Click on image for the lowdown. 
====
| | | Forums66 Topics128,057 Posts1,055,812 Members48,426 | | Most Online14,466
Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment (and references) for you!
| | THANKS!
For helping keep this great
old truck web site
on the Internet for over 30 years! and not clogged down
with Ads!  Again, thanks!
| | | | Joined: Oct 2004 Posts: 7 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Oct 2004 Posts: 7 | I just finished my 48 3/4 ton and at about 45-50 mph it has a bad shimmey.The tires are new and balanced,the kingpins are new and the rest of the front end seems tight.Any suggestions?Thanks
Joe Bruno
| | | | | Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 476 Moderator | | Moderator Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 476 | I had the same problem in my '67 Jeep and a full front end rebuild was financially not an option. One of those shock absorbers that bolts from the frame to the tie rod did the trick.
Probably not an option if you are looking for the root problem.
Don't lose your head to save a minute,
You need your head, your brains are in it.
Burma-Shave (1947)
| | | | | Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,745 Member | | Member Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,745 | Did you do a proper alignment as per the shop manual?
54 3100 with 235
62 flatbed dump C60 with 261
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,773 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,773 | Check the "preload" adjustment on the steering gear. With the steering centered, there should be NO free play in the steering wheel. Even a slight movement of the wheel should move the Pitman arm. If there's any slop at all, it will shimmy at highway speeds. The service manual outlines an adjustment procedure, or there are several shade tree methods that work pretty well. I use an inch-pound torque wrench on the steering wheel nut, with the Pitman arm disconnected so I'm turning only the gear assembly.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2004 Posts: 8,597 Riding in the Passing Lane | | Riding in the Passing Lane Joined: Jun 2004 Posts: 8,597 | I like to use a steering stabilizer like Bradb was refering to on these straight axle trucks. They are available at parts stores in a kit. It seems like if the shimmy comes & goes at certain speeds there is something wrong with the wheel balance or out of round. 
They say money can't buy happiness. It can buy old Chevy trucks though. Same thing. 1972 Chevy c10 Cheyenne SuperIn the Gallery Forum | | | | | Joined: Jan 2000 Posts: 1,586 Extreme Gabster | | Extreme Gabster Joined: Jan 2000 Posts: 1,586 | On beam front axle vehicles, lack of castor usually causes a shimmy at moderate speeds.Are the castor shims in place between the front axle and spring? If so, is the axle tilted backwards,the thick part of the shim to the rear?I have found some need more castor, especially if the rear end is higher than the front.The factory says about 1-2 degrees,a 4 degree shim often makes a improvement in steering. Too much castor can cause it's own problems,like hard steering and maybe a shimmy like too litle castor | | | | | Joined: May 2004 Posts: 124 Member | | Member Joined: May 2004 Posts: 124 | I remember about 40 years ago or more I knew of a truck like that. No one could find the problem. Even front end shops. It was a nearly new Ford. The agency could'nt fix it. Somebody finaly decided the front axle was put in backwards at the factory. Funny how something like that will stick in your mind. Dont ask me what happend yesterday.
I like old trucks
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,068 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,068 | I had one today. A car had probably 2 cans of old "Fix-a-Flat" that didn't set-up. You can balance that tire all day and not get it true. Sure had our new kid tech confused for a while. Also had a truck tire full of water and a flat spot from sitting that you couldn't drive without your mouth open.
Weirder thing can happen,
Scott | | | | | Joined: Oct 2004 Posts: 7 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Oct 2004 Posts: 7 | Thanks for the tips.Turned out to be a bad tire and the toe in was way out.Drove it home from the front end shop with only 1 hand on the wheel-what a pleasure!!!!!!!!Keep em rollin
Joe Bruno
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 4,066 Bolter | | Bolter Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 4,066 | Glad you got it fixed, how does it drove with no-hands on the steering wheel...Fred
Redryder pixMy HotrodA veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of "up to and including my life."I am fighting cancer and I am winning the fight | Pain is part of life; misery is an option. | | |
|
|
