One more time guys, ya must have missed the first post.....I'll repeat it:
“So then the next year different rims from early 70's Chevy
4x4 3/4-ton, again, media blasted, PPG enamel, this time
new radials and balanced.
Better, but still appeared to be a balance vibration. Had
them balanced at a different tire shop, same thing.
Got the dial indicator out and checked tires, rims, hubs,
axles, all run true. Up on four 6ton jack stands to see if
it was in the drive line, no vibration at speed.
This time I found a shop who had just gotten a new road
force balancer and had them balanced another time simulating
the weight on the wheels. Vibration still there.”
Wish I were as optimistic as you are Deve. "Problem completely solved"???
And your reply about these being only a "farm to market truck" is way wrong. These
were used for every sort of transport that you can imagine, on the farm, around town, all
around the burbs and over the road, They weren’t like the cars of the tri-five era but we
even drag raced with them sometimes.
In the 50's and 60's the average speed limits (set by individual states, no federal laws
yet) was typically 65 day/55 night speed limits on all rural, two lane highways. I started
driving legally on the highway in 1958 and here outside of Chicago, Illinois, I distinctly
remember the disappointment when the feds reduced the limits to 55mph in the early 70's.
My 50' with a 4.10 gear will run 65 easily. I had GM cars
ranging from 1941 models thru the early 50's for all of the
late 50's and thru the 60's and we ran at and often well over
the limits much of the time with these cars.
At 65mph I'm turning just under 3000rpm, with this 216 truck
engine, it developed its maximum brake hp at 3400rpm.
Granted the sweet spot on my truck is between 50 and 55 with the engine turning
around 2400-2500rpm and that is probably the way grandpa would have driven it, and
that would most likely give it the longest life. But they certainly weren't limited to those
speeds and anyone under 50 would run them at or near the speed limit.
Whether it was safe to operate those old vehicles at those
speeds is a totally different subject, but the fact remains
that they could and did run at the speed limit of the day.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
