front of car shaking
 

31 coupe,
rebuilt engine, Mitchell OD, Mitchell transmission.
was driving fine with old firestone tires and old wheel on front and different wheels on rear with new tires. old wheels and new tires front end of car shook. not through the steering wheel just fenders. Set toe-in, balanced all tires on old wheels. using a dial indicator the wheels were all within .060 in of being straight. Car now shakes between 45 and 49 mph tight where i want to drive. any suggestions.
thanks for any help.

Re: front of car shaking
 

Could be a number of reasons. How did you balance the tires? That would be my first suspect. Could also be some loose front end components like loose bearings or ball links. Also, what brand and type of new tires did you get? Radial or bias ply? Some tires can be molded out of round or not mounted correctly, such as part of a tube or flap stuck under the rim. I have seen the flap installed by a professional tire shop with part of it under a tire rim. They are used to tubeless tires. If the rear wheels/tires have a problem it can shake the front end. Is the journal for the bearing in the rear worn? If the rivets were not installed correctly to mount the drums to the hubs this can cause a problem. Sometimes people will weld the studs in instead of swedging them in.

Re: front of car shaking
 

I roll a suspect tire that's off the car on a smooth flat surface to check for carcass or tread problems. If they roll true off the car, they will roll true on the car. If it wobbles and falls over then the tire is beyond repair. Balance can be done on the front spindles if the bearings are in good shape. Just let the tire roll either way on the spindle until it stops and the bottom or 6 o'clock which will be the heavy side of the tire. Add weights on the opposite side or 12 o'clock on the rim or spokes till it won't rotate no matter where you place it around the clock. This is a poor man's balance but it works.

Re: front of car shaking
 

Move the back tires to the front, and see if the problem moves. Easy to do, and costs nothing. You never know. Besides, it may very well rule out the tires.

Re: front of car shaking
 

It's a bit hard to follow your post.

1. What brand are the new tires?
2. Can't make "heads or tails" as to whether these are the same wheels as before? If so, were they moved from their original positions?
3. Have you changed all 4 tires or are there 2 new tires on only one axle and 2 old tires moved to the other axle? If so, are those 2 older tires on different wheels than before????? Or, are those 2 older tires on a different axle on new wheels?

Re: front of car shaking
 

Jack the front end up and vigorously wiggle the tires top to bottom and side to side. If you moved the rear wheels and tires to the front and used the lug nuts from the front wheels, it's possible that one or both of the former rear wheels' lug nut holes are wallowed out to the point that the lugs nuts are not securing the wheels to the drums. The wheels will be loose. If this is the case, move the rear wheel lug nuts to the fronts and test again. There are many improperly made repo wheel lug nuts out there that don't always seat well. The rear lug nuts just might only work on the former rear wheels. I ALWAYS use the spacer shims behind the wheel lug nuts because after almost 100 years of service, I find very few wheels with acceptable lug nut holes that aren't wallowed out and/or worn oversized. The shims remove this slop in all but the extreme cases.
Marshall

Re: front of car shaking
 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have some work to do. Tires were balanced. New tires are Universal Nylon 19 inch.
While doing the toe-in alignment used the poor man's balance technique and decide to have the tires balance on a machine. Four of the tires could be balanced. One was obviously bent. It is not on the car now.
Front end was rebuilt with almost all new parts. Steering rebuilt.

Re: front of car shaking
 

Nylon will take a set when sitting for a while and will round out when they get warm. Probably not the problem but thought I would mention it.

Re: front of car shaking
 

i'm back. been trying different things, balancing, checking for wheel wobble checking for tires out of round some helped and some moved it up in speed. talking to a friend who has worked on cars for 60 years. he came by after we ate lunch and looked under the car and said "thr radius is not tight". i had the new caps that use the rubber ball. got original caps, installed them, had to use one shim cup washer to make it tight. ran uo to 55 with no shaking. thanks for everones suggestion everything suggested that i tried helped

Re: front of car shaking
 

I'm not a fan of the rubber ball radius rod end cushion but Ford did use them later on in the 30s & 40s. The OEM steel on steel is more positive if the parts aren't worn too bad. It's a job to braze or weld a ball up and reprofile it back to 1.5" diameter but it's worth it for the cost of a good wishbone or cutting and welding on a new ball.

Re: front of car shaking
 

I agree with Gene. rotate the tires.........

had the same occur on my f250 on Monday. was a broken belt in front tire. (only 8k miles)

I suspect the new tires.