• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Shaking/Vibration On TR3A!!!

Share this page

Q

Quelch

Member
Offline
Hello Everyone,
Well I finally got my 1959 TR3A out for a test drive a couple of days ago after a complete restoration. Noticed that I was getting a side to side shaking/vibration between about 57 to 63 MPH. I was thinking this might be a prop shaft balancing issue. The prop shaft has had new universal joints installed and has been re-assempled (with arrows in alignment)
Has anyone else had simular issues or had a prop shaft balanced?
Can the prop shaft be removed without removing the gearbox tunnel cover?
 
My first thought: old steel wheels.

I had a 45 to 55 mph vibration back when I ran my TR3 with the original steel wheels. Tires were new and balanced as much as possible. Someone here suggested I check the wheels (the original steel wheels) for "true".

They weren't!

I got four new wheels and the vibration completely disappeared. I didn't change or adjust anything else.

Not saying this is your problem - but I'd start there.

Easy to check wheels for "true" - let us know if you need help.

Tom
 
:iagree:

The steel wheels on TRs seem to be prone to developing excessive run out. Even slight brushes with the curb have been known to bend them enough to cause vibration problems. There have been many guys in our Triumph club ditch the steelies because of this.

It's definitely the right place to start looking.
 
:iagree:

X3. Went away on the one I had when I put Minilite replicas on it. Never could find anyone willing to true the disc wheels, but I had them repainted for shows; went with the car when I sold it.
 
Thanks for the comments. Steel wheels can be oliminated as I have fitted new Dayton wire wheels and all front & rear suspension has been overhauled! It's a side to side shaking, I read on the internet that this can be caused by an out of balance prop shaft , that's why I'm leaning in that direction
 
Great - you've already completed "step one"!

I found this from Randall (TR3Driver) in an earlier post:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]If you disassemble the splined joint in the driveshaft, it's important that it be phased properly when you put it back together. Otherwise you can get a strange vibration at speed.

Correct phasing is when the two U-joint yokes attached to the driveshaft lie in the same plane.

This is mentioned in the original factory service manual (along with advice to mark before disassembly, if no marks are present).[/QUOTE]

Tom
 
Can the prop shaft be removed without removing the gearbox tunnel cover? [/quote]

To my surprise, the description of the process in the Haynes manual says you can do this from underneath.
As long as you put the shaft back together with the front and rear yokes aligned, I vote for the wheels as your problem. Try moving the rear wheels to the front and vice versa and see if it makes any difference in how you sense the vibration. I assume all 4 are balanced.
 
Wire wheels can cause a shake also I think the rear shocks getting loose can be some. One shock had the link replaced and the shaking went away. There have been time when I have remove a wheel and after putting it back on the shake was more noticed. The postion of the wheel on the spline hub do the balance of the wheel and the balance of the brake drum or disc. If you can fine someone who can spin balance on the car this should take care of that.
 
I have to agree with all the others here who say "look at the wheels first." Your description of symptoms don't sound like drive shaft, and they do sound like wheels. You also mentioned that you "aligned the arrows" on the drive shaft, so u-joint phasing is not likely the problem.

Have you re-checked the toe-in adjustment? Misalignment there can contribute to what you've described. I would reexamine all the front end and wheel things before dropping the drive shaft -- which <span style="font-style: italic">can</span> be dropped without removing the trans tunnel. But, having done it both ways, my opinion is that removing the trans tunnel is, by far, the easier method.
 
just out of curiosity ...

As he has *new* wire wheels, is there a possibility that those wheels (and tires) might still need balancing, truing, and spoke tuning?

Tom
 
NutmegCT said:
As he has *new* wire wheels, is there a possibility that those wheels and tires still need balancing and spoke tuning?
Click to expand...

Yes, especially if the tires weren't balanced properly. The majority of tire shops don't have the equipment to balance them properly.
balance5.jpg

https://www.mossmotors.com/SiteGraphics/Pages/balance_wire_wheels.html

And even new wire wheels can need some attention to keep them running true. The factory trues them, of course, but they should be re-trued after a few hundred miles.
https://www.hendrixwirewheel.com/wirewheels.html

It is also quite possible to get brand-new tires that are defective and do not roll true under load.

I have removed a TR3A driveshaft without pulling the tunnel, but it was a long time ago and all I remember for sure was that it was a hassle. However, one way to check the balance while on the car is to wrap a big worm-screw type hose clamp around the shaft and see if that makes the problem better or worse. The screw acts as a balancing weight. Then try it again with the screw located at each 90 degrees around the shaft. If the shaft was balanced to begin with, it will be equally worse at each location (or at least no better). But if you find a "sweet spot" where the vibration goes down, the shaft was out of balance.

The hose clamp is actually a reasonably permanent solution (and you can add a second one if necessary).

Another point is that vibration caused by an out-of-balance drive shaft will be substantially higher frequency than that caused by bent wheels. The driveshaft turns roughly 4 times faster than the wheels. If you can feel the car moving from side to side (a waddle rather than just a shake), then the problem is almost certainly wheels or tires or hubs.

FWIW, the brand new brake rotors I put on my TR3 were substantially out of balance, right out of the box. I tried drilling them to improve the balance, which helped a lot, but now I think the rotors are warping. I'll likely be installing rotors from a different vendor, as soon as I finish dealing with the problems in the rear end.
 
Thanks again for all the input. For the record there is no vibration or shaking coming up through the steering column itself. What I'm getting is a side to side shaking of the whole car between 57 to 63 MPH. Wheels were all balanced a couple of weeks age & I also checked the new wire wheels with a clock indicator before the tyres were mounted, all were well within limits.
 
Was the reinforcing cross-tube re-installed during the restoration ? This is the one that spans between the front suspension turrets. Many former owners had them removed and never put them back.
 

Attachments

  • 28922.jpg
    28922.jpg
    14.5 KB · Views: 212
Thanks Bob, Not as yet. I certainly have enough to be going on with for a while.
Thanks again everyone for all your input.
 
Something that might be worth trying : swap front and rear tire/wheel assemblies. If the problem changes character, likely it is a tire/wheel problem.
 
Quelch said:
Thanks Bob, Not as yet. I certainly have enough to be going on with for a while.
Thanks again everyone for all your input.
Click to expand...
Hi Quelch,
I have the same shake left right left right, rebuild the whole front end at the moment for the second/third time, everything is mounted thight and correct but still no difference! Help!
Did you solve the issue?
Alexander
 
Quelch hasn't been around for about 8 years.

Shaking is not suspension. The possibilities are either drive shaft, tranny, engine...which will be a very high frequency vibration and only at higher speeds, or wheels and tires...which will be a much lower frequency and can happen at any speed.
 
In my experience vibrations at 55MPH are almost always TIRES. Flat spots from setting or
belts slipping inside the shell from age. Side to side wiggle is often a dry rear shock.
Bet you one of my finest home brews.
Mad dog
 
Back
Top