And Now... A Shimmy!

[Bruzilla]

I swear to God... I cannot catch a ******* break with this damn Roadrunner! I get all the engine and electrical issues fixed, and Friday it starts this damn left-right shimmy from the front end. It's shaking so bad the exhaust pipes are banging into ****!

I checked the ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, and everything is nice and tight, but the damn thing shakes like something is loose but I'll be damned if I can see what it is.

 

[BeeKool]

Possibly Tires broken belt/un-balanced.
If your wheels are all identical. Rotate the back to front see if that changes.

I feel your pain. Some vehicles are just plain mean to their owners

 

[1967coronet440]

Gotta be the tires if everything else in the front end checks out... not properly balanced maybe? What tires are you running.

 

[brian6pac]

lower control arm bushings? Are they new.

 

[khryslerkid]

Did you ever get rid of the play in your steering?

 

[Fran Blacker]

What was with the e carb. Alignment of front end?

 

[Bruzilla]

Did you ever get rid of the play in your steering?

Nope. I added some toe in to make the car track better, but the play is still there.

 

[Bruzilla]

What was with the e carb. Alignment of front end?

No idea. I tore it all apart, reset the floats, replaced all the gaskets, polished the needles and seats, and somewhere along the line it started working again.

 

[khryslerkid]

Nope. I added some toe in to make the car track better, but the play is still there.

Any play can give you a shimmy. Giving it some toe in probably brought the shimmy out in it that wasn't there before.

 

[brian6pac]

My friend 69 barracuda did the same thing he shook
the whole front end down and found nothing. I told him to have a friend start it up and turn the wheel right and left while he was under it and look at everything and take a good look at the lower arm bushings, they are very hard to get a good look at. He said they looked like they were moving but they are rubber. So he took it apart and he said they were so bad that the pin was rubbing on the outer sleeve the rubber was gone on the inside. He even looked at them with a mirror and said they looked good. If it has a lot of miles on it or if they are original I bet that is the problem seen it so many times, if every thing else is tight stop wasting your time giving it more toe trying this or that.

 

[YY1]

I'd look at the tires if it's that bad.

Whatever they are making them out of (chinese rubber?) doesn't last nearly as long as it used to.

I've had name brand tires go bay after just 2 years, and even some that busted belts sitting in storage.

In fact, I've been plagued with busted belts lately.

between my daily, my wife's car, and my classics, I've had four go bad in the last year.

 

[747mopar]

Just start eliminating every possible cause one at a time starting with having the tires rebalanced and looked over, the steering tightened up and an alignment. The gearboxes can be tightened up easily provided it's not to badly worn or has bad bearings. Also a lot of the parts will feel tight under load but that doesn't necessarily mean they are like bushings. With these old cars a front end rebuild is almost always a must with the rubber deteriorating over the years.

I installed a complete poly kit and replaced every wear item in mine and let me tell you it feels nice upfront.

 

[miller]

You need to fix the play in your steering!!!

 

[YY1]

How old are the tires?

Did they sit a long time in one spot?

Due to the rapid onset- I suspect either a busted belt, or something that happened when the toe was adjusted.

Busted belt should be fairly apparent, especially by removing the wheel and rolling it in front of you while looking for a bulge or separated tread.

If the steering wheel moves, it's in front. If the rear sways like a woman walking, it's in the rear!

 

[Ranger16]

If the shimmy is as bad as you describe and it is a tire (which I would also suspect), it should be very obvious by jacking up one wheel at a time a spinning it.

I just went through this last summer. Had a belt separate on a BFG T/A Radial a hundred miles from home. When the tire was dismounted at Discount Tire, the tread looked like a big S, but even mounted and under pressure it was easily detectable.

 

[brian6pac]

I swear to God... I cannot catch a ******* break with this damn Roadrunner! I get all the engine and electrical issues fixed, and Friday it starts this damn left-right shimmy from the front end. It's shaking so bad the exhaust pipes are banging into ****!

I checked the ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, and everything is nice and tight, but the damn thing shakes like something is loose but I'll be damned if I can see what it is.

Reply to the very first post!!
I'm sure Bruzilla has checked the basic stuff as he said and I sure he's not stupid, Yep it could very well be a tire, I have had a tire that looked great no bulge, tread looked new, but had a broken belt that you only felt when there was a load on it. Do as beekool said and move to back if it goes with it it's the tire if not keep looking, where is the play, in the box? Is it manual or power?

 

[Bruzilla]

Yep... bad tire, or one part of a tire going bad. Passenger front had about 6" of area where the tire was going bad.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Thanks for update .

 

[khryslerkid]

They don't make them like they use too!

I had one separate on me, just overnight. Felt like a loose wheel coming off.

Glad you found it Bru!