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jaybee
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Member # 11706
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Reged: 03/02/01
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Posts: 510
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Loc: Flowery Branch, GA, USA
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Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1340618 - 08/12/03 03:29 PM
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Ok, going through the archives I have found a lot of cases of the death wobble with 4wd's, but didn't notice any with 2wd trucks. I have had my truck since it had 34,000 miles on it, and there has always been at least a little wobble between 40 and 45mph. In the 70,000 miles that I have put on the truck I've changed the wheels once, tires twice, shocks (very recently), had rotors turned, and aligned it. Through all of that the wobble has remained, and lately it's gotten REALLY bad. At that magic 40-45 the gauges get blurry and anything on the seat hits the floor - not to mention the hands get numb trying to hold onto the steering wheel. It doesn't really get hard to control; it just shakes the crap out of everything.
I just got new radius arm and I beam pivot bushings from Energy Suspension, and put the truck up on jack stands last night to get ready for the install. The rubber bushings really don't look bad, and I cannot find any play in any of the ball joints, tie rod ends, nor is there anything wrong with the wheel bearings.
So, anybody on here have experience chasing done the death wobble on a 2 wheel drive????
I really want to get rid of this problem for good! The truck is right at 100k miles, and I am about to "re-configure" it big time into the truck I want. I have a '99 ambulance disc brake limited slip dually rear that's going in along with finally having about everything resolved on the 6 speed install. So, when I get done I really want to be happy with the way it drives...
Thanks,
Jason
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Gruss
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Member # 9660
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Reged: 11/30/00
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Posts: 1014
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Loc: New Brighton PA U.S.A.
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1340763 - 08/12/03 05:09 PM
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I had the death wobble but, it doesn't sound like your situation. My was good 99% of the time but every now and then, out of the blue it would shake so hard it would try to pull the wheel out of your hands.  After you slowed down to about 25 or 30 it would go away. It might go for weeks without doing it then all of a sudden, boom.  It is a scarry feeling. One way to stop the shaking was to jerk the wheel really hard and fast to one side. Just make sure no-one eles is beside you. My problem turned out to be bad tie rod ends. All of this was after I had it aligned 3 times and the guy at the shop never noticed the bad tie rod ends. To say the least I'll never go to him again. Good Luck on finding the problem. Gruss
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CRMW
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Member # 29233
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Reged: 02/02/03
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Posts: 61
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Loc: Calgary, Canada
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1341052 - 08/12/03 08:27 PM
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I had a similar problem, but it happened at about 60 mph. It was so bad the tires would start bouncing. I rotated the tires as the front were badly cupping & tightened the steering box & it went away.
Hope this helps
Chris
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Kenworth
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Member # 1796
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Reged: 01/07/01
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Posts: 5372
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Loc: British Columbia Southern Corner of the Westcoast
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1341059 - 08/12/03 08:31 PM
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Try greasing your tie rods if the death wobble goes away your tie rod ends are worn out. Grab a hold of the tie rod and give it a good shake and see if there is anything loose or have somebody wiggle the steering wheel to look for excess movement.
The lack of grease is the biggest problem for me my truck gets greased by me every month and everything gets greased and a once over looking at everything. The mechanics I work with all say grease is cheap parts are not on F-Superduties they have true king pins like the older F-350s-250s and 150s used to have they need tobe greased regularly.
Death wobble comes from when you apply the brakes if the steering shakes violently when coming to a stop your tie rod ends are worn out.
Whens the last time you had the front wheel bearings repacked and looked at that could be causing problems too.
KW
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jaybee
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Member
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Member # 11706
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Reged: 03/02/01
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Posts: 510
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Loc: Flowery Branch, GA, USA
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1341683 - 08/13/03 07:14 AM
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Well, I am thinking about just going ahead and replacing the ball joints with greasable ones while I have the front end apart. The tie rod ends are greasable now, but I may just do them also. Might as well have a "new" front end to start off the as the odometer rolls over the first time (which is about 40 miles from happening).
Anyone have any idea on where I can buy the eccentrics for the top ball joints to make them adjustable?
Also - anyone have recommendations on alignment specs? Last time I just went with what our machine has in it's computer - of course I was only able to adjust toe, but I don't recall the camber or caster being far off..
Thanks,
Jason
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cmichalik
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Member # 21933
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Reged: 05/31/02
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Posts: 820
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Loc: Deer Park, Texas
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1341708 - 08/13/03 08:09 AM
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My dad solved his death wobble about a year ago on his 92 F250 7.3IDI. On his it was seperated treads in his front tire. He had some cheap Generals. As soon as he replaced them everything was solved. Like your truck, his was also between 40-45 mph.
Something else he did a little differant wa when he got it aligned, he took it to a big truck shop that workes on 18 wheelers. In his opinion (& mine) they are much better at aligning and balancing the size of tires on our trucks.
Which makes alot of sence. Places like NTB are good at what they do, but look at the caliber of vehicle they work on. Most times around here I see cars in the NTB garage that compare to Civics, Nissans & the like. Go to someone who can handle the size of our front end.
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ziggster40
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Member # 1458
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Reged: 05/24/99
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Posts: 3140
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Loc: Victoria,B.C.,Canada
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1342173 - 08/13/03 03:01 PM
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My ball joints looked good initially, even when I had it to the alignment shop they said they were fine, but later I found that they were indeed shot. I found them myself by jacking up the front end so that there was still a bit of weight on the tire, but not so much that I couldn't move things a bit, and then started working with a prybar, and found the upper joint to be shot on the pass side, and the lower on the other side.
Steering box mounting rivest can be loose too, and there is mention of a cracked crossbar mount on one other post I remember...
Couple things worth looking into...
Zigg 
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jaybee
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Member
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Member # 11706
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Reged: 03/02/01
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Posts: 510
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Loc: Flowery Branch, GA, USA
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1342992 - 08/14/03 01:54 AM
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Well, I just finished replacing all 4 ball joints with greasable Dana's, all 4 tie rod ends, and installed the energy suspension polyurethane radius arm and I beam pivot bushings. I checked the wheel bearings - they were properly preloaded and in perfect condition.
The ball joints and tie rod ends weren't that bad, but both lower ball joints were very easy to rotate the shafts by hand - so it was time.
I will have to wait until tomorrow evening after work to align it on one of the machines we have there. I just used a tape to set the tow close enough to drive it there. A short test drive indicates a huge difference in the way the truck handles! All of the wobbles and shakes are gone, plus it doesn't yank the wheel out of your hands when braking! Very cool!
So, once again - does anyone know where I can buy the adjustable camber/caster eccentric bushings for the upper ball joints?
Jason
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turbo69
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Member # 26720
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Reged: 11/21/02
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Posts: 1471
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Loc: Garland, Texas
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1343290 - 08/14/03 10:55 AM
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F*ord Stealer
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jaybee
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Member
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Member # 11706
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Reged: 03/02/01
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Posts: 510
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Loc: Flowery Branch, GA, USA
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Re: Death wobble with 2 wheel drive?
#1343434 - 08/14/03 01:11 PM
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My ford dealer said he didn't have it. Found it through Napa - the first napa I called said they didn't exist, the second (a sister store) said they did, but they were out. However, they said the first one I called stocked them, and it only took one kit per vehicle. Went to the first napa with part number, they had only one and it only does one side. But, we're making progress....
Napa #264-2950 $41.49
Jason
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