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| | | | Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 584 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 584 | Anybody ever have any shimmy problems. I haven't really looked it over very thoroughly yet but I do have a shimmy problem on my 47 early COE. It is a pretty low mile truck, and the steering seems pretty tight and easy to turn. So, I'm thinking alignment.
Most of the play if not all of it is coming from the pitman arm at the front joint/spring combo however, so how normal is this? I should pull it and see if the spring is broken or something.
When I got my truck it had an aftermarket steering dampner on it. Since it had been sitting, it expired, and my truck really shimmied bad. I got a new dampner and now things are OK, but I know what it would do without the dampner. Advice? experience? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. | | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,276 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,276 | I would check your king pins. Put the front of the truck on jack stands and put something through the hand hole in the wheel to use as a lever and see if there is any play where the spindle meets the axle. This may take a helped to put the forces on the wheel and tire while you watch for play. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2010 Posts: 90 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2010 Posts: 90 | 2 things usually cause a shimmy
Loose steering and bent or out of ballance tires/wheels
rarely caused by kingpin
1955 GMC 150, 1980 Chevy C10, 2011 Sierra 3500 HD SLT Duramax Dually Crewcab, 1960 Chevy BelAir 2dr sedan, 1978 Pontiac Trans-Am
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,214 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,214 | I had a bad shimmy problem on my tow truck. It had old hard bias tires...I installed new radials and the problem went away. Mike B  | | | | | Joined: Jun 2004 Posts: 8,597 Riding in the Passing Lane | | Riding in the Passing Lane Joined: Jun 2004 Posts: 8,597 | If there is any play in the drag link or tie rod ends it needs to be fixed. A small amount can be adjusted but if is very much it probably has a broken spring. You prbably have a wheel out of balance. Often you can balance them by raiseing the front end & if the brakes have no drag give the wheel a little turn. If it has a heavy area it will rock to the bottom. Put some wheel weights on the oppisite side & try again till you get it to turn without rocking.
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 2008 Posts: 4,961 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 4,961 | Unless you are trying to stay original, I would replace the old drag link with a new style drag link. The old ball and cups with springs wasn't very good engineering. Same goes for tie rods. I replace the old style tie rods. A shimmy is usually a combination of a lot of things from tires to steering and play in the steering box. | | |
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