death wobble

Had the "Death Wobble" in a new F250 in 2019. I knew of the problem as a result of my research before I purchased the vehicle, but it had so many of the other things I wanted I bought it anyway.

After about 6000 miles on the vehicle I ran up on a rumble strip at about 65 MPH and the steering wheel began chattering violently. It didn't stop until I slowed to about 25 mph.

Reported the issue to Ford and they replaced the steering damper with a new design. That was 5 years ago.
Hasn't been a problem since.

 

"but it had so many of the other things I wanted I bought it anyway."
it really is cozy in there. fold up bed, office chair heat. anyway i did do a damper and plan on adding another so they face each other rather then parallel. folks reporting this issue and solving it without doing ball joints, tires ect make me think its the 4 links attaching the front end to the frame. im hoping i can use it for water runs, mail until i get the dodge going again. so just a damper solved yours? very interesting. thanks for that.

 

It was a known problem with F250 /350, but only on some trucks. At least Ford stepped up to the plate and re-designed their steering dampers to fix (or at least, mask) the problem. Of course it was a safety issue so they had to.

I really liked the straight front axle as it is more durable than any IFS design used on Chevy and Dodge. The downside is a rough ride. The 6.7 Diesel is good too, quiet, but probably not as good or durable as the ultimate, the Cummins used in Dodges. The Allison transmission in the GMC / Chevys is probably the best light truck transmission out there.

So it's all compromises.

If Toyota made a Diesel Tundra, that would have been my first choice.

 

@kissmybrass If you get the entire front end off the ground by lifting the frame (not axle) and you can make move the tires and the front axle go in in any direction other than just up and down that should lead you to the pivot points that are compromised / weak bushings would be my guess.

 

Hang on Toyota Tundra diesel, Which diesel engine/transmission?
Lets build the perfect truck here?

 

i remember sitting on the can in 1991 and saw a ad in national geographic i think for a dodge p/u with a cummins. bought one that year. still plow uphill with it. the getrag 5 speed is, uh, ok. there is a kit to put a cummins in a e350, so if i double down its on the list. id take the rougher ride for a straight axel but i dont think a leaf spring front end will work on this van.

 

yep yep. the 4 links are proprietary quiggly so when i can park it for the next rebuild il be installing red urethane bushings in them. only one of them has a s bend to it so i can fabricate new ones if i have to. im 90% sure they are t/u.

 

iv been told anything is possible!

 

Tundra pickup w/Cummins Diesel and an Allison Trans

 

Yeah I recognize you from here!

 

I have been driving an an old news van the past few months, 2002 F-350 2wd. It's like driving on snot. Any sudden steering input turns into a white knuckle fight to get it back under control. Gets worse the faster you go. I have put new tires and a new steering link, nothing changed. Only has 119k on it and is great otherwise. Any ideas?

 

Radius arm bushings will do that.

 

king pins or ball joints. how much slop in the steering gearbox?

 

Ford has a TSB for you, @Tempstar :
FORD:
1999-2004 F-350, F-450, F-550

This article supersedes TSB 99-08-2 to update the vehicle model years.

ISSUE
There may be a steering wheel tight after hitting bumps or ruts in the road on some vehicles. This may be caused by steering geometry and/or vehicle loads.

ACTION
Install a steering damper on vehicles if the damper was not factory installed. The damper will help control steering linkage and reduce the possibility of wheel fight. Refer to the following Service Procedure for details.

SERVICE PROCEDURE

DEFINITION

Some regular cab F-350/450/550 chassis cabs may exhibit wheel fight when the front tires encounter a road irregularity such as a pothole. Wheel fight results in a slight single jerk (5-10 degrees) of the steering wheel and should not be confused with wheel shimmy. Wheel shimmy results in a continual oscillation (5-10 degrees in each direction) of the steering wheel and usually can only be controlled by bringing the vehicle to a complete stop.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS F-350 4X2

1. Mount Frame Damper Bracket (F81Z-3E652-AB) to right forward side of front crossmember using two (2) M12x70 Bolts (N606084-S426) with two (2) M12 Nuts (N620483-S301).






2. Torque to 90 N.m (66 lb-ft) (refer to Figure 1).






3. Mount Tie Rod Damper Bracket (F81Z-3E652-DA) to the bottom back side of the tie rod at the V" with the damper mounting hole of the bracket orientated up and 45 degrees to the rear. The bracket should be positioned with the bracket edge 40 mm (1.57") from the drag link ball stud (refer to Figure 2).

4. Use two (2) M8 U-bolts (N811596-S426) with four (4) M8 Nuts (N620481-S301) and torque to 28 N.m (21 lb-ft).

5. Mount the piston end of Steering Damper (F7UZ-3E651-AB) to frame bracket and cylinder end to tie rod bracket using two (2) M12x70 Bolts (N606084-S426) and two (2) M12 Nuts (N620483-S301). Torque to 90 N.m (66 lb-ft) (refer to Figure 1).

6. Cycle the steering wheel full left and right turns to ensure all damper components have clearance to other components and that the damper piston does not bottom out. The damper cylinder clearance to the front crossmember in full right turn should be no less than 6 mm (0.25").

 

why imagian? yep thats a .50 cal dshka ,,,, i dont know whats holding it.

 

Sweet!

 

,,,,, uh, yeah thats not me. a buddy builds machine guns and they hired him to put the dshka up there and banzai
around on a lake. i think it was for a commercial or video. i can also say it does not have a death wobble.
5$ a round, 10 rounds a second.

 

Not an unusual amount of slop in the gear box. I did jack it up and use the crowbar under the wheels to check the King pins, they seemed tight. I also replaced the front wheel bearings. I also had an alignment done after I changed the drag link and tie rod ends. Could the A-frame bushings be worn out?

 

I had thought about a damper, may put one on this week. Thanks!

That's for F series and the Van is E series, but I will still give it a shot.