Rick Péwé
Editor-in-Chief, 4Wheel & Off-Road
Photographers:
Rick Péwé
The dreaded death wobble has been a problem on 4x4s for ages. The warning sign is a shudder or shimmy in the front axle while on the road. This can develop into a violent shaking and near loss of control. While many factors contribute to death wobble, some are primary culprits from the get-go. Other than whacked-out tires and rims, the track bar on many vehicles with coil-spring front suspension is often worn out, at the wrong angle, or damaged. Add to this a lift kit, big tires and wheels, and a few hard miles, and you have a recipe for sure disaster.
To combat this issue on the '05-'09 Ford F-250-550 Super Duty trucks with coils, WC Motorsports of Walpole, Massachusetts, has devised a replacement track bar that cures the shakes and wobbles associated with a bad bar. Instead of the spindly factory bar with stock ball joint and bushing ends, the WC bar is made of 1/2-inch 0.25-wall DOM tubing with 7/8-inch chromoly ends that are Teflon lined. The bar bungs are CNC-milled out of 4130 stock, and the bar is powdercoated metallic gray. The mounting points allow the bar to be used in the stock location for up to 4-inch lifts, and on top of the axle mount for 6-inch and taller mounts. The new design is not only stronger, but because the mounting axis has been moved, the bar is parallel with the drag link, reducing bumpsteer and helping to prevent the death wobble. A few more tricks like an adjustable ball joint alignment shim and special alignment specs make this kit one nice addition to your Ford.
We went to Off Road Unlimited in Burbank, California, for the easy install. Owner Maurice Rozzo had us in and out in a couple hours while using a customer's lifted F-250. The customer had thought of selling his truck as the death wobble was just too intense, but after the new bar he even went and bought a boat to tow, since the truck was so stable! Follow along as we install the WC Motorsports bar and see how simple a fix this can be.
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