Steering wobbles

D

dam555

Junior Member
I have a 1930 sedan which going down the road if you hit a bump will start shaking severely. I have checked the kingpins and they are tight, I used one of the teflon rebuild kits on the tierod ends and pittman arm. I still have considerable front to back play on the sector shaft/pittman arm, over an inch, am I looking at rebuilding the steering box?
 
I had the same problem. I rebuilt the king pins,tie rod ends,and both steering arms and the pitman arm, PERFECT. Even though the king pins feel tight the may have a little play that will cause trouble. My king pins had less then 1/8 wobble my steering arms were not round they were egg shape and so was the pitman arm. Also you might want to adjust the steering box.
 
my steering arms and pitman arms were all still round, the kingpins have no wobble at all that can be felt
 
toe in/out set correctly, tire pressure right, how old are the tires, wishbone "ball" round and installed correct, pitman arm TIGHT to shaft???
Paul in CT
 
Check and adjust everything [ tie-rod, drag link springs], wheel bearings, toe-in [ 1/16"] , the radius arm/wishbone ball and pitman arm..
It sounds like the main problem is the steering box adjustment though.. You should have a 2 tooth box which has 4 adjustments.. The service bulletins have the best instructions for this..
 
Had the same problem in my coupe. It would shake so hard I had to almost stop. If I hit the brakes hard it would help. Everything seemed tight except the steering box. It had a lot of play in it and it leaked. I tried adjusting it but no luck. The steering wheel had about 2-3 inches of play. I replaced the entire box with a rebuilt one from Snyders and changed to the short pitman arm. What a difference! No more shimmy and it steers great. I really recommend the shorter pitman arm. Changing the steering box was fairly easy and I'm a novice. Took about 4 hours total.
Bill
 
A friend corrected a "wobble" by tightening the nuts that hold the left & right steering arms to the spindles, they were just slightly loose, but corrected the problem. Bill W.
 
A steering damper might cover up the problem, but it won't fix it. My 28 has a very worn temporary front end on while I rebuild and paint the original. If I jack the wheels off the ground I can move the tops of the wheels back and forth at least two inches, yet I've never had a hint of wheel shimmy.

I'd check toe in, camber and caster for the cause of shimmy. Also any links that are loose, such as pitman arm clamping bolt, steering to frame bolts, and ball sockets for the steering linkage.
 
Look at your ball on the radius arm make sure it is tight if you are running a rubber ball make sure it is not tore if you are running the steel ball make sure it is round and tight
 
I would hit a bump and the wobble was real bad. I had to turn the wheel to the left and right to stop it from wobbling. Once I got my toe in tool (long adjustable rod) and corrected the toe in to within a 1/16 in. No more wobble.
 
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