I have had 4 death wobbles , While towing a single axle trailer , With 2 $ wheelers , and several jugs of gas. So fair load Truck loaded for hunting trip. This is at highway speed , so fairly exciting. Have towed my 27 foot 5th wheel no problem. . Have had front end checked and parts replaced, realignment. Would shocks or new tires correct. When riding in passenger seat, It feels like it , is trying ,to wobble. specialy if you hit a road bump.Has anyone expenienced this. Truck Has been well maintained otherwise. Old 243

that's what I found hope it helps

also hope that this is what you were asking about

You have to weight the tounge. The more the better.

My 2015 f250 has started doing it recently always after a bump or rough spot in the road. It will only stop if you slow down. My tires are worn out. I'm getting it realigned when I replace them. Good luck with yours. Mine rarely does it when towing aload almost always when I'm not pulling.

With the truck running and in park, have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth while watching the trackball. I'll bet you see some play in it. Out of balance tires just magnify it worse.

Does it go away when you remove the load? If so are you sure it coming from the front end I’ve had bearings going out in the rear end and would only show up under a load.

If it only happens towing a trailer you need more weight in the front of the trailer.

Check the steering components like jt said. Use a flashlight even in daylight. Put your hands on stuff, feel for klunking . That has coil springs right? Check the sway bar too for play while turning the wheel.
Does it shake the steering wheel back and forth when it does the death wobble?

After cmj’s response it reminded me of my buddy 96 tacoma. We go that wobble on a road trip loaded down. It turned out to be a broken swaybar arm link.

another cause can be play in the steering box worn track bars or a combination of everything mentioned. my '03 3500 has had the wobble a couple times. Drives awesome now.

Death wobble and trailer sway are too different things, you can get any vehicle with negative or not enough tongue wait to start swaying and Jack knife you. Death wobble is something loose or warn in the front end. It can happen loaded or not or with trailer or not. A big bump can set it off and only hard braking and slowing down will stop it. Old jeeps were famous for it, but I had several older Chevy pickups that would drive fine until you hit a bump to set it off. I would say your missing something, something is worn and loose.

^^This. Not sure if you are experiencing the classic death wobble or an improperly weighted trailer. Since you mention getting it only with trailer.

My steering in my 08 3500 was getting loose and "wandery" so I went through this spring and replaced all the ball joints, tie rods, and the sway bar bushings. Was actually not a that big a deal, the removal and replacing went much better than I expected (except for Detroit Axle sending my the wrong tie rod parts, three different times. Finally had to order from someone else) for a truck with 300K. Took it in and had it aligned, and it steers much better now. And I've no doubt will do better on tire wear as well.

This but you need enough tongue weight on the trailer. To much puts more weight on the bed/ rear of truck and it can act like a lever causing the front of the truck to get light . That can and will extend the suspension and make stearing not as responsive not having enough weight on the stearing tires.

If you dont have enough tongue weight on the trailer you will end up with the trailer wipping around in a tail waging the dog situation. Typically it starts to be noticeable at and above 50 mph. We have all seen the vehicle driving down the interstate with small trailer wipping back and forth not tracking smoothly behind the vehicle and this is why.


I was nearly killed at 17 learning the tonuge weight lesson being tongue light on a 16' trailer I loaded with 20' telephone poles on the interstate.


Its simple to fix just move the load forward . Or add weight. I had this issue pulling a nonrunning truck home so stopend and picked up some large rocks in Arkansas and put them on the front of the trailer about 200 lbs worth and problems was solved instantly.

A trailer swaying is not death wobble. Very different. Is the steering wheel going back and forth? Or does it feel like u r hitting big rumble strips on the rd. Or is it swaying , swinging the trailer back and forth? That should have coil springs up front. I had a 97 ram and when the track bar bushings went it would death wobble. Almost had to come to a stop to make it stop.
My f350 would shake like hitting big rumble strips, while pulling a trailer only after trans temp went to 180. Trans was recently "rebuilt" and pulling away from a stop. After it blew up I put a jasper trans in and problem was gone.
So look at everything. Before I picked up on the trans temp I replaced the leaf springs and shocks because it felt like spring wrap. It would only do it when a trailer was being towed, even an empty 3000lb trailer

Thanks for all the replies.This happened at 110km hour 65 70mph. We reduced speed to 50- 55 mph . Didn't do it again. Trailer had 4 wheeler crosswise on front. Second behind it. I think, probably ,tongue heavy if anything. Truck box loaded with hunting gear Three passengers. Probably if anything , lighter , on front end. Have replaced ball joints, a sway bar , had alligned. steering wheel work done. This has just happened pulling my new 12 foot single axle trailer. I pulled , my old tandem trailer , with the same load for a lot of years with no problem. There is only 160k km on it, I don't drive much anymore. old 243