2012 Ford F-250: ball joint or control arm failure

Filed Sep 4, 2022 · Steering, Suspension · TX

The truck is experiencing what is commonly referred to as the "Death Wobble." At around 55 mph, the vehicle starts to violently shake. It shakes the whole vehicle, especially the steering--the steering wheel severely shakes until I slow the vehicle slows down below 40 mph. From my research, I've found this is a common issue among other Superduty owners. It seems like there are faulty front end suspension and/or steering parts at play: pitman arm, drag link, tie rod ends (and their bushings/ball joints), etc. The shaking happens on the freeway and is frightening to experience as it could potentially lead to losing control if unable to slow down in time to stop the shaking. Being at freeway speeds, my family and I are at risk as well as other vehicles on the road if we were to lose control. This issue did occur 1.5 years ago. I took it into a Ford dealership where they replaced the steering dampener/stabilizer. Now the death wobble is happening again. From what I've learned, this is a band-aid fix that doesn't address the root cause of the death wobble. No warning lamps or error codes are present before, during, or after the shaking.

Filed Apr 25, 2022 · Suspension · 170,000 miles · IL

The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-250. The contact stated that since purchasing of the vehicle, the vehicle experienced the death wobble on two separate occasions. The contact stated that the failures occurred while driving at undisclosed speeds. The contact stated that after driving over bumps on the road the vehicle experienced a violent and uncontrollable shaking without warning. The contact stated that once the vehicle slowed down, the vehicle would resume normal operation. The contact had initially taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic who replaced the track bar and track bar ball joint; as well as, the front and rear shocks. Despite the repair, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the independent mechanic after the second failure and remained in the possession of the independent mechanic. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and he was informed that there were no recalls on the vehicle and was provided a case number. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000.

Filed Feb 13, 2022 · Suspension · TN

My wife and I were traveling on I-40 at about 70 mph when the front end of the vehicle started shacking violently. We had to slow and come to a complete stop. This happened twice so we returned home driving about 50 mph. The first shop replaced the stablizer shock. This did not help. Took it to a second shop they replace the ball joint this seemed to help until got to highway speed. It happened again. The shop then installed shocks for each wheel. So far this has corrected the issue.

Filed May 26, 2021 · Steering · AZ

The vehicle starts shaking violently and uncontrol able until you slam on the brakes and your speed almost drops to nothing, only until then do you have control of the vehicle. I have been lucky because nobody has been beside me or else I would of slammed into them. Components in the front end have failed, i have replace the steering control arms, had the tires rebalanced, put a Rancho stabilizer, and had the ball joints checked.

Filed Jan 25, 2021 · Steering, Suspension · 75,000 miles · TX

We have had numerous instances of "death wobble" starting at a 75,000 miles. All suspension is stock, tires are stock. I had brought the truck to the dealership 4-5 times (under warranty) and got the track bar replaced, track ball bushing, and ball joint, steering damper, increase in caster and even bought new stock tires to prove out the problem. I have 125,000 miles on the truck now after fighting this issue for years and have replaced all rod ends, track bar, bushings, steering damper, etc and the death wobble still persists. This is clearly a design issue and makes the truck dangerous to drive. The issue occurs primarily at highway speeds, while making a very slight left turn when a small bump is driven over such as an expansion joint. The severe vibration that shakes the front suspension violently back and forth does not subside until the truck is under ~20 MPH (not a safe condition to be in when on the highway). During this period you can not hold the steering wheel under control, can not control the direction of the vehicle or stop quickly if required. This 'death wobble' has occurred approximately 20 time with the latest occurrence happening today.

Filed Dec 3, 2020 · Steering · 79,500 miles · VA

For the second time while traveling on major highways my truck started shaking violently to the point I could barely maintain a hold on the steering wheel. I have had my tires checked and they in good shape and balanced. The front ball joints are deemed fine. After a visit to the dealer they say they can find no problem.

