I have a 23 T kind of cookie cutter but it's what I have. I'd get a shimmy above about 60. But it would disappear. Most likely mine was from the rear bias-ply M/T's flat spotting when sitting in the garage for a week. I was told the M/T's tended to flat spot. I watched the tires while I was driving and 'believe' i noticed the flat spot, could have been in my head though. Also check the pinion angle and the trans angle, caster, wheel balance, alignment and tightness of front end components. Bill
Never did get rid of the shimmy. That's one of the reasons I changed the chassis. I always attributed the shimmy to either the 1/4 eliptic front suspension or the shocks that were mounted on the wishbones 8" back from the front axle. And it definitely was the front axle. I would watch the front tires start to bounce, and then "drum" from one side to the other. I had 7 degrees of caster and a half inch of toe in. I played with tire pressure to see if it changed anything. It didn't. Thanks guys. Oh, here's a pic of my original front suspension. I later swapped spindles and went with dropped steering arms to get Ackerman back, but it still didn't do anything. Karl
suicide shimmy is the one constant among every t-bucket owner I've ever talked to It always happens at 50 regardless of front end, tire size, wheelbase, etc. OUrs is a short 95" wheelbase, suicide dropped axle, large radials on 15x7 wheels, it had shocks. We took the shocks off and removed leaves and it still had the shimmy, so, we lived with it
From what I was told the 5-7 caster is ok. But 1/8" toe in not 1/2". 1/8" toe in is what I'm running.
I was just thinking that as I typed my last reply. Every bucket owner I've talked to has asked me if mine shimmies too.
"From what I was told the 5-7 caster is ok. But 1/8" toe in not 1/2". 1/8" toe in is what I'm running." One afternoon, I took my car out of town on a straight road and played with toe-in. I tried 0, 1/8, 1/4,3/8,1/2, etc.. and it started jumping at the same speed every time. Belive me, I hated to take a running, driving car that I has just gotten done and start over. I tried evry thing I could think of.
Guess mine is unique then! No shakes, no shimmies, one finger steering from stationary until the little 21 stud runs out of breath... Those wheels you had up front seem to have a whole load of offset - guess that wouldn't help?
I'm with Monkeybiker on this one, none of my T's had any steering problems, bump steer, or shimmy, and they were driven on British roads which are renowned for being Shite. I did have a 32 3 window (pro built) which drove like CRAP - VW camper steering, magnum I beam, f*ur bar, first Rod I owned, had really bad bump steer Just because everyone else has problems - it doesn't mean that you should live with with it. I notice that you have the steering arms in front of the axle Which essentially means the axle is put into use 180 degrees out from how it was designed to be used. You'll never get the Ackerman right with this set-up. Take the spindles/Stubs off, change them from side to side, so the steering arms are behind the axle, sort the Ackerman out and you'll be getting closer to how it should be done. This is as per Henry Ford from 1929 - 1934 side steer, 1935 - 1948 cross steer. If you still have problems after doing the above - check the caster, camber, king pin inclination. As you have split bones - if the drag link isn't travelling in the same arc as the bones when you go over a bump/ hit a certain speed you are going to have problems. Check your "angle of the dangle" against the Pete & Jakes website - it gives you a good idea how the steering should be engineered. Good luck Bob
Good looking little T, that short wheelbase is MUCH better. Don't tell anybody, I generally don't like the long laid out look, especially on an A Tudor. But anyways. The Cragars are cool, you didn't need to get rid of the SBC, it looked great with the 2x4s, but the flathead is undeniably cool. Here it is with a truck bed, the tank you are running, and the sectioned grille shell.
Gotgas, thanks for the photoshop. The little longer box seems to work a little better than the-rodsters(thanks also). I printed off all three versions(deck, rpu, and nothing) and the rpu really seems to flow better than the other two. I'd been collecting flathead stuff for a while and decided that I'd never have a lighter car to put one in, so I replaced the SBC. I think also, that the Cragars are going to stay. BobbedT, I'm with you 100%. The car shouldn't have the handling problems it did. I DID swap spindles with dropped steering arms to get the tie rod behind the axle. There were a couple of things left to try, but they would have required enough rework to the frame that I thought it to be easier to build a new one. Now I have a CE 4" drop axle, spring over design F. suspension, cross steering, flattened front crossmember. Thanks guys, Karl
I'd keep the turtle deck, and maybe some redlin bias plies for the 60's look you want. But regardless, shortening it up is a 150% improvement, and the flatmotor looks good.
Well, a quick update. With winter coming soon, I've been busy trying to clean the garage enough to get the wife's car inside(women ). I still managed to get a little work done on the car. I fabbed up a 36" pick-up bed, dropped the motor an inch and a half, mounted the 60 Chevy truck master, and a lot of other thing that escape my memory right now.
Looks great! I am thinking about switching over to a 26-27 body with a turtle deck due to my longer wheelbase, which is predicated on the fact that the torque tube is as short as it can get with the wishbones mounted to it. Otherwise we have pretty similar looking rides! Funny how Fargo and Mankato weren't that far apart either, until I drove mine to Portland of course. Great job on the improvements to your car.
This thread is five years old. I wonder if his wife let him back in the garage long enough to finish it?
In my opinion, I woulda left if a few inches longer, but you made a ton of improvement by putting in the flathead!
I am redoing my 23 I needed more room so I ordered a 8 inch longer bucket & a longer 20 inch bed so now I need to make the frame longer going to add coil over shocks a arm front end with a rack & pinion steering So now I had a 99 inch wheel base I'm thinking of going to 115 wheel base How do you think it will drive also adding a new LS3 fuel injection with over drive
hey, did you ever fix your shimmy problem? if you ever need to again, just put on a steering damper. a vw bus has a prefect one. i don't know why cars have it but, a steering damper will stop it. love the car with deck or box. oh yea, short version too.
Get redline (tires) for those cragars!!! That would be sooo cool! It'd totally work with the look you've got going! Hell, just paint a darn redline on the tire and TELL people they are redlines! And I'm likin' the truck bed, I think it looks more ... practical? Nifty? Neat-o? (cooler) Than the turtle-deck did.
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