shimmy shake is back...

[mr27t]

I had the shimmy shakes when I first got my T on the road, I took the time to find the sweet spot and found it to be 1/8" toe out and 10* caster. My camber is 3* lean out at the top of tires (positive I think).

I put my new tires on and the shimmy shakes are back. I have to get back into it and play with it until I find the sweet spot again with my new tires.

The problem I think is that I have a soft mono-leaf front spring and if I catch a heavy enough bump in the road on one side it sets off a chain reaction. the one side will start to bounce and immediately after the other side will react and begin to bounce.

At one time, I had a set of shocks installed and it drove nice and smooth as ever. I don't want to put the shocks back on because I don't like the look of it with the shocks on and I know that I really do not need them once I find the sweet spot setting in the front end.

Normally it rides very nice and smooth, no shimmy or shakes... it's nice and straight down the road.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get out my 15/16 end wrench (jam nuts on the tie rod hiems) and go on the road for a bit today.

 

[Ted Brown]

usually it should be 1/8th toe-in, not out, as t hings will straighten out to 0 or close while driving, if the wheels ever hop, you really need to put t he shocks back on, maybe mount them where they are not so easy to see... A lot of people do not realise I have shocks on the front of mine.. but they are needed to control to fast a movement and too far...

 

[TheAntiBoyd]

When all else fails....sell that dangerous dethbucket to raze44

 

[donsrods]

You need shocks. I started to get the death wobble and found my shocks were getting soft. Ever since installing a new set I can go over any kind of road surface and no wobble.

Car manufacturers put them on for a good reason, you are playing with fire not running them.


Don

 

[engine24355]

I would have to agree with what has already been said. Use the shocks. I had the death wobble too, but since I run radials I adjusted 1/8" toe out and now no problems at all. However, I also have coil over shocks on the front end which keeps the front pretty calm. Safety is the key here. It is no fun to fear the shimmy shakes.

 

[fluidfloyd]

mr27T,

Shocks are really a misused term. They are actually dampners and that is exactly what they do. They dampen spring oscilations caused by uneven road surfaces. That sweet spot is just that, a spot. Anything can cause that spot to change. Be careful and don't get yourself hurt!

George

 

[Ted Brown]

wobble is a danger for sure, I had a friend that bought a T and the very first day he drove. it actually tore the whole ft end off the car from wobbling REAL bad..(that is what happens with Heim joint suspension ends) I have found that corrected toe, usually stops that problem... I could be wrong.. Are there any good/great front end alinement fellows out there to help with this ? some real true and tested facts, as I use what works best for Me, and that may not always be right for the next guy... or right at all??

 

[mr27t]

Ouch!!!

When all else fails....sell that dangerous dethbucket to raze44

No, I aint gonna sell it to nobody, LOL!!! I'll fix it and get things right.

Ratrods are deathbuckets, i.e -- no floordoards, no firewalls, 20+ aged salvage yard tires, halved steering wheels, ect.

Please take a close look at some of the feature cars in Paisano Publications, LLC - Home of Easyriders

RebelRodz... RatRodz... these should be called death rods!!!

 

[TheAntiBoyd]

I used to be a regular on the OlSkoolRodz website. They've come around some...but the majority discuss things l;ike where to salvage old bolts, how to apply rustoleum with a foam roller and how its not a real hotrod if it has disc brakes and seatbelts. No thanks.

Back to suspensions:
I have some VERY old friction shocks that look NOTHING like whats in the catalogs these days. these have much thicker parts and I think 3 or 4 layers of rubber. My grand dad said that back in the day they'd use a piece of the sidewall from an old tire when they rebuilt them and tighten the bejesus out of them. They still didnt work worth a damn LOL. The only reason they didnt use hyd shocks in his day (hes 92) is because they didnt have them readily available, not because they didnt like em.

 

[mr27t]

I don't mind the look of the RatRods. most are actually really kwel looking. what bothers me is that most of the RatRods are built using everything from nuts bolts, hardware and major components that has been salvaged from scrap yards and most of these items are beyond there serviceable limitations.

There is a kid (22y) up the block from me with a true RatRod! He has an old pair of vice grips clamped onto a bar that is linked to his brake master cylinder. No floorboards or firewall anywhere in the car. He drove up to my place in it once with his young wife (19y) and newborn child sitting in her lap. No seat belts, a board laid accost the frame rails with some foam on top for a seat. no back rest. His wife has one foot resting on the top of the trans bell housing and the other foot resting on top of the frame and rail leaned up against the back of the engine block. If her foot slipped of and fell to the ground at speed, both her and their child are as good as dead. A piece of rope and a stick used like a tourniquet to hold the doors closed.

I looked him straight in the eye and asked him if he loved his wife and child. There is now way I would even think of putting something like that together. Then drive it... even worse, have my wife and child riding in it with me.

