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Mustang II front end Question

24K views 35 replies 9 participants last post by  horvath 
#1 ·
I'm a singer-songwriter, so I don't know much about mechanics ... but I love the '50s and recently bought a 1954 Chevy Pickup out of Texas that has the Mustang II front end installed. My mechanic says I got a great li'l truck and that everything was done "right" (mid '70s 350 w/Edelbrock manifold & Q-jet carb, 350 Turbo trans, and 12-bolt Chevy rear end all match up nice). I'm in love with this truck :
<a href="http://AlanHorvath.com/images/54chevy.jpg" target="_blank">http://AlanHorvath.com/images/54chevy.jpg</a>

Problem : the 2 front Cragar wheels were bent and the truck was shimmying at around 50mph+ ... so I put new Cragars on and it cleared up a *lot* ... only I'm still getting a shimmy at 50mph+.

My mechanic says there may be a way to adjust the Mustang II front end stuff, but he's not real familiar with the Mustang II kit ...

Are there any suggestions you might make? Do you know how we might make adjustments on the Mustang II stuff?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as you can imagine. I've *got* to get this shimmy thing taken care of and I don't want to spend an arm and a leg doing it.

If you have any questions about playing guitars I could reciprocate!
:eek: )

Thanks.
 
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#3 ·
The best thing to tell your mechanic is the alingment specs of the kit are the same as the Mustang II. That will allow him to insure proper alingment. However, improper alingment usually shows up in poor tire wear. The bent front wheels could indicate the front suspension had been subjected to a severe jolt at one time, but I would look elsewhere such as out of round /bulging tires, drive shaft/u-joint problems. The same impact that could bend rims could do some big time damage to tires that do not show up visually. I assume they were correctly balanced when you replaced the bent rims. Also, have him remove your front rotors, check for damaged wheel bearings, repack and retorque the spindle nut. Improperly torqued wheel bearings (spindle nuts) can cause higher speed viberations. One last thing, the internal rod ends of the Mustang II rack do wear and can get some play in them. Have your Mechanic check these.

Trees
 
#4 ·
Many kit manufacturers recommend the use of a vibration dampner in the steering hookup to the column. I didn't use one and the steering wheel had a pretty good vibration at about 60 mph. The car wasn't moving around or anything just transfering the road vibrations directly to the steering wheel. I put a dampner on and 99% of the vibration went away. Just something to consider.

Centerline
<a href="http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com" target="_blank">http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com</A>
 
#5 ·
Horvath,
I just put a Mustang II kit in a '46 Chevy Panel truck yesterday and here are the specs off the sheet.
Caster 7/8 +/- 3/4
Camber 1/2 +/- 3/4
Toe-in 1/8 +/- 1/8
The kit is from Heidt's.
Hope this helps you out.
 
#9 ·
Hey, Hotrodders

I just got my truck back today ... my mechanic did up my Mustang II front end -- I gave him a list of everything you guys told me to check, and the shimmy is 95% gone.

THANKS for all your help!

She still has "a little shimmy when she walks" (up around 60 mph) but it seems like it's predominantly in the steering column (like Bill "Centerline" mentioned).

Also, my mechanic says he doesn't know of any vibration dampener he can put in, so I emailed Bill to get info ... if anyone here has info, I'd appreciate it. I figure this is something I can install myself, but I need a web link or manufacturer or part number.

PS - Here are the spec's he applied - does this look right to you guys? :

Camber : left = - 0.2* ... right = 0.4* ... spec's : -0.3* - 0.8*
Caster : left = - 0.3* ... right = 0.2* ... spec's : -0.5* - 1.5*
Toe : left = 0.21* ... right = 0.23* ... spec's : 0.13* - 0.25*
Cross Camber : - 0.6*
Cross Caster : - 0.5*
Total Toe : 0.44* ... spec's : 0.26* - 0.50*

* = "degrees"

Cool?

Thanks again.
 
