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Front end shuffle

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MarkA

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Hi Everyone,

I just finished working on the front end of my BJ8. Everything is new and tight. I replaced all bushings, ball joints, side rods, king pin stuff, bearings, hubs, wheels, and tires. I rebuilt the idler. Shocks were done by Peter. The steering box has a small amount of play, but is very minimal at center. I am running new 60 spoke Daytons with new tires I just received from <an undisclosed vendor>.

At 55 mph, I get a wobble in the front end that goes away at 65 mph. I thought that I would not have any problems like this! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mark
 
Hi Mark, my first quetion is was the "shuffle" there before you made all the changes and has the front end been properly aligned ?---Keoke
 
Having a similar problem I took my wire wheels (new 48 spoke) and tires to a local shop. They said the wheels weren't true. Sent them to Hendrix Wire Wheel to be trued. Problem fixed for mucho $$'s!
 
I did pretty much the same rebuild that you did but several years ago. The problem went away went I replaced the REAR wheels & tires. I could have saced a lot of money by replacing the rear two wheels & tires first.
Patrick
 
Keoke,
The shuffle was there before, but only after hitting a bump in the road. I found that the front shocks were loose and I had a bad side rod. I attributed most of the shuffle to those problems. But, I never had the shuffle happen only with speed, it always took something to excite it. I will check the alignment again. I set the toe-in to 1/8" when on jacks and hadn't rechecked it yet since sitting on the wheels... my bad!

Randy,
BWW did the mounting and balancing... with chrome weights!

Stretch,
The wheels are all new. BWW said that they did not need any further truing. And since I bought tubless rims, they said it would require resealing the rims for nothing.

Patrick,
Interesting story. I had the drums balanced and turned. The machinist trued them to the inset that the axles sit in. But when I put it all together, spinning the right rear has a pulsating rubbing of the shoes when the left side doesn't (which it shouldn't). I assumed that he turned it off center, which also means he balanced it on the same off-center point. It just felt like it was a problem in the front...

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all of the help I get from this forum.
Mark
 
Update...

I exchanged the front and rears this weekend and the problem traveled with the wheels/tires for the most part. My next step is to have them checked for balance and roundness.

Mark
 
Final update...

Well, the wheels/tires were not properly balanced when I received them. One of them had no weights on it at all and it was the one with the worst bounce... I had all of them rebalanced at, of all places, Discount Tire. They had the correct cones for the new Daytons. I took them the loose wheels since I did not want them to deal with the knock-offs. They were very careful with the splines when handling the wheels. It took them a couple of times (i.e., visits) to get it right. The first guy did not tighten the cones enough to center the wheels correctly. I now have a smooth ride at all speeds and not just at 90 MPH!

Mark
 
Hi Mark, Just now reading your post. Glad you go it all ironed out. that can be a frustrating problem sometimes. I wanted to memtion that it has always been my understanding that wheel alignment adjustments and measurements must be done with the cars weight on the wheels. I,ve made adjustments on the rack and found a big difference when put on the ground.
Dave C.
 
Yep, I saw the same thing. The toe-in varies greatly with suspension travel. 5/8" difference between full extension and normal ride height.

Mark
 
MarkA said:
Yep, I saw the same thing. The toe-in varies greatly with suspension travel. 5/8" difference between full extension and normal ride height.

Mark
Click to expand...
That's what's referred to as "bump steer".
Jeff
 
I had the same problem. Balancing the rear brake drums helped a lot. Still have some shake occasionally but manageable.
 
I still have some slight shuffle around 55-60 mph. But, it takes some road bumps to start it and then it usually stops. But, everything is better than it was before I started on the front end project. Those grooves in the freeways out my way really throw the car around some times.

Mark
 
Mark, when you mentioned that the grooves in the Highway throw the car around, I have found that sometimes wider tires than original specification will do that depending on the tread pattern and footprint siloette. Although i don't believe that would contribute to a shake or shimmy or vibration just because of width.
 
I guess that my car must have been set up like that as well, just noticed that the inside edges of the front tyres had excessive wear, probably brought in by my recent use doing 1000 fast mile in a week, had the tracking checked and it was nearly half an inch out.

Bob
 
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