Remember when the JL and JLU were all-new for the 2018 model year? Jeep recalled the latest Wrangler over the steering wobble and shimmy we’ve been hearing time and again, and part of the problem was tracked down to the quality of the frame welds. Also worthy of mentioning, breaking stub shafts may result in the steering wheel detaching from the column.
Also known as “the death wobble,” this problem is a terrifying experience for Ford drivers as well. Countless videos of the problem have been uploaded to YouTube and covered by the media, and a prime example of how terrifying the death wobble can be comes from a certain Shawn Seager.
The clip Shawn uploaded on YouTube mentions that the F-350 is owned by a certain Jon Cannon Morgan in Utah, and the heavy-duty truck is relatively new having been purchased as a 2018 model. A class-action lawsuit including current and former owners of the 2005 to 2019 model years has yet to fix this problem, and Ford isn’t willing to make things easy either.
According to the Michigan-based automaker, it’s the owners who are responsible for the premature wear of the control arms, ball joints, damper brackets, shocks, and/or struts. On the other hand, there are a few owners who experienced the wobble right after driving out the dealer lot.
There’s no denying the solid front axle makes the Super Duty hard to drive in certain scenarios, and rubber is also responsible for premature wear and tear if the owner goes for larger tires or a suspension lift. A heavy-duty truck also needs tire balancing relatively often due to its significant weight.
More than 1,200 current and former F-250 and F-350 have filed complaints with the federal government, and a few of them can be read on the NHTSA website. For example, “I was driving on the interstate at 75 mph and hit a bump and the front end started shaking uncontrollably. It wouldn’t stop until I slowed to 40 miles per hour. This has happened three times now.”
On that note, have you experienced or do you know someone with a Super Duty who was terrified by the death wobble?
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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