Front end shimmy.

[d7rxr]

This has happened 3 times now in the last 3 months. The first time was about 3 months ago, thought it was a fluke thing. Just happened twice on the way to work today (45 miles). I'm driving along on expressway (70mph), small bump, dip, or whatever it was, the front end goes crazy, shimmying, alomst jerking the wheel outta my hand, scary feeling, lasts about 5-10 seconds at most (felt like an hour!). The only way I can describe it is if you've ever pulled a little singe axle utility trailer that was empty, hit a bump and watched it sway and shimmy til it caught itself and straightened back out. Of the 3 times total it's happened, once, I tried braking, the other times I just let off and coasted through it, didn't seem to make a difference either way. Also the first time it happened, I might have been slightly braking when it started doing it, can't remember for sure. When I got here today, pulled it up on a rack and checked everything out, everything seems tight with all the tie rods, track bars, sway bar, lug bolts, etc. the only thing I found was on my front pass. side, I'm missing the lead balancing weight off of the edge of the rim. I don't know if just that would make it act like that. Could my steering stabilizer shock be weak or bad. I put a new one on when I put the lift on over a year ago. I've never had a problem til recently. Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping it doesn't jar my teeth out if it does it again tonight on the way home.

[kinghawg98]

sounds like bumpsteer. pretty dangerous.

Worn suspension part somewhere.

Might be something else though, but what I dont know

[07stroker]

Mine does the exact same thing, i took it to ford but they say that everything is good on the front end.. i was thinking i needed a track bar drop bracket because the front axle is shifted to the drivers side. i just put the steering stabilizer on about two months ago so i know thats still good.. so hopefully someone will have the solution to this problem.

[kinghawg98]

have either of you hit a curb or something?

[doubledrop]

I have a very similar issue, but I thought it was caused by the fact i have a leveling kit, thus throwing caster too far out of wack or something. I have an '05 I bought it brand new in 2005. I had the leveling kit installed at the factory but never has issues until the past 2-3 months. I am even seeing some uneven wear on the outside of my front passenger tire. I am getting ready to install a new lift, with a track bar bracket, new pitman arm, sway bar links, etc. Will see if some of the issue is corrected then. As I will also get a total balance, alignment, etc done once finished as new wheels and tires are also going on. will keep everyone posted.

[huhner5]

I read on a cummins forum once that the "death shake" is caused by a caster angle problem(not camber)... Mine does this too... But how do we get this fixed??????? How do i explain to an alignment guy to get this fixed???? I have had mine aligned and he said everything was perfect after my lift??

[huhner5]

Have ya noticed all of us with problems are 05+ with atleast a leveling kit? Thats a start that it has only a cetain few trucks

[Evil Eye]

The 05's and above went to the coil springs and mine used to do this stock, even before the leveling kit and after market wheels and tires. I had heard that the leveling kit will shift your axle since the track bar is still in the same location, but when I measured my tires against the frame rail, it was 10.5" (IIRC) on each side. I have considered a 2" block to drop my track bar or even an adjustable track bar, but not sure if that will fix it since my axles don't appear to have shifted and my tires are wearing evenly.

[d7rxr]

Well, I feel better that I'm not the only one, I was worried that you guys weren't going to know what I was talking about. I have a lifetime warranty on my alignment, so I'm going to take it back and see if they find something I missed. Does anyone know anything about the beads you put inside of your tires to balance them? I used to work with a guy that used "air soft" pellets, but he didn't tell me how to figure out how much to use....just grasping at straws.

[stewy]

A different vehicle i owned years ago had the same syptoms with front coil springs and it was a broken and loose front shock mount.