Steering Stabilizer

[Bill M.]

Why was the steering stabilizer left off the 63 to 65 high performance cars?

[Don H.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

The large capacity oil pan did not allow for enough room.

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[Bill M.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Thanks Don. I am going nuts trying to figure out why I have a shimmy in my front end after 60 mph. Changed bearings tires balanced ect... then I realized that I had no stabilizer but saw that it was not installed in the 365HP cars. I thought that it was removed before I bought it but see no sign of bracket installation. Back to the drawing board.

[Duke W.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

For years I thought St. Louis forgot to install the steering damper on my 340 HP SWC, but it didn't seem to cause any ill effect. It wasn't until about 20 years that I realized it was not installed on small blocks with the big pan due to lack of clearance. I never had a "shimmy" problem, but wheel balance was always an issue.

My '88 MBZ 190E 2.6 has a steering damper, which is a high pressure deCarbon design - like Bilstein shocks. They tend to fail suddenly when the gas pressure seal fails, and when this happened on the Merc it developed a front end shimmy the likes of which I never experienced... scared the sh...t out of me! The Merc runs about 10.5 degrees caster, and it really needs the damper.

Describe the problem in more detail. If the steering wheel "shakes" it's usually static unbalance or out of round wheels/tires. If the steering wheel wiggles back and forth, it's usally dynamic unbalance, and any looseness in the ball joints, steering linkage, or deteriorated suspension bushings will exacerbate the problem.

Static unbalance or out-of-round tends to be most noticable about about 80 MPH, at which speed the rotational frequency of the tire matches the natural frequency of the suspension.

What wheels and tires (brand, model, size) are installed?

Duke

[Patrick B.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

I once had a 67 BB corvette that would start to shimmy badly after being disturbed by a railroad crossing at moderate speed. A new idler arm cured it.

[Bill M.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Duke
I have a very old set of American made reproduction KO western wheels. I am on the second set of Reproduction Coker bias ply goldlines. I have rotated all different ways and still the same. I have a lift and have had the car up in air after a ride. I have taken temperatures of parts to see if and heat and I find none. I am going to put my 67 wheels and tires on and see if that makes a difference.
Pat
if no change I will replace the idler arm

[Jim L.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

I am going nuts trying to figure out why I have a shimmy in my front end after 60 mph.

Worn lower ball joints can permit a front end shimmy. Discovered this when I got my metal '57 many decades ago.

[Duke W.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Duke
I have a very old set of American made reproduction KO western wheels. I am on the second set of Reproduction Coker bias ply goldlines. I have rotated all different ways and still the same. I have a lift and have had the car up in air after a ride. I have taken temperatures of parts to see if and heat and I find none. I am going to put my 67 wheels and tires on and see if that makes a difference.
Pat
if no change I will replace the idler arm

Those Coker bias plys have a reputation for out-of-round. Find a tire shop with a Hunter 9700 machine. It balances statically and dynamically and will also report both wheel and tire run out. The tech can then rotate the tire on the wheel to match the tire high spot with the wheel low spot. You want to keep out of round no more than about 1/32".

(Most modern wheels have a small white paint dot, which is the wheel low spot, and most modern tires have a read splotch, which is the tire high spot. Those marks should be aligned. If the wheel is not marked for the low spot as above, line up the yellow blotch with the valve stem.)

To those who want bias ply tires for judging or authenticy my advice is to avoid Coker products.

Duke

[Jim D.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

To those who want bias ply tires for judging or authenticy my advice is to avoid Coker products.

Duke

I had them on my 60. To say they sucked would be an understatement. No matter how many times the tire shops tried, they would never run smooth. I found myself not wanting to even drive the car. I sold them at a swap meet with about 300 miles on them for $100.

[Bill M.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Lets go one step farther. If the stabilizer was not needed in the high performance cars! What was it supposed to be doing in the first place?

[John H.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Lets go one step farther. If the stabilizer was not needed in the high performance cars! What was it supposed to be doing in the first place?

Quoting from Zora's 1963 Corvette SAE presentation, page 13: "A new hydraulic damping device is used in the linkage system for road isolation. Located between the frame on the left and the relay rod near the right tie rod inner end, the damper functions much like a road wheel's hydraulic shock absorber. Energy absorption, by a piston moving in an oil-filled cylinder, controls vibrations that would otherwise be transmitted to the steering wheel."

It was never used on big-blocks at all and was cancelled after 1968, so at some point it was determined that it was no longer necessary.

[Wayne M.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Quoting from Zora's 1963 Corvette SAE presentation, page 13: "A new hydraulic damping device is used in the linkage system for road isolation. Located between the frame on the left and the relay rod near the right tie rod inner end, the damper functions much like a road wheel's hydraulic shock absorber. Energy absorption, by a piston moving in an oil-filled cylinder, controls vibrations that would otherwise be transmitted to the steering wheel."

It was never used on big-blocks at all and was cancelled after 1968, so at some point it was determined that it was no longer necessary.

Quoting from May 1966 Chevrolet recall campaign (Brian Futo, Restorer, summer 1983)

"5-13-65 Corvette, All Models; Corvette Steering Damper Interference

There were 47 Corvettes produced with the 396 engine, with a damper on the steering linkage. It was determined that an interference condition could result between the steering damper and the oil pan. Serial number lists were provided to dealers with instructions to remove the damper assemblies. All but one of the affected cars were corrected, according to our records."

I'd sure like to see those lists, as they must have been on real early L78 cars . I don't know how far back Freedom of Information Act applies, but these recalls were a request of senator Abraham Rubicoff, chairman of the senate government operations subcommitte on executive reorganization.

So deep within the bowels of Washington, the data may still exist.

[Bill W.]

Re: Steering Stabilizer

Wayne it would be very interesting to see the vin numbers of those cars . That would give a good indication of the first 396 sold to the public .