72 MPH Vibriation

[jclary]

Remember the age of our cars...then...remember that most previous/original owners were even older. Years ago, I bought a GT Hawk with a terrible vibration problem. The car had belonged to an elderly man who probably drove a few years too long. Poor guy, as he got older, I believed he began to move things out of his way with the car rather than drive around them. After a similar battle with tires & balancing some of you have described, I discovered a warped brake drum/wheel assembly. That explained the front fender repair. The drum had both radial and lateral run-out. That adds up to one serious "wobble." I changed the drum assembly and it made the car more enjoyable than ever!

[JoeHall]

My 62GT, with new rotors, new drums, modern wheels, radials, and custom driveshaft is fairly smooth at 70-75. Heck, sometimes it even seems almost vibration free, especially if I have been driving it exclusively for a few weeks. But then, if I get in my son's Buick PA, or my daughter's Lexus, and drive at 70-75, the difference becomes obvious. I'd consider the GT vibration free, "per Studebaker standards". LOL

[lumpy]

When I built my 29 ford roadster a few years back the front end shook pretty hard at 70mph or so , bad enough that I could see the left font wheel hopping around Btw its fenderless..Turns out one of my F100 front drums was really out of balance . Found a good used drum and the problem was solved

[Kurt]

On my 61 Champ I have had a vibration that comes on about 55 and mostly goes away at 65.drives me batty because it’s the worst right in the cruising range. I have put on turner disks and changed to Chevrolet drums on the rear. I have had 2 different sets of wheels on it. I added overdrive, so I had a new driveshaft made. The driveline angles are supposedly in spec. I checked them. Anyway, just before I put it away for the winter I was driving it with a passenger. The vibration was almost non existent with a passenger. My thought is the extra weight changed the u joint angle ever so slightly and corrected the vibration. I had never noticed that before, because I rarely have anyone ride with me in the truck. You guys think I am on the right track?

[Ron Dame]

I used a Harbor Freight motorcycle tire balancer, but any kind of spindle you can rig with some bearings and cones for centering it will work.

Thanks, Ron. That is interesting. I am not clear what you mean by putting the drums on a spindle to find out they were out of balance. Can you describe that better? What kind of machine?

[Ron Dame]

Ditto Post #11, and exactly WHERE is the Drum "Pocket"?

Well I don't know what to call it, but on the truck drums, there is a recess on the wheel side. Between it and the epoxy, the centrifugal force won'tthrow the weights. I used high temp epoxy, but it wasoverkill.

[TWChamp]

I'll bet a guy could even experiment by using the rare earth high strength magnets to find the correct balance.

[64V-K7]

I'll bet a guy could even experiment by using the rare earth high strength magnets to find the correct balance.

You know, that's a great idea!

[BILT4ME]

I had new tires installed on my 59 Lark VIII and the dealer showed me that he had placed all the wheel weights on the inside so they didn't interfere with the wheelcovers and it would look better on the outside. I was appreciative of that at the time.

After the front two tires wore out (due to an alignment issue I was well aware of), I had two new tires installed and requested that they do the weights wherever necessary because I want to drive at 100 MPH with no vibrations and the way it was done previously was good up to about 75, but above that the wheels vibrated pretty bad and we lost a wheel bearing partially due to that (and losing grease and excessive speed and heat........)

After the two new tires and the different method of balancing, it was smooth as can be at 100 MPH. (Do not attempt. Professional driver on a closed course.)