I have a stock '46 ford I beam front axle and suspension that is freaking me out. Stock, not dropped, yet. The main problem is when I reach any speeds above 50mph the front end of the car shakes like a sumbich. Makes it a little tough to drive when it feels like the car is gonna shake itself apart. At the same time, maintaining full control is an excersize in patience as the steering wheel is shaking like Betty Ford Clinic drop-out. I originally thought that it may just be the roads I travel, but recently I realized that this is not the case. At speeds below 50/55mph I see no problems. Moving from a dead stop and general acceleration do not seem to trigger any problems either. It seems to get the heeby-jeebies only when trying to hold a steady speed in excess of 50mph. This car needs to be capable of highway speeds and right now I have serious doubts about attempting that. So my question is, what do think may be causing this and how would you go about verifying and rectifying the problem(s)? Any help would be appreciated and I will take all suggestions and check it out until I get this straightened out, so to speak.
stan how tight are the tie rod ends and the king pins?? how about the steering linkage.. have you considered a bent wheel or misbalanced tire somewhere?? all these are simple places to start.. catch you later this week DUDE
How much caster do you have?Does the car actually wobble more then shake?If so you prolly have too much caster.You only want between 5-7 degrees. You should also check your toe in.Sometimes you can fiddle with your toe in and it will smartin it up. Do what Sawzall said and check what I'm sayin......Shiny
Most of the time that a shimmy comes in at/or above a certain speed (tire RPM) it's tire balance. We get cars in here with tie rod ends ready to fall of and there is no shimmy. But put an out of balance tire on a tight front end it will shimmy like stink. If your tires are balanced correctly and your parts are all tight, you can add a steering stabilizer (hydraulic damper) but I'd save that for the last resort.
I had the same problem with my roadster. It would shake like crazy between 45 and 50. Once past that it would settle out. I rebalanced the tires and the problem went away. It may be necessary to have them spin balanced on the car to assure it isn't an out of balance brake drum,wheel and tire combination.
Just like the other suggestions, check balance on the tires, check for wear on the tie rod ends, check caster AND CHECK FOR PROPER TOE IN.....beam axle front ends are picky about how much toe in you run. IF it is more than an 1/8" in it can send the front wheels dribbling off the ground, REALY!!! Other things to check that cause the same problems you described. Bad shocks or worn out ones, bad wheel bearings, improperly adjusted wheel bearings, poorly adjusted brakes or oily brakes, bad king pins. Start with the basics but these other things are not a bad idea for everyone to check out on a frequent basis.
Check your shocks...they have bit me before. Given it is speed induced, the shocks might be the place to look provide you tires are ok. Maybe either a loose or broken mount or just bad all together. One function of the shock is to absorb some of the small imperfection in the tire/road.
After checking all above, go out to the junkyard, and get a steering dampner. Volkswagen have them, even Audi and some Mercedes have them. Mounte one on my Model A, and I have not had a shimmy since then, When thinking i think even So-Cal sells fancy ones. Look here.
Thanks guys. My initial instinct was to check the balace on the rims/tires and see what happens from there. I will be checking out the camber, etc. also. I have not noticed any odd tire wear and the shocks are the stock type. I have topped the fluid and I see no signs of leaking. Is there any other way of checking those? The front suspension seems to be tight, there really isn't any slop... Thanks again, gents.
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