There is not a reason he could give to possibly explain the intentional neglect of safety of any kind in this car. Why not have a nice piece of plywood to build a floor and firewall into the car, A sheet of plywood... $20! There is no reason to use a pair of vice grips as a brake pedal, $5 to torch out a 3/8" steel arm to link up his brake pedal. At the very least, a pair of lawn chairs mounted down could be used for seats.

Years ago, Honda Motorcycles had an add slogan written on the back side of a band-aid that read "Stupid Hurts".

It's car builders like this guy that gets people killed and make all of us that are doing what we can to build a safe reliable hotrod look bad!

A hot rod is just that, Like my grand father built his hotrod, He used the best pieces that he could find and or afford. His car didn't need any chrome of fancy paint... It had to be safe, reliable, run well and offer all the enjoyment of driving and cruising around as possible.

My Father still has Granddads ol hotrod and it is nothing like what these RatRodders portray to be the "OL skool" way of hot rodding.

 

[TheAntiBoyd]

Agreed...boy if I was a jerk, I might think about calling the sheriffs dept about his "car"

Anyway, harmonics have a funny way of coming and going. If you dont run any sort of dampener...well something weird might put you in the ditch. My firebird has a wird buzzing at around 90mph...I had my friend get in the back and crawl around looking for it (dandy excuse for my "Smokey and the Bandit 3" impression in my black n gold 80s Trans Am --east bound n down)...Answer? speaker grill was vibrating, only around 80mph.

 

[mr27t]

I spent the day with my T-Bucket today, I got the front tires inflated to 30 psig. (no bouncy bouncy)- Caster is set to 2-3 degrees- I am running radials so I set toe-out at 1/16". Took it out on the highway and it drove nice and smooth, a slight bounce (hardly noticeable) at 60 mph. It appeared right at 60 mph and then it was gone. I took it up to the California highway speed, 70 mph and it was nice and smooth, steering is tight and responsive.

I then got a bit braver and ran with the pace of traffic... interstate 15 on a Holiday weekend returning trafic from Las Vegas to LA- 90 mph AND I WAS STILL GETTING PASSED ON BOTH SIDES!!! It still drove nice and smooth, steering remained nice and solid.

That 60 mph bobble (very slight, hardly noticeable) got under my skin so I'm going to put my shocks back on it tomorrow.

 

[LumenAl]

...That 60 mph bobble (very slight, hardly noticeable) got under my skin so I'm going to put my shocks back on it tomorrow...

Good Move!

 

[Todd]

I then got a bit braver and ran with the pace of traffic... interstate 15 on a Holiday weekend returning trafic from Las Vegas to LA- 90 mph AND I WAS STILL GETTING PASSED ON BOTH SIDES!!! It still drove nice and smooth, steering remained nice and solid.

You people are nucking futs!:crap:

 

[Ted Brown]

A bit nutty, yes we are all a bit nutty for even driving these type of Rods, but life is short and they bring your blood up enough to let you know you are still alive.. But, things CAN happen in a split second, and not really fun when it does.. So now I resist the temptation to show off, as there is no real reason to race anybody, no one can beat a fairly good running T in the first place... Well let me take that back, once rolling and up to normal speed, any late model hotty stock or not, can and probably will give any hotrod a real good run, only they are the safer of the two at high speed.. Heck, I have to hold my Windshield glass from blowing in at 125 plus, it was scary the first time (and last!) I did that crazy stunt.. So let the racers do their own thing, smile knowing you COULD do them, but don't choose to. More fun that way... and not as many tickets either.. hehe

 

[mr27t]

You people are nucking futs!:dummy:

90 mph for many of these morons ain't nothing to them. I like to keep it around 70-75 mph on the highway (California highway speed limit is 70) no matter what vehical I'm driving. I've been on the road running at 70-75 mph and I have been past by these LA freaks running easily 100+ mph in there BMW's or Mercedes.

Once I got past by what looked like a red Fararri... I was just going by a small township called Baker driving my Silverado pick-up at about 70 mph. This red thing, I believe it was a Fararri but I really could not tell because it flew past me so fast that I could not get a good look at it.

These people are nuts out here on the roads so I tend to stay to the right lane and just let them roll on by. Durring a holliday weekend it is not uncommon for these fools to pass in the emergency lane on the right side of the far fight lane, It has been done to me more done than a few times.

 

[LumenAl]

Hey Mr27T...

You going to do the 101 Fun Run? Sure would love to see your car! :dummy:

 

[mr27t]

June 5 - 6, Escondido- it's marked on my calendar and I fully intend on attending!!! I want to do the 101 Fun Run and Fred's Fun Run in Tucson, AZ. November sometime.

I have a few things that I want to clean up and fix up on my T-Bucket, It's a driver not a trailer queen so it gets a beat up pretty good. It's weird but it seems that it gets beat up worse than any other car on the road, LOL!!!