Thread: Front end wobble

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Okay,
Here is my dilema and I am sure someone out there has had this problem. I have a 23 T bucket and just recently have encountered tire wobble that keeps me from driving the car. It was sudden and this is what confuses me. Here is what the items may be. Bearings, steering box, front end alignment, king pins. Any other ideas on how to knowck this out, without spending alot of money would be helpful.
Thanks
Mac Daddy

First question to ask: Did this just start and was it running OK before then? If so, the next question is "what have you changed recently?" Did you change back tires, adjust something, change air pressure, or ???

Does this happen at a certain speed?

Did you bump a curb recently or hit a pothole?

It's called "Death Wobble" and as the name implies, it will scare the bejesus out of you when it happens. My T never did it from the start, but all of a sudden one day I kicked it to go through a light and the front end went nuts. I tightened everything down with an impact, checked my alignment, reset my toe in, and it went away. But at about 70 MPH I now see the front tires starting to slightly hop and I am afraid it is going to return. My plan is to have my front tires rebalanced and check to see if my front shocks are dampening.

My Son had a very serious problem with his T right from the git go. It was so bad we were afraid to drive it. We went back to square one and found his wheelbase was off by 9/16 on one side. His caster was also about 10 degrees and we set it back to 6, his toe in was 3/16 and we put it at 1/16. He also had a bent rim on the back that Coker exchanged which got rid of the hop he was having.

But the biggest offender was his front brakes. We bought an all chrome GM disc brake setup and Mickey from Total Performance told us we wouldn't like it. He was right. It had too much rotating mass and the slightest bump would set the front end off. We replaced the entire front setup with Wilwood discs that weight about 1/4 as much . All of those changes seem to have cured it because he took it out for a test run and really got on it with no problems at all.

Here are the things that can contribute to the problem:

1) Worn parts like kingpin bushings.

2) Loose wheel bearings.

3) Improper toe in (or in some cases, toe OUT.......some cars like toe out)

4) Too much or too little caster.

5) Worn or imbalanced tires.

6) Weak or ineffectual shocks.

7) Axles not being square to the frame.

I would say to start with making sure there is no slop in anything, including kingpins. Then check and recheck your toe in. Then have your tires spin balanced on a sophisticated tire machine, not one like Tire Kingdom uses. I am going to try to find a shop that spins the entire rotating assembly, brake drum and all to do my T.

If the car never did it before but started doing it I would suspect the tires first and worn parts second. You and I are not alone with this problem, if you do a search on the HAMB you will see hundreds of posts of people also having the same problem. Some suggest adding one of those dampers that go between the axle and tie rod, but I can't use them on our T's.

Good luck,

Don

check the bolts on the steering box...

MM64

Oh yeah, that reminded me, also adjust the nut on your steering box that is there to take up wear. Ours are new boxes but they still had too much play in them.

Don

To all that gave me there thoughts, I thank you. Here is some info. I went to a car show on saturday and when I went out Sunday it started, totally blew me away. I had not changed anything, or hit anything. I think I had 28 lbs of air in the front tires as it gives me a little better ride. The car has no shocks on the front. this started at take off, maybe it is when the weight shifts as I do take off kida quick, the Mrs does not like that too much. Here are the thoughts after everyone gave me their thought. I am going to replace the king pins and bearings, get the tires spin balanced to make sure. Lastly get the car checked for four wheel alignment. What does everyone think on this plan?

Having no front shocks is one big contributor, I think. You need to have the dampening action to keep the tires from starting to bounce. When you are getting on it the front end becomes lighter and the tires can bounce easier. Why don't you have shocks on it?


Don

When I purchased the car 5 years ago it did not have shocks and the wobble. THis started suddenly. I understand that having shocks would steady the front end and the steering damper as well. Just have to do with what I have. Thanks Itoldyouso. Will try and post some pics of the ride soon.

Yep, pictures would help. My '27 developed a little case of this after driving it for a couple of years, what cured it was new front tires and going to 1/8 inch toe out. Maybe your tires are not helping the situation either.

Don

I guess I was lucky and never had the "death wobble" on my Total T possibly because I moved the 351W SB Ford 4" ahead of the designed Chebbie location and changed the front - rear weight ratio. I did do a few significant changes to the steering after the first year - I dumped Mickey's cheap clevis tie rod and drag link system with the flimsy 3/4" tubing and went with a standard tie rod end and a 7/8" tie rod and drag link. It was a fair amount of work but really nicely tightened up the limp steering. The most expensive part was that @#$% $75 used for 3 holes reamer to modify the steering and pitman arms now collecting dust in my tool box.

If it's aTotal chassis and using his steering column, you might also look at the collar at the steering gear end - they do split into two pieces - I've seen this three times, including mine