Vibration bummer

[38V8]

Bummer. I've got a persistent vibration felt in the wheel and the seat that I thought was alignment (did that), wheel balance (did that), king pins (replaced those), tie rod ends (replaced those) and I still have it. Steering/pitman are OK. Not excessive, just there, no noise however. Engine is rebuilt and has good balance, clutch is fine, anti rattle rods are tight, motor mounts are new, so now I'm thinking the drive line. It gets a little worse at higher speeds (45 mph). How tough is it to get to the center bearing in the torque tube? Can it be replaced? Yes I've greased the front u-joint. Any help or advice from you knowledgeable guys would be great. Thanks!

 

[Charlie ny]

'38,
Skip Haney and his mentor George Mitchell in Florida havr I believe
a substitute bearing....which knowing George is probably twice as good as
the original.....I'm sure GM will chime in with the details.
Awhile back I had the same problem my fix was to install the '35-early '37
hollow tube drive shaft which forever eliminates the center bearing. I did have to
rework the pinion end of the drive shaft for the 6 spline '40 pinion.
Charlie ny

 

[G.M.]

We had one 8 or 10 years ago that the previous owner and new owner thought it was a front end problem and spent 1,000's of dollars with no results. I found it vibrated going down the road but when you depressed the clutch it stopped. It also vibrated sitting in the driveway when raced up a little. We repalced the distributor, cap and wires with ones I had off a junked car with no change. This was a 47 Mercury wagon. We removed the timing gear cover and it was one tooth out of time. Removed the gear, turned the crankshaft a little and put the gear back on with the marks lined up. Put back together and it ran perfect with no vibration. Attached is Skips literature on the center bearing. Notice the shaft area where the original bearing ran on, a lot of shafts are in this condition. The sleave on Skips bearing repairs this problem also. I aslo attached the instructions which will help others in removing the original bearing for inspection and help in replaceing it if good. G.M.

 

[38V8]

Thanks very much!

 

[37ford4dr]

how did they balance the wheels? maybe its an out of round tire or a bent rim....that wouldnt show up very well on a static balance wheel.

 

[Ken/Alabama]

I would check the u joint first and make sure the bearing in the top of the torque tube is tight also.