#10 ·
looks like it should have a very slight pull to the right.
still ain't enough caster, though.

and it's got too much toe for my taste.

does the column shake?
if so, it wouldn't hurt to run a brace sideways to the column off the cowl.
helped a little on my 48 chevy coupe....

flaming river and borgeson both have dampers available, usually around $100 for 'em
 
#11 ·
Thanks, Tom

Where would you have the Toe?

Yes - my column shakes slightly ... around 65 mph. Do you have a picture of where/how you did the brace on your '48 Chevy Coupe?

Bill hooked me up with Heidt's damper :
<a href="http://www.heidts.com/heip27.htm" target="_blank">http://www.heidts.com/heip27.htm</a>

Now I'm trying to figure out how I know which I have : a MALE or FEMALE spline? Then I'll order one.

Re: a "slight pull to the right" ... the truck seems perfect. If I coast on a straight, flat road it goes straight as a pin ... even when I apply brakes. My mechanic is a good one, I believe.

[ February 15, 2003: Message edited by: horvath ]</p>
 
#13 ·
just a quick question, are your crager rims unilug . had this shaking problem on my 28 ford. after alot of looking i found out the wheel nuts were not the right ones.the shank size was out. would not center wheel properly. cleared up shaking completely. good luck!
 
#15 ·
hovath, if it were me, i'd have the caster at the max (1.5 degrees) the toe at 1/8th inch, and the camber at +0.2 degrees on the lf and +0.3 on the rf (compensate for road crown)

you may still have a tire pull or problem but the proof is if it drives good and the tires ain't getting ate up, leave it alone.

as far as the pic of that brace, i'll get one took today and e-mail it to ya
 
#16 ·
Thanks, Tom

I haven't noticed a pull right or left of any kind ... but I haven't given it a real test yet. I will ... but she seems real straight and steady.

Thanks for sending me the pic.

Also, would it be hard for me to adjust caster/camber/toe myself? I've never done it before. What gauges/tools would I need?
 
#17 ·
No you don't want to tackle the front end alignment with out the equipment!!! I do not have a vibration damper in either of my Mustang II units (both power) and have never had any kind of feed back through my steering colum other than a little pump noise that the damper would eliminate ( only on one vehicle, and due to a bearing in the lower part of the column) Did you spefically ask yopu mechanic if he found any problem with your wheel bearings?

Trees
 
#18 ·
Thanks for your input, Trees.

We checked the wheel bearings ... they're fine.

One other suspicion I have is the back tires. When I first got the truck, the front tires were "lumpy" - the kind of thing that happens from sitting too long, so I put new tires on the front ... the back tires LOOK nice and the tread is such that I hate to trash them, but it could be that they are causing the problem. I won't know unless I put different wheels on and take her out on the highway - which I haven't done yet ... but they *could* be the cause of the problem.

The shimmying is down to a very minimum amount at this point, but it is still there. I'm picky about things and this will drive me nuts until I know I've eliminated the problem 100%.
 
#19 ·
The saga continues ...

I put new tires on the back today and I've definitely got a smoother ride, so they were needed. BUT I'm STILL getting a shimmy at around 50 mph ... this is driving me nutzoid! I'm gonna have me mechanic do an alignment according to TomSlik's suggested spec's (see previous page) and see if that helps.

Last night I was in heavy traffic - there was a major accident up ahead - on a 3 lane highway ... rush hour ... everyone was bumper-to-bumper, going about 15 mph ... real slow and steady. I noticed the truck bobbing up and down slightly (I could feel it in my seat) - this was before the new tires, but I was wondering if that would suggest anything to anyone here? Maybe the rear end has a "wobble" in it? Is that possible?

Thanks.

Alan
 
#23 ·
In addition to a belt seperation, you may also have a bent wheel, rear axle (or flange) or a front hub bent or out of round.

You need to jack it up and check each wheel as it turns and notice anything out of round (or side to side wobble. It may be something as simple as a tire bead having not seated properly when mounted.
 
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