Vibration at around 60mph
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
Likes: 1,028
My 68 had a vibration coming from the rear. So after checking things out, I swapped the wheels front to back. Now the vibration is in front!
A manager at a tire store told me it is entirely possible for a new tire to slip along the rim before the bead takes hold, which could throw the balance off. This could be the case also
A manager at a tire store told me it is entirely possible for a new tire to slip along the rim before the bead takes hold, which could throw the balance off. This could be the case also
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
Likes: 6,391
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
In my 71 455 HO Ram Air Judge, with 500 ft/lbs of torque and a set of slicks at 15 psi, I have been able to rotate my slicks on the rims about 1/2" by dumping the clutch at 5500 rpm and pulling the left front tire off the ground. There is no way you can do that on street tires...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
Likes: 1,028
Thank you Lars. When we were kids drag racing, we used to put sheet metal screws thru our mags into the slicks, but only on our 502 Hemi. We did not bother on anything less than Bracket 2. Oh to be young again.................
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
From the speed range you are talking I support the Wheel Balance Gang. I had the same problem and the steering wheel almost ripped out of my hand at anything over 60mph. Re-balancing fixed it. I have also had bad U-joints but they have never caused the car to shake, the noises just scare the hell out of ya.
When the driveshaft U-joint in my old pickup went, actually a cap broke, and it slid out of position sideways...I couldn't feel anything wrong under 30 MPH. It had happened en route, and turned onto a large 50 MPH road. As soon as I hit 30, the truck started vibrating badly. I stopped accelerating around 35, and started to slow down. It got worse on the deceleration and stopped when I got to 20 again. I would imagine it being so far off center caused the horrid vibrations that shook the truck to pieces. A U-joint that is still on center but bad enough to be unbalanced would cause vibrations like that at high speeds.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,270
Likes: 20
From: Central Michigan
I guess that's possible but that's his business(knew him personally, it IS possible
).I ain't about to dispute Lars(read your tuning info and tuned my car accordingly, thanks!), so you guys win
Durangoboy-Some years ago I had a pickup that started shaking similar to the way you describe. I got underneath and tried to twist the driveshaft by hand, it seemed OK. Then a mechanic told me to take the U-joints out and check them. I did, and found one cup had spit out most of the needles. There were just enough needles inside to hold the U-joint in place, until a certain amount of torque was applied. New U-joint, end of problem, lesson learned
Interesting to see how this turns out.....
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