"Death Wobble"?

[Kim]

I guess that's what it's called.

I've had this particular Ranger for going on 3 years now and it has about 150k miles on it. It always had this weird, wandering feeling when driving it on bumpy roads but would track straight and feel comfy on smooth roads. Wasn't enough to be too worried about, and tire wear was negligible. Well, a few weeks ago something changed and now when I hit a bump at 55 mph the (I believe it to be the Passenger Side Front tire) tire goes into a somewhat violent Shake mode and won't stop shaking until you reduce speed. It's a bit scary when it does that!

Anyway, I've inspected the upper and lower ball joints on both sides, both tie rod ends, and I only found what appeared to be a little slack in the steering on the Driver Side and a rather excessive Toe Out. Everything else seems fine. I replaced the Driver Side inner tie rod and the steering slack went away. Since I was there, I adjusted the Toe to get some Toe-In. I used a straight edge, a laser pointer, and my garage door to make reference marks on based on the back wheels. Hard to explain, but this home-brew procedure is much better than just "an eyeball" job while obviously not quite Alignment Shop quality. The test drive now has the steering wheel straight, no pulling from one side or the other, and doesn't have that "wandering" feeling it always had before. BUT......that wheel shake still shows up. Hit a bump at about 50-55 mph and the wheel just oscillates out of control. I've inspected the ball joints several times since, and none of them seem bad. Same with tie rod ends and wheel bearings. I rotated the tires front to back on both sides to eliminate an Out-of-Balance wheel, checked air pressures, etc. Maybe it needs new shocks again? If that ain't it then my next move is taking it to a shop for Inspection Only (so they can tell me what's wrong without charging me to fix it) unless I can figure this out. I can't just blindly throw money at it hoping to get lucky and randomly find the bad part before the whole front end is replaced, and to have the shop do a complete service will cost me more than I paid for the truck. I need to find and fix the bad part and keep truckin'....or sell the truck "as is" and find something else. Tough situation, I know. But rebuilding the entire front suspension or even paying Shop Labor rates is financially out of the question for me at this time, so please bear with me here on this.

Anyone have a similar experience and found what the actual problem was? Thanks once again in advance!

 

[RonD]

Can be several things

1998 and up Rangers use Rack and Pinion steering

Does applying the brakes stop the wobble?
Or just letting it coast to a slower speed?

As far as you know is the Ranger accident free, no front end repairs?

You should probably bite the bullet and pay for a 4-wheel alignment
The inspection will most likely locate the problem then you can repair it and get the alignment after

 

[franklin2]

The one death wobble case I had, the shock mount bolt was loose. Or it could be a bad shock also. Look for it being oily. And check the bushings in the shocks where they mount.

 

[Kim]

Thanks! Applying the brakes does nothing by themselves to stop the wobble. It just goes away after the speed is reduced down to a certain point. While it's shaking I don't really feel it in the steering wheel as much as it just feels like the wheel is hopping up and down like crazy. If I had a GoPro I bet it would look....interesting. lol Heck, maybe it is just the shocks. I've had just sh-t luck with Ford Ranger shocks in the past and these particular ones have already lasted 2 years so far (better than the rest I might add)

No prior accidents, the upper control arms look to have been replaced not long before I bought the truck. No idea if a shop did them or not. I'm guessing not, because the alignment was off with a considerable Toe Out and a shop would've certainly noticed that.

 

[RonD]

If brakes don't help its for sure not the hub and most likely not ball joint

If you don't feel it a lot in steering wheel then its not a "wobble", if more like bouncing then yes, most likely a shock issue

 

[Josh B]

Some shops will put it on a rack and then say "I can't let this drive out of here in that shape", even when there's really not much wrong

 

[ekrampitzjr]

We just had a member post about discovering his frame had rusted apart near the front suspension. Of course, there's no economic fix for that. He had had a bad vibration at highway speeds, which sounds a little like your problem.

You're in Wisconsin in the salt and rust belt. Check your frame around the front end VERY carefully for cracks and rust. Only after that, if it's good, should you get a shop involved.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Ah the old dreaded death wobble sucks...when it sneaks up is the worst!

