Okey doky, as Scott suggested, got her up on the jack stands, told the wife to stay out of the kitchen till I was finished cuz we might end up with a 1953 Chevy truck in the breakfast nook. I took her up through 55mph and the oscillation was not there so I've eliminated that one, the drive shaft and drive line is OK.
It’s gotta be something to do with the flexing of the frame at 45mph like some sort of natural frequency of vibration at that speed. I’ve dropped the tires from 55psi down to 35psi and it makes a world of difference in the ride. Now up to about 40mph on a decent road it feels like my ‘97 1/2t Sierra, then the pulsing starts to come in and seems to max out at about 45. Over that it begins to fade away. At 50-55 I’m just getting a lot of normal vibration and noise from the engine screaming to keep up. (God I wish I could find one of them thar mythical 4.10 gears!!!)
I think the next step is to load the back down with a half-ton or so of sand bags and see what it feels like. I’m hoping that will change the normal mode of the vibration.
Jim, I’d beg to differ with ya on this one. Thar taint nuttin wrong with the old style steering components if ya keep them greased, adjusted and replace the parts as they get worn. Replace them when they get worn is the key statement here! Everything that can be replaced on mine I’ve replaced with new, including the balls. These old vehicles just need a lot more maintenance than the new stuff. I was just commenting to my sister the other day that you can drive the newer cars 100,000 miles before you open the hood but you need to pop the bonnet every time you pull into the garage with these old ones. You gain no physical advantage with new style tie rod ends and drag link other than longevity, ease of maintenance and wheel clearance. In other words, she taint gonna steer any better.
Now considering myself as somewhat of a purist, I did let down my originality guard on the tires and rims and mounted up some radials. My justification here was that the bias ply tires that are being sold today, (I bought Power King, Chin origin I believe) are not being made to the same standards that they used to be here in the states. Flat spots have always been associated with bias ply tires after sitting for a while, but I never, ever, remember having this much trouble with a bias ply and I rode on nothing but from 1942 (home from the hospital) till 1973 when I got my first radial. Also I used bias plies well beyond that first set of radials that got in ’73. The other reason for straying from original style parts was the refusal of most tire dealers to work on a two-piece rim. If I were out on a trip and needed tire service I have a lot better chance of getting a flat fixed if I have a newer style tubeless radial to work with. For show I still have the bias plies and split rims stacked up in the corner.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
