Posted by Keith in Washington on Friday, August 15, 2003 at 2:04PM :
In Reply to: Wobble of wheel- 1948 PW I need Help posted by Curt Horbas of Kewaskum WI on Friday, August 15, 2003 at 9:44AM :
Several people have given you some good suggestions. However you just need to check a lot more than what has been suggested so far. Basically start at the steering wheel and work downward from there. There are some simple tasks to make sure that your steering system and front end is tight. Any slop in the front end will be accentuated by the large tires that these trucks have and a slight unbalance can really set things off. When I started with my WC53 Carryall it just about shook itself apart about 30mph. Now it is as smooth as can be and I have never balanced the tires. Here is a list to check
1) Steering wheel nut tight
2) Steer box to frame bolts tight.
3) Steering box adjusted correctly No slop.
4) Pitman Arm to steering box bolt tight and no movement between two.
5) Drag link ends tight and adjusted. These wear out. VPW has replacements. Make sure that there is no slop here.
6) Check 4 bolts that connect steering arm to knuckle. Mine loosened up and I was getting a major shimmy until tightened. It felt like the front end was falling off.
7) Check Knuckle piviot bearings/bushings. Adjust with shims and replace worn parts. Both right and left side.
8) Check ball joints at the end of the tie rod. Make sure bolts are tight and that there is no movement (slop) in the ball joint. VPW has replacements.
9) Check wheel bearings making sure that there is no slop. Be sure to also check brake backing plate bolts.
10) Check spring shackles and all bushings and pins. Wear in these can cause slop in the front end and allow a slight tire imbalance to become quite intense.
11) Check tire balance.
12) Check tire inflation.
13) Check for tire roundness especially in bias ply tires. Cold bias ply tires will quickly show any slop in you front end/steering.
I have listed a lot of things to check. The key point is to get your front end nice and tight and remove all the slop from the system. Obviously your tires need to be balanced and somewhat true. Even with well balanced tires if the front end is sloppy imperfections in the road can set up a shimmy/vibration in the front end which you will feel.
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