the '59 f100 is making progress.....have the doors off for welding in some metal that used to be there at the bottom of the doors...........new windows/vents cut.............anti rattle kit, etc..........make her water proof first, then tackle the disc brake conversion...then the motor comes out and do the steering box conversion before stabbing in the new drive train......don't plan on touching the outside....you can't buy that patina.... ANYWAY, question.............has anyone had any/much of the "death shimmy" at highway speeds with the straight ax/leaf spring set up? sid did a great job of dropping the front and rear....sits right where i want it......anyway, had about 500# in the back, driving on the highway and hit a pothole.........MAJOR shimmy......freaked me out......i want to be able to drive this over the road when i get it done (with the harley in the back), and want to make sure i don't get that shimmy again.... anyone with experience with this, please chime in. thanks everyone!! <!-- / message -->
My 56 gmc was deadly. If you hit any bump at highway speed you needed 4 lames to calm it down. I drove it a total of 3 times and then clipped it. Now it handles and rides like a trans am.
That's usually blamed on worn kingpin bushings or tie rod ends, I believe. I bought mine with a bent tie rod and sloppy pins; it was certainly a handful before the new parts. Try some maintenance items before you slice the frame in half for a clip job.
Like 'jrod60' said, go thru the maintenance items. Start with the steering box and go all the way thru - every original moving part will have a lot of slop in it, from pitman arm to the kingpins. Tighten that stuff up and you'll have about as safe and solid a steering as ford can design.
Get under the truck and have a helper turn the steering wheel slowly one direction until the wheels start to turn and then slowly back the other. Watch the connections between each component for slop. Start at the pitman arm then the drag link then the steering arm then the tie rods. And your drag link needs to be level with the ground. If it's not, you need to get a drop for it to connect to the steering arm.
I had a car with early 70 series belted tires that had tons of 2 plane unbalance. I had access to a bubble balancer, so that's what I used. The steering would take off sometimes, triggered by any excuse, like hitting a bump. After the dynamic balancer added over 90 degrees of weights to opposite locations on the inside and outside of the rims (bubble balancer can;t detect that kind of unbalance) the problem just went away. the replacement set of Michelins did everything better. Like others said the problem probably lies in worn parts with a few odd adjustments, but if everything seems to check out OK, a steering damper can work wonders. JC Whitny lists a MOOG steering damper for a 1959 F100 for < $70 . Summit lists a kit for later F350s for < $100 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MOG-SSD92/
I will follow this thread as I am getting close to finishing up my '59 F-350 dually. I swapped in a Cummins with a 5spd OD trans and Dana 70 rear. decided to retain the stock front susp and axle. Did adapt disc brakes off of a mid 70s F350 though. I have heard stories about this shmmy issue. Does anyone know where to find F350 kingpins? They are larger than the F100s thanks again for this thread.
Did you use the drop blocks for the steering arms? We had same issue till we used the blocks from Sid..
The question about the tie rod drops is a good one. New king pins, tie rod ends, and spring bushings will help allot if you haven't done them already. My 63 F100 was sure a handful at times, but it had old worn out parts.
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