High Speed shakes!!! (but no rattles or rolls)
 

Hi Guys!

Last week I noticed a shake in the steering of my Fury while at highway speeds, felt like the front passenger wheel was out of balance so I took both fronts off and had them balanced. Put them back on tonight and went for a drive!

The shake is still there, it's coming from the right side or the centre of the car. The car had an alignment last summer with only a few dozen miles clocked up since, and the wheels have been balanced.

The shake only happens above 100 kph and gets worse as you go faster, you feel the shake first thru the floor boards then thru the steering wheel! And a change in RPM does not effect the shake.

Any suggestions where to start looking? Transmission mounts, engine mounts, prop shaft, u-joints, front drums out of balance? I can think of a half dozen possible causes!

On a bright side the Fury seams to be shifting better now, played with the kick-down linkage a bit, not perfect but there was a noticable improvement!

Slowly this car is getting road worthy!

Wheel bearings? Ive seen them installed wrong, not fully seated before tightening. A broken belt in a tire wont show up on a balancer if you arent looking at it. They just shut the lid and put the weight where it says. Any uneven wear on only one section of a tire? Just suggestions from things that have happened to me.

agree with 74birds on the tire deal. Check it for bumps in the sidewall.

x3 on the above mentioned.

Check the tires, no visible bumps, humps, bulges etc! Switch tires, passenger to drivers side and the shake is still there on the passenger side/center!

Well off to work, will look again when I get home!

jack the rear and chock the front wheels and GENTLY run the can and see if anything falls out ;-)

You thinking U-joint ?

correctumundo - go under the car and see if there is sideways play around the u-joints.

You can do that without putting the car into drive. All it takes is just one cap that is not greased for a vibration. If that is not the case, then i would start to look for flatspots on the tires. If you just did a brake job or have drums all the way around, make sure that you did not lose any of the weights that are used to balance them.

i'm thinking you get so see the tire runout and listen for noises without hanging out of the car while driving and scraping your nose on the ground! i've had dry ujoints vibrate without being loose. they get packed with rust! it will also increase the driveshaft angle and might even make it easier to find. tires also can get flat spots from sitting a long time.

Only have one u-joint at the rear, it seams tight and well greased, the front dosn't look like a typical u-joint, more like a slip yoke or cv-style joint!

i think that it might be the wheel bearings. try replacing them it should fix it.

Back off the front wheel bearings and them retork them instead of spending money thats not needed. Also check ball joints. Jack up the car and try to wiggle the tire side to side and top and bottom. Hope this helps. I would hate to see you spend money not needed.

If you suspect it to be tire or wheel related, I just went through this..

Put the wheel you suspect on the rear end. Jack up the rear and support it.
Point the car away from anything if it were to fall, but it wont.
Start the car and put it in drive. Watch the wheel rotate. If it's a bent rim, you will see it right away. Most tire shops don't look for bent rims. they just balance the the tire...

Good luck

Wasn't going to go buy new bearings, until I tried re-packing the old ones! :)

Pretty sure it's not the wheels or tires at this point!

Was playing with the car tonight, found quite some play (1/4 turn) in the steering box, could this be a possible cause?

On a unrelated note, I received my Mopar electronic ignition kit today! Thinking about taking friday off work to put it in! But don't tell the boss!

how bad is the shake in the steering wheel?

does it shake more after hitting some bumps?
does it shake the same on turns?

Nope only shakes at high speed on flat smooth road, haven not had it at high speed on a non flat bumpy road!

You have a Ball and Trunnion u-joint on the front. If the boot is in good shape and it is full of greese, they last forever. I had a car that developed a bad shake around 40mph. It was the tie rod ends. they have really tight since it is a tapered fit. Jack the car up and grab each wheel on the side to turn the tire. look at the tie rods, idler arm and pitmin arm to see if there is any play.