2011 Ford F-250 Suspension Problems

The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-250. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front of the vehicle was shaking abnormally. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the steering column had failed and needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

Driving on highway at about 60 mph and truck wheel started wobbling violently ….. searing wheel violently oscillating right left right left uncontrollably!!! Finally stopped after slowing down to below speed on highway … totally unsafe !!! My shoulders and neck hurt for several days from trying to keep the truck straight. Thank God it was not a busy freeway at the moment or I would have been hit or my horse trailer which I was pulling. No way to stop the violent oscillation except slow to almost stop

While traveling on the highway, after driving over a slight bump prior to an overpass, the front wheels shook violently while jerking the steering wheel from my hands. This occurred three separate times.

I was going 65 MPH in center lane, hit a pothole. The right front wheel began to vibrate wildly. I thought it was going to fall off. I slammed my brakes and veered sharply right to reach the breakdown lane. We were nearly in a violent collision. The car behind me slammed his breaks, leaving skid marks, the car in the lane to my right was forced into the breakdown lane, also leaving skid marks. We had 200 miles to home which we drove slowly without further incident. I had to replace: tie rod ends, steering damper, ball joint, stabilizer bar. Truck needed an alignment. $1008.37. 4 months later, I hit a pothole. The LEFT front tire vibrated wildly. Now I knew what do do.

The problem with this vehicle is Death Wobble from the front suspension of the truck. Over the years it has done this and is quite dangerous when at highway speed, because when it happens, you will have to slow to 30 MPH to regain control of the the truck. I have had this issue fixed two separate times, about every four years, by replacing the ball joint and track bar. These repairs are costing about $450 usd. There are no warning before this problem happens. You simply have to hit a bump in the road going 60-70 MPH for it happen.

2011 FORD F250 DEATH WOBBLE. FRONT END REPAIRED AFTER SEVERAL WOBBLE INCIDENTS IN 2018. VEHICLE NOW BEGINS SHAKING AT SPEED OF 45MPH AND UNCONTROLLABLE AT 65MPH. I EITHER HAVE TO SLOW DOWN, OR ACCELERATE TO 70+ TO AVOID THE WOBBLE, BUT STEERING STILL SHAKES

AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS IF HITTING A DEFECT IN THE ROAD, LIKE A POTHOLE OR SOME KIND OF DIP, MY FRONT END STARTS SHAKING VIOLENTLY AND I CAN BARELY KEEP CONTROL OF THE TRUCK. THIS IS KNOWN AS DEATH WOBBLE. THIS HAS HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY.

MY FORD F-250 STARTS SHAKING VERY VERY BAD WHEN I HIT A SMALL BUMP ON THE FREEWAY. TO GET THE VERY SCARY WOBBLE TO STOP I NEED TO SLOW DOWN ON THE FREEWAY BETWEEN 20-30 MILES PER HOUR. THIS HAS HAPPENED OVER 50 TIMES. I'VE HAD IT HAPPEN 3 TIMES WITHIN TEN MILES BEFORE. SLOWING DOWN TO 20-30 ON THE FREEWAY HAS BEEN VERY DANGEROUS. AND I HAVE ALMOST BEEN IN A FEW ACCIDENTS BECAUSE OF IT. IT IS SO BAD AND DANGEROUS THAT I TRY NOT TO EVER HAVE ANYONE RIDE IN MY TRUCK WITH ME. MY FAMILY IS SCARED TO RIDE IT IT ANYWAYS.

WAS DRIVING TRUCK APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH WHEN IT BEGAN EXPERIENCING DEATH WOBBLE. THIS HAS BEEN OCCURRING MORE AND MORE FREQUENTLY OVER THE PAST 6 MONTHS AND I RECENTLY HAD THE SHOCKS, STEERING DAMPENER, & DRAG LINK REPLACED AND IT ONLY MADE THE WOBBLE WORSE. I HAD TO PULL OVER TWICE WITHIN 5 MILES TO GET THE STEERING WHEEL TO STOP SHAKING.

The truck has developed the "death wobble" at speeds between 50 and 60mph. Driving becomes uncontrollable as the truck shakes and bounces very hard and I have to rapidly come to a stop. I've had some work done on it at a local shop but it hasn't solved the problem. It's basically not highway road worthy but I can drive it around town.

DEATH WOBBLE, SHAKING UNCONTROLLABLY WHEN HITTING BUMPS OR UNEVEN ROADS ON HIGHWAY AT 65MPH

VEHICLE IS EXPERIENCING "DEATH WOBBLE". DEALERSHIP INSTALLED KC3Z 3E651 B:DAMPER ASSY TO FIX THE ISSUE. PROBLEM RE-OCCURRED WITHIN WEEKS. TOOK IT BACK TO THE DEALER AND THEY COULD NOT EXPLAIN. THIS TIME THEY SAID THE TRAC BAR BALL JOINT NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. REPLACED IT AND HAD THE SAME PROBLEM RE-OCCURRING WITHIN DAYS. THIS PROBLEM OCCURS RANDOMLY WHEN DRIVING OVER MINOR BUMPS, ROAD SEAMS IN BRIDGES, ETC. WITH AND WITHOUT CARRYING A LOAD. INDICATIONS ARE HEAVY VIBRATIONS IN THE FRONT END/STEERING THAT WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU LET THE VEHICLE DE-ACCELERATE ON IT'S OWN WITHOUT USING THE BRAKE.

