55 mph Vibration - 41 Ford Sedan Coupe

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Dads41SuperDeluxe

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I have owned my 41 for about 6 months. The tires were needing replacing so I wasn't surprised when I approached 55 mph to have a vibration. After replacing the tires, including balancing, I still have the same vibration. The engine runs smooth so I am suspecting the driveline.

Any suggestions on how to figure this out?

Len
 
What kind of vibration? Do you feel it in the steering wheel, or is it a 'whole car' type of vibration?

You're probably going to get some personal chaffing for not posting an introduction first.
 
Len, take your car in for a front end alignment. Choose a shop that has the old Ford specs, not one of these modern kwiky oil change places. Not that the specs are so tricky, just that the minimum wage kids the kwik shops hire don't know beans. What you want is a toe-in of about 1/16" - 1/8". The shop can advise you on issues such as kingpins or steering gear, and can re-balance your wheels if needed.
 
Hi all; Just a note ; We had a local V8er chasing a vibration that turned out to be a splice lump on his fan/generator belt! Later Newc
 
DD931 said:
I'd put the u-joint high on the list.
Click to expand...
I agree and I had vibration above 50 mph and an easy fix. Shoot some corn head grease in U joint cavity,a lot of it, it may have been lubed with regular chassis grease and it tends to collect in on one side throwing off balance.This is where I would start.
 
What is the speed/frequency of the vibration? Wheel speed or engine speed? I'm chasing the same problem on my '47 fordor. Mine is definitely engine/driveline speed but I'm not sure which yet. U-joint has been in there for 46,000 miles with corn head grease in it. Still would rather it be that than the engine. Much easier to fix/replace. It started a month or two ago between 50-60 mph and was not there below or above that but now starts at 35-40 and gets worse the faster I go.
 
Wow - lots of good suggestions. The vibration seems to be from the "whole car" rather than the steering wheel alone. Also, when I push the clutch in to remove power to the drive train, the vibration decreases to maybe 20% of original. The speed of the vibration is a higher frequency that I would expect from tires, but that's just a guess.

Len
 
Take off the speedo drive "turtle" this will give you a window, if you can move the driveshaft up-down then the bearing could be suspect, if you can move the whole shaft front-back the coupling rivit becomes suspect, if you put the trans in 3rd and move a wheel to rotate the driveshaft and there is a lot of rotational motion the u-joint becomes suspect ---
 
Try greasing the U joint with a low melt temperate grease, molly grease works good. I have seen this problem before and grease solved it. G.M.
 
Dads,
In my experience when the drive shaft support bearing is the fault of
vibration the car can be driven thru it. This vibration usually...but not always....
occurs between 35 and 50 mph. Above and below those speeds it is all but un-
detectable. In most cases....but not all cases....it seems to be more evident
when you are seated in the back seat.
I certainly hope that your problem is the universal joint and that a good
greasing will make it go away.
Charlie ny
 
15 or 20 years ago I was on an AACA tour and John Rickards, the husband of the then AACA president Janet asked me how much trouble it was to change the U joint in a fully restored 34 Ford 2 door they just purchased. I described the procedure and John said it was to much work and they would ride someone else. I told him to try grease which he did. It took all noise and vibration out and they completed the tour. I ran into him 4 or 5 years later and asked if he changed the U joint and he said he never had any problem after greasing it. That don't mean grease will solve the noise problem every time but it surprised me that it worked when it sounded so bad. I suspect the new U joint was completely dry when installed and they didn't know it needed grease or just forgot. G.M.
 
I'm ready to try adding some more grease to my U-joint that I thought was already full but can't get my grease gun on the U-joint zerk because of its position and wonder if there is some other way to get grease in there short of pulling the rear axle and torque tube. Could I get any grease in there through the speedometer gear opening?
 
Henry, get an angled zerk nozzle and a flex hose. Also better if you have three hands unless your gun is powered.
 
Thanks for the idea but although my zerk is angled it's so close to the frame that I can't get the grease gun fitting over it. I've tried using the needle nose grease gun fitting that is supposed to be able to just inject the grease into the itty bitty hole in the zerk but can't seal it enough to keep more grease from blowing out around the zerk than going into it.
 
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