Filed Jun 24, 2020 · Suspension · 135,500 miles · KS

When traveling on the highway at about 65 MPH, the vehicle became almost impossible to control, exhibiting violent shaking. I now know that this is known as "death wobble". I needed to slow to about 30 MPH while furiously gripping the steering wheel to get the shaking to stop. This has happened 3 more times in the past two months. This is terrifying. After replacing the track bar, bushings, steering stabilizer 3 times, tie rod ends and aligning' it still is happening. I had ford dealer inspect and they acted as if they had no knowledge of this problem. They simply wanted to replace the steering stabilizer for a 4th time. After doing research, I now know that this has been an ongoing problem with ford trucks since at least 2011 and there is no way that they did not know about this. There is a tsb #18-2268 on this problem but many people have reported that this does not fix the problem. My research shows that a dual steering stabilizer is the only thing that will fix this problem. This is a part that ford does not make and must be purchased as after-market from someone like pmf, fox, kelderman or procomp.

Filed May 31, 2020 · Steering, Suspension · 146,000 miles · MI

When I'm driving down the road I in my 2012 f-250 I get death wobble, the front tires start shaking like crazy and the steering wheel and whole truck shakes like you can't imagine, it starts around 50mph and gets really bad about 60-65mph. I have replaced ball joints,tie rods, shocks, wheel bearings, steering stabilizer, u joints and track bar bushing, none of it fixed it. I can't figure out how to fix it. It about runs you off the road it's so bad sometimes and you have no control of steering wheel.

Filed Feb 5, 2020 · Suspension · 83,000 miles · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford f-250. The contact stated that while driving above 55 MPH, the vehicle suddenly experienced severe vibration in the front suspension after driving over uneven pavement. The failure occurred on several occasions. During the failure the driver was not immediately able to stop the vehicle while the brake pedal was depressed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer paramount ford of valdese located (101 malcolm blvd, valdese) who replaced all four tires and the steering stabilizer shock and ball joints were replace by the independent mechanic but the failures recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 83,000.

Filed May 29, 2019 · Steering, Suspension · 126,000 miles · CA

My 2012 f-250 has 126,000 miles on it and I have been experiencing a steering vibration at about 50-55 MPH while driving over bumps and rough roads. About a week ago I was coming down a mountain highway and drove over some rough areas in the road at about 50 MPH and the truck started vibrating and shaking violently. I had little control and almost went off the side of of the highway which has about a 2000 foot drop. I didn't think I would be able to stop but got it slowed down and the vibration went away. I have never been so scared. The past few days I have been reading online about ford's f-250 "death wobble". I am certain this is what I experienced and have checked the front suspension and found no obvious problem. With as many complaints I have read about this issue I'm surprised there has not been any talk of a recall. I am a retired ase certified master tech dealership technician and from what I have read the main problem is the trac bar & ball joint wearing prematurely and not enough positive caster which is non adjustable for this model. I can see these components possibly causing this issue. Please do something before someone s killed!

Filed Mar 14, 2019 · Steering · 29,000 miles · IL

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford f-250. While driving 45 MPH over a dip in the road, the front end of the vehicle shook violently (death wobble) and the vehicle was uncontrollable. Once the vehicle was restarted, it operated normally. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to prescott brothers ford lincoln of princeton (1502 w peru st, princeton, il, (815) 875-1180) where it was diagnosed that the tie rod was worn out and the steering damper needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the local dealer. The contact requested that the manufacturer buy back the vehicle. The contact researched the failure online and found that the failure was common in several vehicles. The failure mileage was 29,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Feb 12, 2019 · Suspension · 59,000 miles · NE

While driving in speeds between 55-70 and driving over a bump, bridge or pothole, my front end would shake violently; resulting in nearly losing control of the truck. I would need to come to a complete stop in order to end the violent shaking. This happened nearly 15 times when driving eastbound on I-40 between nashville and knoxville tn. I was lucky enough to have an emergency shoulder and light traffic or else it may have caused a deadly accident. I have researched this issue and most call it 'death wobble' and it is caused by the castor angle of fords front end suspension. It is know to rapidly wear bushings, joints and bearings that could ultimately cause loss of total control of a heavy duty vehicle. Multiple tsb have been issues for other year of superduty trucks and all have stated to replace worn track bars, tie rod ends, steering stabilizers and adjust the castor angle.