Death Wobble

[playinatwork]

I have an 03 F-250 2wd with 115K on the clock. I am leaving for a 1500 mile trip Wednesday and I needed tires but I am broke so I bought some used tires. The old tires had the death wobble a little bit but not as bad as these. They are balanced and seem fine otherwise. I don't think the tires are bad, just aggravating the situation. I've tried increasing and lowering the air pressure and haven't gotten much improvement either way. I know what I need to do is install new tires, ball joints and maybe tie rod ends. Did I mention I can't afford to pay attention lately. Is there anything I can do that doesn't cost anything to help improve the problem? I tried snugging down the wheel bearings a smidge and that didn't help either.

 

[nswsparky]

Is it death wobble or just shake. On my jeep I would get death wobble so bad I would have to slow down to about 15mph for it to stop it would make the vehicle uncontrollable. If you do death wobble tires a couple times it will burn into the tires and it will be near impossible to get them to stop doing it. Shocks can cause it too. Check for slop in the tie rod ends and the the drag link ends.

 

[WD40]

No way would I start out on a 1500 mile trip with my truck doing that.
Doug

 

[playinatwork]

I am not sure if it's death wobble or shake, There's a difference? It starts to shudder about the time it shifts into high gear at 40mph and I can drive thru it but it's not fun. At 65 it cleans up and is buttery smooth at 70. With most all of the miles interstate, I only have to worry about fueling and such stops. Thanks Doug, but I don't have a choice. I rotated the tires around last night and fiddled with the air pressures. I eliminated some of it by having 60psi in the front and 50 in the rear. I believe the problem is the ball joints, but I don't have the cash right now to change them. Any other ideas of what to do without spending money?

 

[Stroked68]

Sounds like its probably tire balance prob. If you can drive through it then its got to be that almost. Death wobble is what sparky is talkin about. There is no drivin out of that. My 84 E250 Quadravan 4x4 did that. It would do it at any speed above 30mph and if I hit a bump just right it would wobble so bad you lose steering and have to slow down below 30 for it to stop. VERY dangerous. Basically yer front axle moves left to right. I replaced the radius arm bushings and that fixed it.

 

[iracemine]

Death wobble 95 f150 - YouTube

death wobble + 1500mi = involuntary manslaughter

Id MAKE time and FIND money to fix it.

 

[WD40]

Look at this one also.
Cause of Death Wobble - YouTube

Doug

 

[wilsonbaird]

I am not sure if it's death wobble or shake, There's a difference? It starts to shudder about the time it shifts into high gear at 40mph and I can drive thru it but it's not fun. At 65 it cleans up and is buttery smooth at 70. With most all of the miles interstate, I only have to worry about fueling and such stops. Thanks Doug, but I don't have a choice. I rotated the tires around last night and fiddled with the air pressures. I eliminated some of it by having 60psi in the front and 50 in the rear. I believe the problem is the ball joints, but I don't have the cash right now to change them. Any other ideas of what to do without spending money?

My son had the same thing in his 1994 crew cab work truck. We put new tires on front, balanced, aligned and it still doing it! Then, we change the shock on steering dumper and it got better, but the problem was fixed only when we changed the stabilizer's bar bushing and bracket: It was bend and the bar was able to play inside the rubber bushing.

 

[JLDickmon]

I am not sure if it's death wobble or shake, There's a difference? It starts to shudder about the time it shifts into high gear at 40mph and I can drive thru it but it's not fun. At 65 it cleans up and is buttery smooth at 70. With most all of the miles interstate, I only have to worry about fueling and such stops. Thanks Doug, but I don't have a choice. I rotated the tires around last night and fiddled with the air pressures. I eliminated some of it by having 60psi in the front and 50 in the rear. I believe the problem is the ball joints, but I don't have the cash right now to change them. Any other ideas of what to do without spending money?

kick the OD out and see if it still does it..
might have a bad TCC clutch if it does it JUST when it shifts into high...

 

[JLDickmon]

oh yeah.. and if you take a 1500 mile trip with bad ball joints, and you KNOW it has ball joints.. let me know what route you're taking so I can stay the hell out of the area.


That's how stupid an idea that is.