FRONT TIRES GO INTO A DEATH WOBBLE AS YOU ARE DRIVING OVER 55 MPH AND CANNOT BE CONTROLLED. MUST PULL OVER AND STOP TO CORRECT BUT IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 FORD F-250. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING BETWEEN 55- 60 MPH, THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE STARTED SHAKING BADLY. THE FAILURE OCCURRED WHEN DRIVING AT HIGHER SPEEDS AND MENTIONED THE FAILURE AS BEING THE 'DEATH WOBBLE'. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE ALL FOUR TIRES WERE REPLACED AND TWICE AN ALIGNMENT WAS COMPLETED. THE TECHNICIAN INFORMED THE CONTACT IT COULD BE A DEATH WOBBLE RELATED FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO A DEALER AND WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE FAILURE RECURRED NUMEROUS TIMES INTERMITTENTLY. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 95,000.

TRAVELING ON INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 40 SPEED 65 MPH MY 2011 FORD F-250 CREW CAB SUPERDUTY EXPERIENCED AN EXTREMELY VIOLENT SHAKING OF VEHICLE FRONT END WHICH CAME VERY NEAR TO COMPLETE LOSS OF CONTROL. THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE SHAKING WAS TO HIT THE BRAKES HARD AND DROP DOWN TO 20 MPH OR SO BEFORE THE SHAKING STOPPED-DANGEROUS ON A HIGH SPEED HIGHWAY. LOOKED IT UP WHEN I RETURNED FROM TRIP AND APPARENTLY THIS IS A FAIRLY COMMON PROBLEM. SUGGESTED FIXES OF ALIGNMENT, SHOCK REPLACEMENT AND TIRE BALANCING DID NOT WORK-STILL EXPERIENCE THE PROBLEM ABOUT ONCE A MONTH-ALWAYS IN A STRAIGHT LINE AND SPEEDS BETWEEN 55 AND 70 MPH. BUMPS IN THE ROAD MAKE IT MORE LIKELY TO HAPPEN. DATE BELOW IS THE LAST TIME IT OCCURRED-IT HAS HAPPENED ABOUT 10 TIMES IN THE LAST YEAR.

WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS AND HITTING A ROUGH PATCH OF ROAD, THE VEHICLE WILL START TO SHAKE VIOLENTLY UNTIL I AM ABLE TO PULL OFF TO THE SHOULDER. THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND HAS HAPPENED WHILE TOWING AS WELL AS WITHOUT A LOAD. TRUCK WAS "FIXED" 2 YEARS AGO AND THE PROBLEM WASN'T AS BAD, BUT STILL PRESENT. AFTER A RECENT TIRE ROTATION, THE PROBLEM RETURNED. THE TRUCK IS CURRENTLY IN THE SHOP WAITING FOR A NEW DIAGNOSIS.

WHEN HITTING A BUMP OR A BRIDGE AT SPEEDS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH THE VEHICLE WOULD GO INTO WHAT IS CALLED A "DEATH WOBBLE" OR SUSTAINED STEERING WHEEL OSCILLATION. THIS WAS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR WHEN THE FRONT DRIVERS SIDE HIT THE BUMP FIRST OR IN A SLIGHT LEFT HAND TURN WHEN HITTING THE BUMP IN THE ROAD. I HAVE TO IMMEDIATELY LET OFF OF THE THROTTLE AND SOFTLY APPLY THE BREAKS TO ABOUT 25 MPH TO GET THE VERY AGGRESSIVE WOBBLING TO QUIT. DURING WHICH TIME, THE VEHICLE IS VERY DIFFICULT TO CONTROL. I HAVE HAD STABILIZER SHOCKS, TRACK BAR ASSEMBLY, BALL JOINTS, TIRES, ALIGNMENTS, ETC COMPLETED AND STILL EXPERIENCE THIS DEATH WOBBLE ALMOST DAILY. IT APPEARS BY READING ABOUT EVERY FORUM AVAILABLE ONLINE, FORD IS AWARE OF THIS PROBLEM FOR YEARS, BUT HAS FAILED TO DO ANYTHING TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. (SEE TSB 18-2268) FOR VEHICLES 2017-2019, BUT THIS IS CLEARLY A PROBLEM FOR OLDER MODEL VEHICLE ALSO. SOMEONE IS GOING TO DIE FROM THIS PROBLEM. IT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED.

BOUGHT THIS TRUCK IN APRIL HAS HAD THE DEATH WOBBLE TWICE ABOVE 60 MPH INSTALLED NEW TIRES AND SHOCKS , TIE ROD END ON RIGHT SIDE AND ALIGNMENT STILL HAS A UNCOMFORTABLE VIBRATION AT HIGH WAY SPEEDS HAVEN'T TAKEN TO A DEALER YET BUT LOOKING AT OTHER FORUMS DEALER FIX DOES NOT FIX IT

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 FORD F-250. WHILE DRIVING 55 MPH, THE VEHICLE STARTED TO VIBRATE ABNORMALLY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO KELLER BROS. FORD LEBANON (LOCATED AT 1030 SCHAEFFER RD, LEBANON, PA 17042, (717) 949-2000) TO BE DIAGNOSED. THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE SUSPENSION WAS CHECKED, BUT NO FAILURES WERE FOUND. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 75,000.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 FORD F-250 SD. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED THE 'DEATH WOBBLE' WHEN DRIVING HIGHWAY SPEEDS AND OVER UNLEVELED LAND. THE VEHICLE WAS UNSAFE TO DRIVE OVER 35 MPH DUE TO THE VIOLENT SHAKING AND VIBRATION. AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC DIAGNOSED THE FAILURE AS THE 'DEATH WOBBLE' AND REPLACED THE TRACT BAR, BALL JOINTS, STEERING STABILIZER, STEERING DAMPER, AND PERFORMED AN ALIGNMENT; HOWEVER, THE FAILURES CONTINUED INTERMITTENTLY. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED. THE DEALER WAS NOT CONTACTED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 45,423.