• 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

whats causing my SCUTTLE SHAKE !!!!

Share this page

D

Donny_L

Jedi Trainee
Offline
MY 61 ah3000 starts shaking bad when I hit 65mph. So far I've changed the front sway bar bushings, topped off shock oil. I plan on re-packing the front bearings next. Any other suggestions? I'm trying to do the least expensive and easiest ideas first because I have limitd funds and even less know how. LOL ! sad but true
 
This will require that you replace the king pin bushes..

First a removal tool will be require to remove and replace the bushes.

Next a dual adjustable reamer will be required to ream the bushes to the correct size and keep them aligned.

Alternatively two piloted adjustable reamer can be used here,

Adjustable reamers are required because the king pins even if new have slightly but significant different diameters side to side

If you choose to send the work out to a shop make sure they have the proper tools to do this job.---Keoke
 
Lift the front of the car by jacking under both spring plates. You want the springs compressed to about normal ride conditions. See if you can detect play anywhere in the steering components. Push tires and check for play in wheel bearings, king pins, tie rod ends, steering box (wheels straight forward). Helps to have someone hold the steering wheel. Absent any appreciable play your wire wheels probably aren't true. A relatively inexpensive dynamic balance will detect wheel problems.
 
Donny--

I may be stating the obvious but make sure your wheels are well-balanced.
 
The most inexpensive checks...as you asked: jack up one front wheel, spin
the tire and check for side to side wobble by watching the center tread groove.
If you have a gauge or pointer great. Next check for up and down tire travel
by spinning the tire and holding a pointer against the tire to see if it goes up and down. If you have either movement more than 1/8 In. tire or wheel is out
of Spec. Repeat with other 3 tires. If all is OK, find a wheel tire shop that can spin ballance them on the car. Regular balance machines do not have the proper cones and spacers to do the job, trust me on this. This procedure should solve the problem as wheels and tires are usually the cause. Hendrix Wire Wheel are THE guys, however with shipping and labor, not a choice on a limited budget.
 
How old are your tires? I spent a lot of time and money truing, balancing, and aligning wheels with no real effect on the shake. Then I bought new radials, that made all the difference.

The tires I had on before were old but had great tread and looked fine. Apparently they had internal problems, perhaps caused by being parked a lot? Dunno, but I would consider new tires first before replacing wheels, front end parts, etc.

Good luck!
 
To learn how to read your tires date codes.. go to www.hendrixwirewheel.com
Click on tech tip page and then click on ( READ TIRE DATES )
This will give you the week and year they were made. If it has only 3 numbers instead of 4 they were made in the last centery and are over 11 years old. If they have 4 numbers they were made in this centery. Wheelguy
 
It’s nice reinforcement when you find your thoughts being entertained by others and I agree that each, or any combination, could cause your problem. One missing, however, is wheel alignment. The effects of excessive toe in or out will show up more aggressively at speed when the front end lightens. Before everything, I would suggest you do a quick check on your alignment. If you have any question how, check the archives “Austin Healey Toe in adjustment”, as there was an extensive discussion on this topic.

Good luck,
Ray (64BJ8P1)
 
I have found that toe in set as close to 0 degrees as possible is best for daily driving. Plus or minus a 1/16th of a inch. Wheelguy
 
Donny, I see someone asked how old your tires were. I was thinking that too after reading one of your posts saying the car had sat for 35 yrs. ( If I read it right). Were it my car I would raise the front wheels off the ground and spin each by hand as fast as I could too see if any of the four had a hop or side to side drift to it. If you find any, balancing probably won't help. Don't cost nuthin' . If the tires need replacing , don't waste your money putting new tires and tubes on old wheels that are worn out and unsafe and /or the drive splines are worn out. Good luck , Kevin
 
Thanks guys, the tires and tubes are pretty new. After doing some of the other hands on tests w/ the help of a friend,I'm going to go ahead and order king pin set W/ all the little pieces that come with. Also trunion bushings,A arm bushings and the rebound buffers. what do ya think???
 
I think you headed in the right direction now----Keoke-- :laugh:
 
Scuttel shake has nothing to do with worn king pins. If your king pins are badly worn you will have what is called "shimmy" and your steering wheel will be shaking like crazy and your front wheels will be flopping around.
The general rule of thumb is that if your steering wheel shakes it is your front end that is loose. If you feel the shaking in your butt, then back end is loose. However, scuttle shake in a Healey is kind of a hybrid. I suggest that you balance your rear brake drums first before you go spending lots of money on front end procedures.
 
ALWAYS..ALWAYS..ALWAYS. Get your wheels,tires and drums set up perfect by a expert FIRST. NOT at the corner Exxon station. That will eliminate the biggest cause of scuttle shake. Then you can head inward if needed. Rebuilding your whole front end is putting the cart before the horse.. Wheelguy R.Allen Hendrix
 
Scuttel shake has nothing to do with worn king pins



--------------------------- :shocked:

------------------------------------------Keoke :laugh:
 
BoyRacer said:
Scuttel shake has nothing to do with worn king pins. If your king pins are badly worn you will have what is called "shimmy" and your steering wheel will be shaking like crazy and your front wheels will be flopping around.
The general rule of thumb is that if your steering wheel shakes it is your front end that is loose. If you feel the shaking in your butt, then back end is loose. However, scuttle shake in a Healey is kind of a hybrid. I suggest that you balance your rear brake drums first before you go spending lots of money on front end procedures.
Click to expand...
I agree!! I bought new wheels and tires it took some shake/shimmy away but it wasn't until I bought new tires & wheels that most os the shake/shimmy went away. Now, 30 years later, I went through the whole process again with tires, etc. but it wasn't until I had the drums balanced that the shake/shimmy went all away. With king pins replaced and new tires/wheels there wasn't much of an improvement. The back area made most of my improvement. Swap a set of wheels & tires with a known good car and see the different before you spend lots of momney!
Patrick
 
I have renewed my king pins and still have the shakes, perhaps I should start taking more water with it :crazyeyes:
Seriously though, it could be any number of things, for me I am sure the problem is in the back and is possibly the drums or the tyres as they are old and I have seen the wobble in them when they were being balanced.

I would go for the rear end first. best of luck Bob
 
Although I won't get to drive my car for a few more years yet, I can say it must have shaken horridly with all four brake drums being way out of balance. They are easy to DIY balance at home using an electric drill to spin them up on the axle and a felt pen to mark the heavy side. I have removed almost the same amount of metal from the balancing ring again as the factory did and now they all run pretty much dead smooth.

Brake drums IMO should be the first item to balance for any vibration issues as they were clearly not well balanced when new. Probably will add many miles to the rest of the suspension gear without the constant vibration.

Andy.
 
Back
Top