Suspension shake.......

[DieselFord]

This is more than likely an alignment problem do to the lift kit.

The drive shaft has to have the correct angles or the shaft will set up and start a harmonic vibration.

To correct this most will rotate the axel housing. In rotating the axel housing it kills the caster, AKA king pin inclination.

Most will try to control this with a steering stabilizer unit.

The only way I know of is to cut the ends off of the axel housing, set the pinion angle for the drive shaft, then reattached (welding) the ends (steering knuckles’) to give the correct caster.

Wish you the best its a lot of work but will pay back with a truck that is drivable and safe.

[Lonno]

I bet you can get a couple of drop down brackets for your sway bar, prolly less than 50$. I can't tell from your picture but it looks like that would help give clearance.

[DieselFord]

Have you ever been to a drag race and seen a Top Fuel car on backing up from the burn out have the front end steering go into having the front tires go into a right to left side (or is that left to right ?) wobble ?

This happens because the front ends are setup with a lot of positive caster so the cars are drivable @ 330MPH forward, very bad for reverse travel @ any speed above a walking pace.

This is what you are experiencing with your truck, except in the forward direction. Makes logic ?

Back when I worked automobile service most manual steering models (remember when you could buy one ?) were set up @ 0 to ½ degrees’ of negative caster (to make steering easier) and power steering units had positive ½ to 3/4 degrees’ (to make more stable). When setting up our super stocker we tried to get the most, usually over 1&1/4 degrees of positive caster.

Check it out with a local alignment shop in your area, talk is cheep. Some even will use some custom settings for the area roads and ones’ usage of the vehicle.
:burnout

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Last edited by DieselFord : 08-20-2007 at 11:45 AM.

[C MY 4D]

Well I ended up customizing the brackets for the steering stabilizers. Now the skyjacker kit sits down in front of the tie rod. It is no longer effected by the sway bar of the stock steering stabilizer. Its seems to have fixed the problem. I would post some pics right now but the truck is in the shop getting the trailer brake system fixed.

As for the sway bar mount it already has a 7 inch drop for it. That amount of drop was actually causing most of the problem considering it only has 5 inches of lift.

The truck will be going to get an alignment once I get a new set of tires for it. Then we'll see how far the caster is out.

[111db]

What was the end result after your alignment? Any more issues?

I just picked up an 05 F350 4x4 with 93k that is stock. I experienced the death wobble exactly as you described: going into a turn, slight bump in the road, steering wheel shaking violently then the truck shaking, couldn't get it to stop until exiting the turn. This was a freeway interchange ramp, approx 55mph.

I have no lift. I have new tires on the way and know I need an alignment. This was the worst shake I've felt on any vehicle I've ever owned. Hope I can get it cleared up.

[pipelayerjdh]

Originally Posted by 111db

What was the end result after your alignment? Any more issues?

I just picked up an 05 F350 4x4 with 93k that is stock. I experienced the death wobble exactly as you described: going into a turn, slight bump in the road, steering wheel shaking violently then the truck shaking, couldn't get it to stop until exiting the turn. This was a freeway interchange ramp, approx 55mph.

I have no lift. I have new tires on the way and know I need an alignment. This was the worst shake I've felt on any vehicle I've ever owned. Hope I can get it cleared up.

When mine starst to get the shakes, I always start with an alignment.