For the past month or so I'd noticed an increasing vibration with the roadster at about 50 MPH. Any faster or slower, it wasn't there, but the steering wheel wiggled and we could feel it between 50 and 55. Right where it gets driven the most. I noticed it after I put the steel wheels and new tires on, after taking the the wires off. One of the front wheels shucked a weight when I unloaded the new tires out of the pickup, had it rebalanced before we drove it, but it didn't feel right, so I figured it was just a wheel out of balance. And, it shucked hubcaps on the left front, which I "fixed" by putting chrome Spider caps on instead. We're in Florida with it now, and I was going somewhere the other day and the car darted slightly in a curve. I thought, "This never followed tire ruts before", and disregarded it. We drove it to the beach a few days ago and again, on a slight curve, it "wiggled" again. My wife felt it and said, "It feels like something is loose." Sure enough, something WAS loose. The Ford 8" rear has a Panhard bar that mounts on a pretty chrome bracket on the pinion snout. I crawled under the car and has horrified to see that one of the two bolts holding it was GONE. I got out and shoved the body, the chassis moved over the axle about an inch. The bracket was pivoting back and forth on the one (loose) bolt holding it. Thank God she suggested looking closely. A couple new grade 8 Allen bolts and Locktite (this time) fixed it. I think that it was a harmonics thing when the two bolts were slightly loose, that became more obvious when one backed all the way out. It doesn't do it at all now, but I'm thankful that I checked. It would have been a catastrophe had the other one come out.
Man...sure glad you found that. I shudder to think of what may have happened. Now, go back and enjoy the beach!
Whoa. I've been guilty in the past of ignoring when my car was telling me something's not quite right. Only to find out later that I really should have just taken a look.
Close one, that shows that vibrations can telegraph though. Usually we are looking in the front for vibration because we assume that it is there. Have fun, stay warm, post photos.
Generally speaking, if vibrations are felt in the steering wheel they come from the front suspension or steering. If they are felt through the seat of your pants they come from the rear suspension or drive train. Like always there are some that just won't follow the rules.
Cars and Coffee in Sarasota: 900 cars. 200 New Mustangs. 100 new Corvettes. 100 new Camaro. 50 new Challengers still with the stupid yellow shipping protectors on the front splitter. 50 new Lambos. 50 new Porches. 50 new BMW's. 50 New Tesla Plaids. 50 Ferraris. 50 Aston Martins. 20 lifted 3/4 ton Bro-Dozers. 10 Art cars. 10 Bentleys. 10 street rods. Half a dozen early 60's Impalas, half a dozen Tri-5 Chevvies, one Diamond T, and me. The cool cars were all at Saltworks Fab. I can say I went though. We drove to the beach last night to watch the sun sink into the Gulf of Mexico, no wiggling, no vibration.
Had that happen on my 31 Chevy pu, but they all came out. Didn't notice anything different till they were all out, then it got scary.
Good catch Brian! Reminds me I need to get under mine now that I have 400+ miles on it and give it a general going over to make sure everything is still tight...
I puckered a bit when I saw what had happened, and the thought of what COULD have happened. While I was under the car I put a wrench on all the fasteners I could see, just to make sure everything else was AOK, and found two 3/8" coarse nuts on the plate at the center of the X member that also serves as the transmission mount. The other 4 were tight, but still...
It was not, at least it wasn't badged as an SS. Was the SS option available on the Sport Sedan? It's just a trim package.
None have surfaced that can be substantiated. For your reading enjoyment Here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/61-impala-ss-four-door.1005300/
Had a Dodge Dart years ago with a 273. At some point it picked up a very random vibration. Sort of a harmonic buzz that didn't seem to come from any one place. It would come and go at seemingly no particular RPM or road speed. No luck tracking it down as I couldn't simulate the condition when parked. After a couple months or so it started up again while driving in town at moderate speeds. It seemed to feel a bit worse and continued on longer than the usual 30 seconds or so. So I just kept driving it out of frustration figuring that I might as well let it break so I'd finally know what to fix. Sure enough, after driving another couple of blocks, there was a muffled "clunk" but the engine continued to run okay and actually ran more quietly and smoother than I ever remembered. Until the temperature gauge started to slowly climb. So I pulled to the curb and popped the hood to find that the water pump shaft had broken and sent the fan blade into the radiator. Upon closer inspection of the break in the pump shaft you could see that about half of the surface was fresh, clean metal. The other half was showing signs of rust and corrosion that had been going on for who knows how long.
I put lots of miles on my junk, and I built it mostly by myself. I made it a habit years ago to put a wrench (or screwdriver or other tool) on every bolt, nut, or screw under the car (or under the hood, or in the interior) when ever I was there to do anything. It only takes a few extra minutes, and you would be amazed home many fasteners (often not the same fasteners) can vibrate loose while the ride gets driven on these "great smooth roads" that seem to be around much of the country. I consider it about the same as checking fluid levels as part of preventive maintenance.
10 years ago I did this '62 Sport Sedan for our son, who used it as his daily driver for 2 years in Vegas. That car inspired me to get the '62 SS Coupe we have now.
Glad this has a positive spin Brian...as Ricky said check your nuts... Torque is important... Locknuts or lockwashers and possibly locktite...also important...and that intuition equally up there...
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