Help, now afraide to drive it.

sphooch

sphooch

Senior Member
hi guys, i have a 31 roadster which i redid over the last 7years or so.a few quirks here and there all fixed but recently my car developed a terrible wobble the steering wheel shakes and the front end shakes??it happens at a low speed 5or 10 miles an hour. as i step on the gas she gets better.I,m afraid something is gonna go. any ideas where i could look? i'm always here looking for help any suggestions would be great THANKS THE HOOCH
 
To cure a front end shimmy make sure the tires are balanced and true. Check for any looseness from the steering to the wheel bearings. Make sure the spring U-bolts are tight. Make sure the spring shackles are well lubed and not binding. Make sure there is proper toe-in. Make sure the wishbone is not loose at the bell housing. I had an out of round tire cause shimmy.
 
J Franklin has the right approach. There was a thread on the Barn recently about wheel wobble and the fix was tightening up the ball at the back of the wishbone. The original poster tried everything else before checking the wishbone. Nice looking roadster, by the way.
 
The technical name is the death wobble.

J and nk are correct. Usually that will fix the issue, if not look at the king pins.
 
Time to pick up a spare front axle. I bought my last one (minus backing plates) for $50. But when you have four spare, one more doesn't take much room.

Expect $75 for a stripped front axle. $150 with backing plates/hubs.

Expect to tear it all down, straighten if necessary (use "indicators) and reassemble using good parts. The swap out to put it on the car takes about an hour.

Joe K
100 percent of the first Model A, 60 percent of the second, 40 percent of the third, and a whole bunch of parts left over I don't know what to do with.
 
Ok Guys lots of starting points here for me, as soon as time alows i'll get on it, and keep you posted. thanks the HOOCH
 
Sounds like there's something loose. Have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth while you're looking underneath to see if you can see something that's not as snug as it should be.
 
Thee are lots of things that can contribute to shimmy. Loose steering box, loose pitman arm where it attaches tot he sector shaft, loose steering joints, loose king pins, shackles wheel bearings, ball joint at the end of the A frame - anything between the steering wheel and the ground. Go through it carefully and don't accept "good enough".
 
Syncro mentioned it in his list, but I want to highlight it: Check the front wheel bearing nuts for proper tightness. It is very common to find them a bit loose, because they did not get the pre-loaded correctly when first installed. Don't over tighten them, but check them.
 
Here is the procedure for adjusting the front wheel bearings. This is needed when new bearings are installed or the they are taken out for greasing or just periodically.

First tighten the bearings fairly firmly. This seats them in their bores. Then back out the nuts and re tighten just to the point where all play is taken out and there is a tiny bit of drag. Then back out the nut one location on the cotter key. Put the cotter key in but do not bend the ends yet. The wheel should turn freely but there should be no perceptible looseness. If you are satisfied with the adjustment, bend the ends of the cotter key. If there is any looseness tighten the nut one cotter key location and check again.
 
Hello, kingpins are probably the most neglected item on the front axle, as they have to be reamed for fit , needing a reamer to do this ,also newer mechanics might be unfamiliar to them.
 
Good Morning...We had a car in the shop in Chandler...the other week...with the same problem...turned out the front wheel lug nuts were loose! Ernie in Arizona
 
Ernie Vitucci said:
Good Morning...We had a car in the shop in Chandler...the other week...with the same problem...turned out the front wheel lug nuts were loose! Ernie in Arizona
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Good thing you didn't loose a wheel. You bring up a good point and everyone driving should check tightness on everything. It is a driveway job!
 
Ernie Vitucci said:
Good Morning...We had a car in the shop in Chandler...the other week...with the same problem...turned out the front wheel lug nuts were loose! Ernie in Arizona
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I had the death wobble after going over a railroad track. All my lug nuts were tight, but I had noticed that someone had machined off the taper has shown in the picture below. Why in the world would someone do that!
 

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LEM said:
I had the death wobble after going over a railroad track. All my lug nuts were tight, but I had noticed that someone had machined off the taper has shown in the picture below. Why in the world would someone do that!
Click to expand...

I've seen that too. I figured it was to achieve the same as the conical washers vendors sell. The wheel studs sold these days are made for cast iron drums which are thicker than the original steel ones. That means that the wheel nuts won't pull up as tightly in the stud holes in the wheel hub. The tapered washers take care of that, so does machining off the end of the nut so that it can screw on further.
Anyway, that's what I figured was the reason.
 
My wobble only happens at 5-10mph AND I am braking. Seems also my brake drum might be out of round. If I don't brake, no shimmy ever. Check that as well.
 
You need to accurately check your tow in any amount of tow out will cause a wobble and hitting the brakes will make that tow out even worse.
 
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