I had it a few times...on different trucks....never the same thing either...

Sounds like it might be a shock or tire issue...You might hafta poke a round a lil more tho and keep an eye out for anything gnarly like rust or bent lookin stuff (cracks in paint)...busted shocks will probably have oily lookin dirt stuck around where the innie and outie part meets.

Whet do the tires look like? is there any weird patterns in them? You could try rotating em. Its free if you got a buddy like me with a driveway and way too many jacks/jackstands.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

By the way, the "death wobble" in 2005 and newer 4WD F-series trucks is known to be from various steering and suspension links being worn or defective, combined with the solid front axle and coil spring/radius arm front suspension. Two years ago I was passing a new 4WD Super Duty dually towing a light trailer and saw the wobble firsthand on that truck. As it was happening at highway speed, it looked as though the front wheel had been somehow mounted off-center to the axle. Then it straightened out as the driver slowed, then happened again.

Rams with 4WD have this problem too.

The Twin I-Beam front ends didn't have that problem. Hmm...

I brought up this because the term "death wobble" is in wide use for these trucks, but the cause of Kim's death wobble on his Ranger probably is not the same thing.

 

[sgtsandman]

How do the bushings on the control arms look? It’s possible that one of them are so worn out that the control arms have way too much give in ways it shouldn’t be moving.

 

[r-hindl71]

From experience of working the death wobble on super duty have found that sometimes you can not see play in the tie rod ends when wheels are off the ground. I generally had another person wiggle the steering wheel back and forth while observing the tie rod ends, I caught more bad ones this way and generally stopped the death wobble on this vehicles

 

[don4331]

I would even check rear spring mounts/leaves. Broken mount/leaf will allow uncontrolled movement

Death wobble is a function of worn/defective parts allowing a small vibration to feedback on itself to point it becomes dangerous.

You have to find the worn part and replace it. Wandering across the road should have set off alarm bells that something bad is happening.

A shop inspection should tell you what is going bad. (Might need to have it towed home if it is really bad). Plan for worse, hope for best.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I had death wobble on my '00 Explorer once after I put on some used tires that were formerly on a Jeep so all 4 were scalloped and the offset was different which didn't help... Anywho, that ended up being one of the outer tie rod ends, the dumb thing was hiding though, apparently those have a brass sleeve around the ball and inside the socket on the steel end and it would hide and only be loose in certain situations... I'd checked it a few times and it was tight until it wasn't one time...

My stupid easy toe check that has worked great for me over the years is a tape measure to the inner lip of the wheels as high as you can get toward the front and back to be the same height... I put 40k miles on those scalloped mud terrain tires on the '00 Explorer, two of them are still on it...

 

[Kim]

Well time for Good News/Bad News!
Good News is that ekrampitzjr is right.
Bad News is that ekrampitzjr is right.

We just had a member post about discovering his frame had rusted apart near the front suspension. Of course, there's no economic fix for that. He had had a bad vibration at highway speeds, which sounds a little like your problem.

You're in Wisconsin in the salt and rust belt. Check your frame around the front end VERY carefully for cracks and rust. Only after that, if it's good, should you get a shop involved.

I actually can fix this, but in reality it could only ever be a temporary one. Thanks Wisconsin. The tags are up in Oct, and I won't re-up them but in the meantime, I'll need to find another truck. Thanks everyone for the very helpful tips. I appreciate all a ya.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Well time for Good News/Bad News!
Good News is that ekrampitzjr is right.
Bad News is that ekrampitzjr is right.



I actually can fix this, but in reality it could only ever be a temporary one. Thanks Wisconsin. The tags are up in Oct, and I won't re-up them but in the meantime, I'll need to find another truck. Thanks everyone for the very helpful tips. I appreciate all a ya.

Kim, this is one of those times I'm sorry to be right. On the other hand, finding this now might have saved yourself or someone else from harm.

If you get a chance, send pics of what you found with the frame.