Egg like wobble
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 231
Likes: 341
From: Croatia
Egg like wobble
Yesterday I was enjoying my almost fully rebuilt C3 (1979. L82). I came to rail crossing driving 20 over it. Car shaked like expected due to uneven road surface and mini bumps and humps. All of a sudden car started wobbling up and down like I had eggs instead of wheels. Panic caused me to slam the brakes and everything came back to normal. I tried again with same speed over the same stretch of road, nothing, tried burnout, nothing, tried violent braking nothing… it wasn’t bad suspension like feeling when car just swings up and down. It literally felt like one wheel became undone, like i had… well, again… eggs instead of wheels. Wheel nuts checked, new rear shocks installed, oil and additive changed in differential, new and rebuilt brakes, calipers and master cylinder done last weekend. No play in bearings or rear axles as far as I can tell.
any ideas?
any ideas?
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 104
Likes: 64
From: Southern New England USA
In the jeep world we call it the death wobble. Driving along, hit a crack or pothole and violence starts. Jeep (old ones) has weak link items in the steering that wear (kingpins, drag link, pitman arm, steering box). Troubleshooting starts with checks of wheel balance, alignment, bearings, all steering links, arms, steering gear etc. Different parts with the Corvette but same idea.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,720
Likes: 1,636
From: Summerville SC
Check your tires. I had a dodge Nitro that had the same problem and it eventually went to 3 of the 4 tires. It seemed that the belts were separating inside the tire and air was getting in-between the belts. You could actually see it once the tire was off the car. Check that before you start tearing things up. 
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 231
Likes: 341
From: Croatia
Tires are brand new and alignment was done a month ago professionally with lasers and stuff. So death wobble you say… The only part of the car that hasn’t been rebuilt is steering system. I was thinking of doing the Borgeson upgrade. It seams it has just jumped on list of priorities.
I’d really like to understand the physics of it though. Beeing a biker all my life I get it on bikes but on cars… How the hell can that happen on a car?
I’d really like to understand the physics of it though. Beeing a biker all my life I get it on bikes but on cars… How the hell can that happen on a car?
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 1,560
Likes: 568
From: Wisconsin
Tires are brand new and alignment was done a month ago professionally with lasers and stuff. So death wobble you say… The only part of the car that hasn’t been rebuilt is steering system. I was thinking of doing the Borgeson upgrade. It seams it has just jumped on list of priorities.
I’d really like to understand the physics of it though. Beeing a biker all my life I get it on bikes but on cars… How the hell can that happen on a car?
I’d really like to understand the physics of it though. Beeing a biker all my life I get it on bikes but on cars… How the hell can that happen on a car?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 231
Likes: 341
From: Croatia
Just saw couple of clips on yt and I can confirm it was definitely a death wobble. It’s nice to know how one self will act under stress. In any case my pitman arm joint is not the best and rag joint is I guess the same one that factory fitted. I’ll redo those as well.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
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Instructor
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 121
Likes: 27
From: Poconos
Just saw couple of clips on yt and I can confirm it was definitely a death wobble. It’s nice to know how one self will act under stress. In any case my pitman arm joint is not the best and rag joint is I guess the same one that factory fitted. I’ll redo those as well.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,292
Likes: 1,578
From: Western NY
My first car, as a newly graduated, but broke-assed high schooler, was a 5 year old Chevy Corvair. It demonstrated the "egg walk" if I encountered any ripples in the road. Turned out to be a bad, lower front ball joint.