So I know I’m not the only one ever to notice these old ford wheels having a slight “wobble” to them every now and then. Especially the wide 5 wheels with the spread out pattern. Which is what I’m working with. I’m sitting here with my indicator setup checking brake drum faces. Once I found the perfect “true” drum, that was my test dummy for wheels. So what’s too much wobble in these old wheels?? Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Not an expert, but to me, any wheel wobble is too much wobble and there has to be a root cause. Bent rim, spokes not even (wire wheels), out of balance wheel, flat spots on bias-ply tires, worn kingpins, worn tie rods, misalignment, bent frame, slop in the steering box, poorly fabricated aftermarket suspension, worn out... well, you get the gist. As energy builds, normal bushings and chassis components are designed to even and displace that energy throughout the chassis. If any of those components are worn, the energy travels out of the path of least resistance. This can cause a wobble, or worse... death wobble. Can't speak for the Ford ones, but the wide five VW rims can be a bear to balance because most of them are bent when you find them and, even if they are true, most shops don't have the right adaptor for their tire balancers to accept that wide pattern. I ran circles on a late model, non-H.A.M.B. compliant, bone stock Jeep Cherokee that had death wobble a few years ago. I ended up replacing all of the control arms, every bushing, ball joints, every tie rod end... everything but the axle itself, only to find out that at one point in it's life, it was smacked hard enough in the front that the subframe was slightly out of shape. Initially, the alignment shop didn't pick up on it. 'Passed that thing on to the next guy for a song so he could deal with it. Good luck and keep white knuckles on that steering wheel.
I had a rear wheel that had about .188" (3/16") "wobble" on a T roadster. It did induce a shake in the car. I finally got tired of people that had been following me telling me I had a wheel about to come off that I put different wheels on the car. That was fine with me since I wanted to change wheels anyway. The diameter of the tire compared to the wheel itself exaggerated the wobble at the tread of the tire too, so by the time the 3/16" wobble of the wheel got out to the tread the tread was out well over 1/4". It did look really sketchy. Now, just how much is too much....... that's probably one of those things that depends on a person's level of tolerance. Lynn
Ive heard alot of old timers say 1/8" is fine, 3/16" is getting to be too much. Kinda used that myself.
[QUOTE=" . [/QUOTE] I’m looking at wheel wobble meaning that the wheel isn’t actually true . With a car sitting static and a perfect test drum. I’m testing the wheel itself Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Hello, Any wobble is too much. Why fight the steering wheel while cruising down the road? I would first check the round specs of the tire. "get all tires trued" The amount of tires that are not round is amazing. Someone was asleep at the wheel, in the factories. But, that amount of rubber on the ground will show you how much it needed to shave to get a round tire. Now, balancing and check the wobble. If you are at a tire place to balance, have them spin the rim and tire and see if the metal edges go wobble or not. If so, you need new rims. Some people will fight to the death to get those round, but it is not fun nor does it always work. It is easier to get new rims and start the process over. But, at least your tires are round. Now, if all else fails, have an expert front end alignment guy go over everything. In my first 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, I had to get the tires shaved first. I though I lost about a 100 miles of rubber on the floor. But, afterwards the balancing and shaving worked. The 40 sedan delivery ran fine for 1000's of miles of coastal cruising. Jnaki The second 40 Ford Sedan Delivery with a 327 had more front end problems than the old Flathead powered one I had in high school. The first thing the alignment guy said was to get the tires shaved with the steel rims in place. So, I did and again, 100s of miles of rubber was on the floor after all of the tires got shaved to round. Then a bubble balance to get the sedan delivery back on the road. It drove smoothly and there was no shake. Then about 6o miles later, close to home, the wobble started again. We even had installed new shocks and it felt fine. So, the alignment guy took the sedan delivery for a few days. He did his repair, detailed alignment and balancing of the front wheels. Then, he put everything back and drove it around the block. His final thing was to balance the front tires on the car. His work was fine as for the next long distance road trip, it was like driving on a cloud, without a shimmy or wobble. It was so good that my wife drove the sedan delivery more than me. It may have been the A/C, but she does like any car that steers well and does not shake while driving at speed or faster. It was a long distance cruiser and daily driver with no problems at all. YRMV
I seem to remember the tire shops used to use air impact guns at 150lbs pressure putting on tires at the shop, because I remember my Dad always insisting that they use a lug wrench to install the tires and not to damage, warp the rims. Now days most all tire shops use a torque wrench to install tires back on the vehicle. Older ford rims after the change over from wire spoke , and wood spoke rims were were made of stamped steel that was somewhat softer than modern steel rims. So maybe that could be some explanation as to wheel wobble causation. Also they used to true up the tires to stop wobble, but I always thought that was to sell you a new set sooner!! Any wheel wobble is to much at highway speed though. My Sunday two cents
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