STEERING WHEEL, STEERING COLUMN (Shake & Bang)

[JOHNNY1948]

The steering wheel & column in my '47 car makes a bang & shakes when I go over some bumps in the road. For no better way of describing it, I'll call it a bang and a shake. I feel it all the way up to the steering wheel. My car steers very good with not much play and it steers easily. I need to fix this (it's scary) and would like some advice as to where I begin my trouble shooting.

[51 MERC-CT]

Check to see if the steering box is securely bolted to the frame.

[Terry,OH]

Beside the nuts and bolts securing the steering box to the frame, there is a rubber bushing inside the steering column (near the top) that may have gone bad, can you take the steering wheel and move it (up and down side to side) without moving the outer metal column? If so this rubber bushing may have broken into pieces. Also the outer steering column should be firmly attached to the bottom of the dash?

[Mart]

As your car is lowered (weren't you trying to raise it?), the radius arm may be fouling the steering box mount.

A bit of a long shot, hard to say from so far away, but if you get the bang when the suspension goes full bump, it could be something like that.

Have a good look around and imagine what would happen during suspension travel and look for signs of shiny metal which would indicate metal to metal contact.

Mart.

[TJ]

Make sure the rubber "bump stops" are on the frame over the axle.

[George/Maine]

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I would look at the pitman arm, drag link and see if its hitting the oil pan.
If so what I had to do was bend the pitman arm to clear pan.

[JOHNNY1948]

To MART (& anyone else) I'd like to post pictures of my front end, spring & shackles but can't seem to figure out how. Can somebody help me? Steering box to frame is tight but I noticed there are no "rubber bump stops" in the frame, above the axle. Can that be my problem? http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL97/7412851/14101857/409905381.jpg[/IMG]

[40cpe]

Here is the link to the picture

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL97/.../409905381.jpg

[Mart]

[George/Maine]

To me it looks like you have the wrong front spring, it should be wider.

[scrapiron]

Originally Posted by George/Maine

To me it looks like you have the wrong front spring, it should be wider.

The frame is on stands, the front end is hanging, tires just touching

[TJ]

Put the weight of the car on the suspension and measure the distance between the axle and the frame. Also look for evidence of anything in the front end hitting the frame or axle. You obviously added long shackles so your axle is closer to the frame.

[Mart]

Here's what I would do.

Measure the gap between the spring eyes as they are now, with the front axle hanging.

Put some weight back on the front end.

Take a decent piece of steel tube or a nice piece of wood and cut it to the gap between the spring eyes plus an inch or maybe 1-1/2". Angle the ends slightly so it helps stay in place.

Put the improvised spreader between the eyes and lower the axle again.

The spreader will hold the eyes apart to allow the shackles to be removed, and any servicing of the front end that is required.

To be honest, I don't think you really need a spreader. but the above may help when reassembling everything.

If the longer shackles were properly made, you could shorten them back to stock length, or a length that suits you and the car.

Mart.

[JOHNNY1948]

Thanks to all of you for you're suggestions. Mart, I'm going to try yours and your idea of shortening those shackles is what I was thinking. Those longer shackles were installed by the previous owner (not me). I like the stance of the car but the ride over bumps is horrible. I've ordered a pair of "front axle rubber bumpers" and I'll put those in as soon as I get them.
TJ, I'll measure like you suggest and let you know what I find. What distance would be unacceptable?
Again, thank you all. Here are a couple more picture links, but not sure they'll work.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409905383.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409905382.jpg

[JOHNNY1948]

TJ, Between the frt axle & frame measures 3-1/4". Like I mentioned, the Rubber Bumpers are missing, but it doesn't appear the axle & frame have been hitting each other.
Thanks, Johnny
Also, the distance between the holes on these shackles measures 4-1/4" (ctr to ctr). Does anyone know that distance on stock shackles?

[V8COOPMAN]

Another thing to check would be to make sure the rubber ball insulator at the rear of the wishbone hasn't deteriorated and disappeared. That situation can make a bunch of racket when going over bumps. DD

[JOHNNY1948]

V8COOPMAN, That rubber ball you mention is all shot to h*ll on my car. So, I will replace that, for sure. Thanks so much. Whether that cures my problem or not, it needs to be fixed. Is there any tricks that will make it easy to do? Looks pretty much straight forward to me, but that is not always the case.
THANX again, Johnny

[JOHNNY1948]

Another thing I found, maybe it's not a problem. Please advise. Here are 3 new pictures focusing on the pitman arm & drag link clearance. With tires pointed straight ahead the pitman arm & drag link have no clearance. These pics show that plus tires turned full right & full left. Since this noise on bumps only seems to happen with my car going straight down the road, could this be it??
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409908138.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409908140.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409908142.jpg

[Mart]

It could be, can you see any signs of contact being made between the drag lingk and the tie-rod?

Now, one other thing, don't take this as gospel, I might be wrong, but I THINK your drag link may be the wrong way round. I THINK the adjuster sleeve should be at the wheel end rather than the steering box end. I think it may need swapping end for end.

That may or may not effect your clearances, it might be the clearance between the drag link and the radius rod that is effected.

Maybe someone more expert in that model could chime in on the subject.

Mart.

[40cpe]

It does appear that the pittman arm is hitting the tie rod. If the tie rod does have the indention in it and it appears to be brighter in the indention, I think you have found the problem.