Death wobble questions

[tonyf250]

I just bought an '05 with a 6" fabtech lift and I have some serious death wobble if I hit anything rough in the road above 50mph. The truck has stock tires and wheels right now. If you have any suggestions they are greatly appreciated. This is a great site and I am glad I found it.

[Rob]

what do you mean "death wobble"? do you have a bounce or vibration coming from the back of the truck? your rear end may not be shimmed properly, or if you have a crew cab, the carrier bearing may not be shimmed down enough causing a bind in the drive shaft. i get a little hop in mine every now and then, i made sure i had a good roadforce balance done on my tires and made sure the driveshaft and rear and were shimmed right. you may want to talk to a driveline specialist to see if they can help you out, i know if you have a one piece driveshaft versus a two piece it is alot less likely to bounce or hop from the lift. hope this helps.

[bigcountrysg]

Lets see, 6 inch lift, stock tires and rims. do you have bigger tires for it. If not get some. Check the common steering components, tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings. You may want to look at a double steering stableizer as well. I am wondering if your not expericing bumpsteer, if it is bumpsteer a steering stableizer will help cure the problem. Also may want to have the alignment checked.

[tonyf250]

I will have new tires and wheels as soon as the check book heals. The front has a dual steering stabilizer on it already. I just bought the truck on saturday and I am in the process of feeling it out.

[bigcountrysg]

Originally Posted by tonyf250

I will have new tires and wheels as soon as the check book heals. The front has a dual steering stabilizer on it already. I just bought the truck on saturday and I am in the process of feeling it out.

Take it to an alignment shop and have them inspect and measure the alignment. When they do this they will see if a wheel bearing went bad, or a ball joint is bad or if the tierods are bad. They will inspect everything for you and put it on the alignment rack to measure the alignment to make sure it is all straight.

[Rob]

can you explain the wobble in a little more detail? where does it feel like it is coming from? i also have a 6'' lift, but i run 37 inch tires too. big tires are hard to balance out but it can be done. try to give some more detail so maybe we can figure this out.

[chozenfew805]

Anytime I used to drive over consecutive bumps traveling above 40mph in my 05 4X4 CC SB sitting on a 6" Fabtech lift and 325/65/18 Nitto TerraGrapplers it would start rattling the entire cab from left to right. I jacked up the front end and did the wheel bearing(have someone jump in the driver seat and bring it up to 25mph and use a stethoscope to listen to both sides and listen for metal to metal) and ball joint(rock the top of the tire into the engine bay and out toward the fender, you shouldn't be able to) tests. Lastly, check the torque specs on your life. The track bar to the bracket on the frame should be some Superman number like 350ft lbs or something like that. I have the specifics in my FORD FACTORY TECH MANUALS. Give it a GO

[tonyf250]

It does what chozenfew805 says to a tee. I will do some fo these tests when I get it on our lift.

[hager5739]

I agree with these guys my 04' did it when I got my leveling kit put on because I had them rotate the tires. A road force balance is the best and in my case the only way to fix it. Since you have a lift i would also check the shimming of the front and rear drive shaft. Your transfer case may need an adapter plate to rotate the case to a degree where the drive shaft is not in a bind. the same for the rear the diff will need to be rotated with shims or blocks to get rid of the bind on the shaft. moast lift kits do not come with the adapter plate it must be purchased seperatly. First though i would get bigger tires and road force balance them. that is the cheapest and will run you 75 - 100 bucks.

[hager5739]

Also getting dual steering stabilizers on the front will keep the wheel from shimming and help when you hit a bump that the wheel will not be jerked out of your hands.