Death Wobble

February 15, 2008 Update
A lot has happened since I posted on the death wobble. I decided to post this update since people seem to be reading the death wobble portion of my blog. This truck is long gone. I did seem to get the death wobble fixed before getting rid of it. In my case there were two things that caused it apparentley. First bad tires (even though they were only about a year old), and second the tire pressure was too high (The amount of pressure I had in them was recommended by the tire company I bought them from). I traded the dually in for a Mazda CX9 and we love it. I know I mentioned how much I hate Fords and still do, and Mazda is part of Ford now. I am hoping this vehicle is more of a Mazda design and not Ford. So far it is fantastic and highly recommend it. It does only have 4,000 miles on it though.

As far as the other Ford I had dead in the driveway with a leaking intake manifold gasket, I replaced the engine for $5,000. I don't use it much now, but I wanted to keep at least one truck and even though this is a lot for a repair it's still cheaper than a new truck. If our teenager ever gets his grades up I will let him get his license and drive this truck.

********** end of update *************

What's that you say? Well I can tell you this, the name describes it perfectly. Imagine driving a 1 ton dually down the road and all of a sudden it violently starts shaking so bad you are sure it is going to fly apart. I can't give it an extreme enough description. You would have to experience it to understand. Arthur was with me as a witness. I think it scared the crap out of him. Just remember if I die inexplicably in that truck... sue FORD!!! When we returned from lunch I Googled "Ford F350 violent shaking". There was a lot of hits. People seem to experience this with large heavy vehicles and they have named it the death wobble or death shake. A slight bump in the road and a tap on the brakes or turn of the steering wheel sets it off and it WILL NOT STOP until the vehicle drops to a low speed. I think I had to slow to 10 - 15 mph. The steering wheel shakes very violently and there is little control. The truck shook so hard it took out one of the turn signal lights.

I have been planning to post this truck for sale on auto trader for some time now. I sold the trailer I pulled with it months ago. Now I am afraid to sell it to an individual. I'm afraid I could be sued. I might just trade it in. Now I have to decide what to buy. I had made up my mind to get a Toyota 4 Runner, but now I want to look into Nissan first. I am done with Ford. I have another Ford F150 sitting in my driveway broke down for over six months. Leaking intake manifold gasket destroyed the motor. I'm still not sure what to do with that truck. It may be over $5,000 to repair. I might just donate it. It was a good truck while it ran.

Fords are expensive dangerous junk. How can a person with the cost of vehicles nowadays even consider buying American if this is what they produce. Arthur and I are going to see if we can reproduce the death wobble and video tape it. If it works and I survive you will see it here.