62 Front Suspension Problems

[Terry D.]

Car is a 62, drives down the road straight as an arrow, however at 60-65 developes a shake, not the kind an out of balance wheel might cause, more like the whole steering column shakes side to side. Steering box just rebuilt by expert in Michigan, new shocks, tires, rims, third arm bearing, rebuilt drag link, A arms done a couple of years ago, no excessive play in wheel bearings. Everything seems to be tight as a drum up front. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance
Terry

[Jack H.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Do NOT discount tires/wheels... I'd go have them checked for concentricity before doing too much change this/that.

If a wheel has been 'curbed' in its prior life and is out of round, when it rolls the tire that's mounted to it can take a 'set' resulting in either tire 'squirm' or 'hop'. All the balancing weights in the world won't fix the problem then...

IF that's the case, then the fix is to have the wheel(s) trued, discard the deformed tire(s) and you're done. Those who specialize in wheel truing can check with reasonable ease.

They dis-mount the wheel, remove the tire, and mount the wheel on a stub axle. Then, the wheel is slowly rotated with dial calipers measuring radial and axial concentricity. Then, you know whether or not you're fighting a wheel/tire problem...

[Terry D.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Jack
I had that trouble with a 40 Ford once but it shook the front end at any speed, did not realize a tire "set" like that would act up at a particular speed. Would that account for it getting worse as the tires heat up? Don't know if he put new tires on when he got the new rims, will ask when I see him tomorrow. Thanks for the input.
Terry

[John H.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Use the locator feature at www.gsp9700.com and take the car to a shop that has a Hunter GSP-9700 balancer, which also diagnoses radial and lateral runout, AND loaded road force variation. A tire can be perfectly balanced and still flunk road force variation (which Chevrolet called "Smooth Road Shake" back in the 70's). Just "balancing" isn't enough, especially with low-volume reproduction tires.

[Jack H.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Good point, John! Yes, I had two out of five brand new Firestone 7.75x15 reproduction tires (from Lucas Engineering, no longer a viable source) that were out of round from the git go and needed to be replaced under warranty....

In the 'good ole' days, spin balancing machines didn't have protective shields on them and those with tire mount/balance experience could physically watch each mounted tire as it was spun up and see/catch the 'hoppers' and 'squirmers'... But, today's modern tire manufacturing technology has cut WAY BACK on these kinds of defects.

What kind of torqued me about the deal with my repro Firestones is I hand carried them to Lucas (LA area) when I took the car to the NCRS National Convention in Anaheim and they initially refused warranty replacement stating it was probably the fault of my original KH KO wheels being out of round. I told them to dismount the tires and inspect them themselves.

They said they didn't have the technology and suggested a tire shop down the street who's word they'd accept. Soooo, I hauled over there where they dismounted the tires, mounted them on known true wheels, spun them up and caulk marked the out of round pattern/points.

Then, Lucas DID honor their warranty but wouldn't reimburse me for the out-of-pocket paid to have the tires certified out of round! Bottom line, I'm glad they're out of the reproduction tire business these days....

[Terry D.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

OK guys, followed your advice and had tires and rims checked with a new Hunter machine at the local shop, checked out OK. Next suggestion please.
Terry

[Jack H.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Consider having the folks at the shop with the Hunter balancing machine take your car out for a test drive and comment/critique....

[Gary B.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

OK guys, followed your advice and had tires and rims checked with a new Hunter machine at the local shop, checked out OK. Next suggestion please.
Terry

At first I was thinking it possibly could be the drive shaft out of balance or alignment.

[Terry D.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Jack
Had the people at the Goodyear store drive the car, put up on rack checked everything I checked, found nothing.Remember most of these people never worked on a truck front end. Checking out the local Cruise Ins to see who in town knows these old suspensions. Meanwhile it is driving us nuts.
Terry

[Bill M.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

I would try to switch wheels and tires with a known good set.

[Terry D.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Bill
Done the tire switch a couple of times, driveshaft is new as are u-joints. Jacked car up and ran at 65, driveshaft looks great. I'm looking into a shop with a dyno so I can run rear tires with a load on them to check driveshaft etc.
Terry

[Gary C.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Terry, might be easier to take the driveshaft out and take to a driveshaft shop to check to see if it's balanced properly. The old rule is that if the steering wheel shakes problem's in the front. If you can feel it in the seat it's drivetrain and back. Just a thought. Gary....

[Joe R.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Terry, my 54 (king pins also) acted just like what you are describing. I had my steering box rebuilt also by an expert.

What I eventually discovered is that the steering box had excessive play after rebuild. I found that BOTH adjustments for the box, the front bearing (big nut) and the sector shaft adjuster (on the side, by the inner fender) had to be finessed. Make SURE the sector is in the CENTER position, at the point of least amount of play. If your box was rebuilt out of the car and the rebuilder did not adjust it after you installed in the car, then I would suspect the slop. He cannot possibly do final adjustments out of the car. I would also check the pittman ball and the 3rd arm ball for excessive wear. That could cause shimmy.

Joe

[Jack H.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

You're right on the 'truck' nature of the suspension! FWIW, one 'trick' mechanics use to diagnose vibration issues is to first 'localize' the problem. That means re-creating the vibration and 'feeling' the difference between hands-on/hands-off on the steering wheel versus what you feel in the seat of your pants.

If the vibration is more noticeable with hands on the steering wheel vs. hands off through the seat of your pants, the likelihood is you're fighting an issue with the front suspension components versus drive line and/or rear suspension...

[Terry D.]

Re: 62 Front Suspension Problems

Jack
Vibration is more in the steering column than the seat. Could a bad harmonic balancer shake the front of the car? We are noticing that at an idle the car shakes a little more than it used to.Wish we would have left the hood off now.
Terry