I haven't posted pictures because I have already taken the wishbones off in preparation of resetting the caster. The majority of the post I have received from this and other forums where I posted the question have led me to believe that is the right thing to try first. The bottom line is that I had never experienced the DW before I adjusted the caster. I overdid the first caster adjustment by overcutting the pie cut and ended up with nearly 10 degrees of positive caster. I am going to recut them today and try to get closer to 6 degrees. Thank you for all the advice and help. I will repost when I get this done to let everyone know how it worked out.
this is one of those problems that can't be fixed with parts throwing and suggestions... front end problems are caused by one of geometry measurements out too far and cause unwanted effects...... a lot of people throw caster... king pin angle putting the tire on the heal side.... all ok if it jives with the amount of camber... as in when you drive it does it go straight when you let go of the wheel.. I drove front engine diggers and that was one of the things often mistaken... my CCI digger after doing a burn out and backing up would go into a horrible wobble that wouldn't quit till i came to a complete stop... so that throws another part to alignment, tire walk... but... with the amount of caster it would stay in the center of the lane @ 2oo mph at the big end,..where as my shorter WB woodie gilmore might just take out the lights at the big end a@ 150 mph.. Soo.. what needs to happen..... camber effect that was created by putting more than 5 degrees caster put the tire running on it's heel,.. now you have made the critical point tire pressure and steering components... wide low air pressure problem tires pick up on this and demand atention... as in Jeeps.. and other short wheel base vec .. when driving on the pavement, off road the tire doesnt grip as much and is forgiv'n... but on pavement the tires grip and walk... the other thing is body roll... you end up with the skateboard effect.... like driving a stock model t and a dog runs out in front of you...you'll be in the ditch...
I really hope the OP checked the toe-in before tearing into the suspension. It's the easiest thing to check and fix, and a super-common source of this problem. To me, it's like checking the ground connection when you have a trailer light problem before diving into loose connections and bad bulbs and wires.
that there my friend is spot on! and would be the first thing to check..one must assume that that who ever built the chassis had some amount of knowledge and got everything doable ... and just needs adjustments to work...so start at the bottom... and work up...
interesting that this thread popped up, I'm looking at a car to buy...looking at the pics, I see a multitude of wrong, and the big WTH did they do here... of coarse the add reads "RUNS AND DRIVES GREAT" With looking at a side view pic, I notice a list of wrong that shouldn't work.. first... they added about a foot to the wheel base, my first thought was they'd have to do about a 5 point shot at getting into a parking spot..next the engine was put at such an extreme angle down in the back to where you could see the tail shaft hanging below the body and the drive shaft heading up hill to the rear end.... pinion angle??? pretty sure it vibrates more than a milfs sex toy.. so to me, as most think.. it's priced way to high for what you get, also evident in it's been for sell for 4 mo. so talking to the guy he finally pops off with..it needs a front end alignment and gets a death wobble @ 35 mph.... really, what else.....
@Kerrynzl "A dead-perch is a classic example of "Silver wiener syndrome" [If a winning racer glues a silver wiener to his car, all the Hot Rodders and Street Racers would do the same.]" So, ummm, where might one pick up one of these secret speed inducing silver wieners you speak of? Asking for a friend.
Death wobble is gone with front axle at 6 degrees positive caster. And, yes, I did check toe in as soon as it was suggested and I have 1/8 inch negative toe in. Steering box and all associated connections are brand new and tight. The tires and brake hubs seem fine and the wheel bearings are new and in good order. The car still feels light and wanders a bit at speeds around 45 MPH and above but I am thinking that is because of the cross steer and I intend to add a pan hard bar. And I have a dead spring perch for sale cheap if anyone needs one.
Yeah 6 degrees was the sweet spot for my car. Anything more made it harder to steer. Maybe add some neg camber to tame the wondering at 45 mph. Here's a few drawings I did to show how positive caster helps high speed stability, but it increases steering effort (because the car "lifts" more on turns as you add caster) - non HAMB vehicle https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1873116.jpg https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1873119.jpg https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1873120.jpg
question, and you can feel free to ghost' me, I'm the new guy... but.. now that you've got back to where you started... what was the reason for doing this to begin with?????? did you ever check for diamond on the chassis? did you put it on a plate and do any checking??? anyway.. glad you got it going in the right direction. some times the spindles are mismatched to the axel , and cause wondering...most problems can be found with a good 4 wheel alignment shop...
Wow. Just no. A panhard bar is not a bandaid, there's a reason chassis manufacturers say it's necessary on cross steer.
Where do you find a " good 4 wheel alignment " shop who understands straight axle , transverse spring front end technology ? Lots of places advertise alignment services , few understand alignment without a computer printout .
are you dead set sure that the problem is not how the rear end is mounted?? maybe you need a watts link or track bar in the rear... again, no pics no fix
The car is in Missouri. As @2OLD2FAST mentioned, 4-wheel alignment shops that understand vintage suspensions are extremely rare. You're better off to do all the measurements and checking yourself for a car with vintage-styled suspension.
If it was 4wd trucks and heavy duty stuff, yes I would put one on... I drove this front suspension 130 mph plus with two fingers with no issues. 7 degrees Caster and was a dream to drive... I think the biggest thing that people screw up on for our front ends is the shackle angle and improper spring rate. If you can install shackles without loading the spring, then its an issue.
I'm not big on pics , have a few build pics in a album ( you know , pics that came from film . Other than that , not available , wife put some on Photobucket some years ago , they're gone ...
And another thing... It may not be in the front end at all. My roadster developed a "tire shake" that seemed to be a front tire out of balance. It also jiggled the steering wheel, but wasn't exactly a shimmy. It happened at 50-55 mph (right were the car is happy of course), anything more, or less, no problem. It seemed to get worse, despite having the tires re-balanced. Turned out, my REAR pan hard bar bracket had gotten loose on the rear axle (Ford 8"), and the harmonics at those speeds transferred up the chassis to the front. Fixed that, no more problem.
The shop doesn't have be totally knowledgeable on straight axles, with the computer systems now, all they have to do is set it up right and let the computer show the measurements. It's up the owner to then take those numbers and do as needed to make it right.
How did anyone get it right before without a computer saying what to do, you still need to understand what you are doing and why. The print out numbers are just that to a lot of the people, just numbers not a manual on how. JW
I'm guessing that negative toe in means it is toed out. Rear wheel drive cars with toe out tend to wander at speed. With toe out, when you get one wheel aimed straight ahead, the other wheel tries to pull the car to that side. That makes you compensate with the steering so now you have that wheel pointed straight ahead and the other one wants to pull to the opposite side. You end up steering from side to side (wandering) to go straight down the road. I'd be shooting for 1/8 - 3/16 toe in.
You can get what is called stacking errors. Checking each part may show they are within specs. But putting them all together you end up with the overall suspension being a little loose and getting the wobble. There are a few you tube videos on the Model A wobble - they might not help with ones that have been modified. Wobble is caused by loose parts - setting the suspension to hide it will only get you into trouble at some point when the suspension travel hits that spot where the wobble sets in. For now your settings are putting the right amount of pressure on the part that is causing the wobble.
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