1950 f1 front end wobble

35 coupe

35 coupe

Senior Member
Took my truck for a ride this morning, and driving about 35-40 hit a raised manhole cover,1- 1 1/2" high with the driver's side front tire and it went into a death wobble. I had to pull over to stop it. It always ran good, the king pins and front seem good and tight, tires are bias 16" firestones, 40 lb air, no shake or vibs at 65mph. This is the first time for this. Any suggestions as to what causes this besides not hitting manhole covers.... THANKS
 
35 coupe said:
Took my truck for a ride this morning, and driving about 35-40 hit a raised manhole cover,1- 1 1/2" high with the driver's side front tire and it went into a death wobble. I had to pull over to stop it. It always ran good, the king pins and front seem good and tight, tires are bias 16" firestones, 40 lb air, no shake or vibs at 65mph. This is the first time for this. Any suggestions as to what causes this besides not hitting manhole covers.... THANKS
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Check the spring shackles and the shackle holes in the frame.
 
Check your ball joints also. You will need to jack up or raise the front end off the ground to do this. Once you have the front end off the ground check each ball joint to see if they are loose. You could have jarred one of them loose or also thrown off your wheel alignment.
 
Had the same problem with my 53 f-100, hit a small pot hole at 45 and it would shake really bad. I added 4 deg shims under the springs ,also added steering stablizer from LMC ,now truck handles much better ,no wobble even when hitting pot holes .
 
Got the same problem on my f1 but it comes and goes even when I hit the same bump in the road. I have play in the steering box that I need to remove but you might try a little more toe in.
 
THANKS TO EVERYONE... Now I have something to do this weekend here in pennsylvania. It is going to rain all weekend here.. can't go archery hunting so I work on my truck.
 
I had the same issue with my `51 F1. I adjusted the play out of the steering box and it never did it again. Hope it works for you.
 
Did you make any changes? You mentioned it always ran good. When was the last time it ran?
My experience: I had this issue as well on my 49 F1. I bought the truck with old, hard, rotted, tires. I changed the tires the wobble disappeared.
 
I know you said you hit that thing at 45 mph, but you also mentioned running 65 mph. For the record, my truck feels like a boat with a sloppy rudder in a hurricane at 65 mph, so I'd doubt it has a terribly bad problem. Just keep working on it and enjoying it (after you clean out the seat after that death wooble). :D
 
The tie rod is hollow .. If it is bent at all it will cause that problem .. I had that happen to me ... What size tires do you have? If they are wider than stock, beef up the tierod with a piece of angle iron ..... Dude
 
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