Mopar_71

Here's a good question Mopar fans may be able to answer.

Has any one seen metal inserted in the rotor slots to balance them?
My 1972 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus has 3 in the drivers side and 1 in the passenger side of the disk brake rotors.

Was this a cheap fix or did the factory install these?

Thanks and keep those Mopars rolling!!!

Mopar_71

I just went to a junk yark and saw the same type of thing on a 76 Chrysler Cordoba and on a power wagon. But, I didn't on a 80's Dodge Diplomat.

My problem is I have a shake at 60-70 MPH. I turned my attention to the rear axle by lifting the 8 3/4 sure grip rear off the ground (supporting it) starting the engine and putting it in drive. The passenger side rim and wheel does not rotate without a side to side wobble. The drivers side also has a wobble but not as bad. It looks like my axles are bent. I don't have he history on this car and can only wonder if it had spun out and hit a curb.....

theomahamoparguy

have never heard of that before but dont doubt it might have happened before the introduction of the "unicast" rotors in 1973. have never seen that in the unicast ones.

Mopar_71

Looks like theomahamoparguy is right. I did a little more research and the early style 2 piece rotors were not balaced so, they put metal shims to get a proper balance. The unicast construction was designed to be balanced so there was no need for any further wieghts.
Looking at what I have, a two piece rotor, I can understand why extra wieght is needed because of the metal area that holds the wheel studs does not have metal in a complete circumferance. Where the metal is missing and the complete opposite side is where the weight has been added. I can only wonder why Chrysler decided to put metal in the slots rather than fixing this design problem before manufacturing, which they did later.

As far as my original problem of vibration. I took the rear rims off and swapped them. My problem followed. With the car in the air, supported and aiming at nothing (haha) I ran it up to 40 mph and the car was shaking....
I took the rims to a great shop (wheel techniques) and they verified I have bent rims right there as I walked in the door by putting them on a diagnostic machine. $200.00 later, I hope this fixes my problem.
I think it should because while I had the rims and drums off, the axles rotated perfect. If I had a dial indicator I'd give runout and wobble readings.
I'll update after I get the rims and tires back today.
Mopar_71

theomahamoparguy

maybe the difference is Kelsey-Hayes versus a Mopar design. [Just a guess]

Mopar_71

It was the rims. The guys at the shop indicated that Ebay is their biggest customers.
After getting the rims fixed, it rides much better. No more vibration.

theomahamoparguy

...sweet...