings.


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## bwguardian (Aug 30, 2005)

Hooked said:


> Well, I did some additional poking around last night. It appears the ibeam bushings may be bad. Even though I couldn't force any movement I did see a missing piece/section on one of the bushings. Getting new bushings today and will start on replacement this evening. Other than that I don't see any evidence of wear nor is there any play in the steering.
> While I was under there I also greased all the fittings.


Yes, as I eluded to in post #13. I couldn't remember the specific names of the parts...radius arm bushings and axle pivot bushings. Years ago the wifes Excursion was having steering wandering issues and everything was tight from what I could see. I was busy and decided to let Axle & Wheel Alignment in Pasadena handle it. This is what they found and fixed...was a different truck after that.


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## sleepersilverado (Jun 27, 2011)

An easy test is to drive up parallel to a curb about 6" away. Turn your tire into the curb. Get under the truck and have someone cycle the wheel into the curb. If anything is plum worn out you will see it move.


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Just got this today, straight from Ford.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

That's pretty funny. Although mine is 2WD, if I slow down/let off the accelerator it makes the problem worse until I'm almost completely stopped. Accelerating on the other hand, decreases the wobble.

Thanks for not posting just to ask if replacing bushing fixed my problem. I DO have the bushing but have NOT installed them yet. lol


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## S-3 ranch (May 26, 2004)

Harbormaster said:


> Just got this today, straight from Ford.


This really makes me mad, I sold my F350 because it's death wobble scared my wife, and I never trusted it when driving near concrete barriers 
" improper tire pressure " what a jokesad3sm


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## Yak a Tak (Apr 20, 2012)

I saw it first hand on Beltway 8 the other day. White F250 6.7, looked like 35" tires. He went from 75 to 55 real quick, and it almost looked like the wheels were gonna come off. Thought he was having a tire come apart. Few minutes later he passed me going 75 again, guessing something might have touched cotton.


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## texastkikker (Dec 24, 2008)

I had an '08 F250 4x4 that did it every morning on my way to work on the I-10 to Beltway 8 interchange.......about 3 months after I became a dad it did it on I-45 coming home from Dallas.......threw me from the right lane to the left lane at 75 mph......sold the truck 2 days later.....wife and kid weren't with me or we would have sold it in Buffalo TX i feel sure......well I'm back in an F250 and it hasn't started to do it.........yet.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Resurrection of this old thread of mine to advise of final resolution.



I FINALLY found the problem Saturday. I've been checking things periodically but everything appeared tight so haven't replaced parts yet. Saturday after helping SIL rebuild the differential in his van we decided to investigate my wobble problem. Again, everything appeared tight, steering, ball joints, wheel bearings, etc..........UNTIL he started the engine and turned the steering wheel with me under the truck. It was obvious immediately. The i beam mounting bracket for the drivers side i beam was VERY loose. The reason being one of the mounting bolts had sheared off and two others had loose nuts so only one bolt was still tight. Additionally, we discovered a small crack on the corner of the bracket where the bolt had sheared.


I am extremely lucky (guardian angel watching over me) this thing didn't break loose completely while hauling #&& on the highway. And, pretty dumb for not spending more time extensively investigating the problem before now. I've had my wife in the truck turning the steering wheel while I looked for problems but for some reason never had the truck running.


So, I hope folks use my dumbarse blunder as a lesson to not let problems go. This could have been a real disaster had the bracket failed at the wrong time.


I'm prepared for the beating I have coming.


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## fy0834 (Jan 18, 2011)

Hooked said:


> I am extremely lucky (guardian angel watching over me)
> 
> I'm prepared for the beating I have coming.


Glad you had a good outcome...


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

It was a slow find..But you never gave up...Thats what counts...

Glad ya got it resolved


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## texcajun (Feb 22, 2009)

Just a few days ago I was headed down the Hardy Toll road and saw what appeared to be a new(ish) F-250 that appeared fairly stock hit a pot hole. Those front tires wobbled fairly excessively from what I could see. It looked like a harmonic vibration. There is no way that fella couldn't feel that in his steering wheel. Sounds like this could be an ongoing issue for Ford.



Yak a Tak said:


> I saw it first hand on Beltway 8 the other day. White F250 6.7, looked like 35" tires. He went from 75 to 55 real quick, and it almost looked like the wheels were gonna come off. Thought he was having a tire come apart. Few minutes later he passed me going 75 again, guessing something might have touched cotton.


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