2018 Ford F-250 SD: ball joint or control arm failure

Filed Jun 25, 2024 · Steering, Suspension · TX

Over the last couple of months I have experienced the death wobble 3 times! I have had the truck professionally inspected and i even replaced the tie rods, drag link bar, track bar, shocks and stabilizer bars and the problem is still happening. It has happend at speeds of 30 mph twice and a speed of 55 mph once. I don't know what else to do as I've researched and found that this is a common situation with 2017-2019 fords and something needs to be done. Thank you!

Filed Jan 23, 2024 · Suspension · 100,000 miles · OK

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while driving at 60 MPH, the steering wheel began to shake violently, and the front end of the vehicle swayed from side to side. Upon slowing down, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the front ball joints. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the federal safety agency hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 100,000.

Filed Oct 12, 2022 · Steering, Suspension · WA

2018 has Death Wobble which has been reported by many and a recall was issued but we have taken it back 3 times for this recall/death wobble=tie rod, sector shaft, drag link replaced (the first time it wasn't recalled yet so we had to pay for it and still have not been reimbursed) last 2 times they fix the tie rod, shaft or whatever but it keeps happening and it is scary. Lucky not to have caused an accident. Also because of the "death wobble" it has ruined the alignment and some tracker line thing as well as our tires and we have to pay for those things even though it is caused by the death wobble/recall?! -Component described above, yes it is available for inspection upon request -Safety at risk because if we are going over 60 and hit a bump the vehicle starts to shake uncontrollably and we have to slam on the brakes to make it stop while going that fast with other vehicles going that fast we have almost caused several accidents and almost hit a barrier trying to stop it -yes problem has been preproduced, verified and supposedly fixed but never lasts more than a month --yes the vehicle component has been inspected by the manufacturer it is an open RECALL -NO WARNING LAMP, MESSAGE etc. Just uncontrollable shaking of vehicle if hits a bump

Filed Mar 21, 2022 · Steering, Suspension · NM

We had previously experienced severe shaking when driving at freeway speeds. We took the pickup to a dealership and the replaced the drag link at no cost and we paid to have tie rod ends replaced which they said would fix the issue. We took our first road trip in the vehicle this weekend and the problem is rven more frequent and severe. We almost had 3 accidents because the truck is very difficult to steer once the vibration starts.

Filed Feb 14, 2020 · Steering · 42,300 miles · IL

The truck had the death wobble when I hit a rough patch on the highway and I had to slam on my brakes to get it to stop. Luckily there were no vehicles right behind me or they would of hit me. This happened at a large bridge over a river. I had a ford dealership get the truck and try to repair it using tsb # 18-2268. I received the truck afterwards and drove it on the highway again and it started to shutter at highway speeds when I hit a bump again. This would last miles before it would stop. I brought it back to the dealer and they found a loose tie rod. They are 'fixing' this and I will see if this corrects it. This all happened within 2 weeks.

Filed Nov 14, 2019 · Suspension · 67,390 miles · AR

Death wobble. Outside temp 49 degrees fahrenheit - seems to happen most when its cold outside. Driving 65 MPH and front driver's wheel hit a couple of pot holes. Entire vehicle starts to wobble side to side. Had to pull over and slow down to get it to ease up, and then sometimes can get it to stop if I accelerate immediately after the slow down. After it happened the third time, we had a mechanic change the ball joint, balance and rotated the tires, then do an alignment. Both times that we have taken it to the dealership, they have claimed there is nothing wrong. Understand that they need to be in the vehicle when it happens, but looking over the complaints on this model so far, over half of the complaints are the same thing - some are listed under suspension, and some are listed under tires. There is obviously something going on here and I'm appalled that there's not been a recall.

Filed Feb 8, 2019 · Steering · 10,700 miles · PA

At around 7k miles developed a death wobble shimmy in the steering when hitting potholes or cracks in the roadway at 40 MPH and up. Took into dealer and upper tie rod was replaced. Problem appeared to be somewhat less noticeable. Now at 10k miles the dw is prevalent in everyday driving and makes the vehicle very scary to drive. Almost total control is lost for several seconds until you brake hoping not to get rear ended while regaining control of the vehicle. Its bad enough to spend $60k on a truck that developed this type of issue at 7k miles but at 10k miles it's not even about money, this could kill someone. Ford has listed a tsb on this issue that I am currently looking into but I've seen no confirmation that this fixed the issue, appears to be more of a bandage. Ford needs to fix this issue asap.