1996 ford F350 4x4 7.3L with wobble of death

[864x4rv]

was camping in the Lake Tahoe area this weekend and while driving down all of the sudden the truck/camper start shaking like the front wheels were getting ready to come off. This happened while driving at 40-50 mph and would 'disappear' when over 55 mph in 5 gear or the clutch is applied. I have the 5speed transmission, tires are 15000 miles old. Any ideas what is causing the violent shaking? Throw out bearing maybe? No noticeable problems with front D60 axle.

Please advice.

Thanks

 

[partsflyin]

Check the track bar. These models came with one (even though they are leaf sprung). Sounds like bad bushings or a loose mount. I've had more than one these trucks give me the same problems. Both times the track bar was the culprit.

 

[Revco]

Was the steering wheel shaking or was it in the driveline or rear axle? Not really enough info to go off of.

 

[864x4rv]

It was the drive train- shifter and transmission that were shaking. The steering wheel was fine

 

[redthies]

I would go with t.o. bearing or clutch.

 

[Shiryas]

Dual mass flywheel

Do not drive any more until you replace the clutch and flywheel, preferably to a solid one from South Bend Clutch or Valair.

I bought my 97 F350 as a mechanics special. The flywheel let go and the previous owner kept driving through the vibrations, eventually everything exploded. The ZF Transmission units (yours is an S47) on the Fords have the aluminum bell housing cast with the transmission case. Aluminum does not like all that vibration, his bell housing / transmission case cracked. Now you need to replace the transmission and clutch. This failure is common.

You might be able to pull the inspection cover on the bottom, but you are not really going to be able to see anything. When I removed my cover 20 or so ball bearings came out and I was scared $#!^*%)), thought there might have been some funky rear main bearing, just the DMF

http://powerstrokenation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130556&highlight=dual+mass

http://powerstrokenation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122709&highlight=dual+mass

http://powerstrokenation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114264&highlight=dual+mass

Cheers, Chris

 

[Revco]

Yes, could be the Dual Mass Flywheel as mentioned above. I had a '96 PSD 4x4 that had a vibration from the DMF from about 55-65mph. I never thought much of it until I smoked the clutch trying to recover a stuck forklift and burned up my clutch. I bought a LUK Pro Gold clutch and Solid Flywheel Conversion and it cured the vibration problem, got quieter than ever, and felt much better than the factory clutch.

To be sure it's the DMF, go through the rest of the driveline first, inspecting the U-Joints, the transmission mount, and the leaf spring bushings/U-bolts, even the driveshaft balance. If any of those seems worn or out of balance, replace it/rebalance it. Even doing all of those things combined would be cheaper than the clutch/flywheel conversion. I think I paid something like $550 for the clutch and flywheel kit shipped to my door, but that was in '06 or '07.

 

[bftank]

double check your ball joints and steering joints to make sure it is not them before you go ordering a new flywheel and clutch. with key off and tires on the ground have someone turn the steering wheel while you are looking for excessive movement in your tierod and draglink. then jack up each tire off the ground and have some one grab the tire top and bottom and wiggle in and out while you look for play in the upper and lower ball joints. obviously do this on both sides. also check condition of the bushings in the track bar and upper shackle bushing.

while having a dual mass flywheel go boom is not pleasant and will vibrate like crazy it is not in a position to make your truck feel like it is going to throw itself off a cliff because the front tires were going all over the place. then again i could be wrong.

 

[helcaraxe]

I had the death wobble on my '05 for a time. Scariest thing I ever experienced. A retorque of the front end fixed it.

 

[864x4rv]

Thank you for all your help. I will inspect all mentioned potential causes. Will report back what I find.

 

[MakersTeleMark]

Change your kingpin bushings on the D60.

 

[redthies]

Change your kingpin bushings on the D60.

96 doesn't use king pins. It's a balljoint style 60.

 

[864x4rv]

Had a chance this weekend to check the front axle, drive line, DMF, trans oil, diff oil and everything seemed normal. I replaced all four wheels (I had a new set of H2 wheels with toyo open country) and took it out for a test drive and wham, all vibrations gone. I checked the old wheels and sure enough, the wear was uneven and the balance weights were missing. The truck runs perfectly well now.

Thanks for all the responses and recommendations.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Had a chance this weekend to check the front axle, drive line, DMF, trans oil, diff oil and everything seemed normal. I replaced all four wheels (I had a new set of H2 wheels with toyo open country) and took it out for a test drive and wham, all vibrations gone. I checked the old wheels and sure enough, the wear was uneven and the balance weights were missing. The truck runs perfectly well now.

Thanks for all the responses and recommendations.

hahahahaha...that's awesome.


Sometimes it's the simplest things.

 

[Shiryas]

Sometimes it's the simplest things.

X2 on this.

Very glad my diagnosis was wrong.

Cheers, Chris