74 Thing Shimmy

[Honky]

I recently acquired this car and it has a shimmy that increases when you go over a bump. On closer inspection today with the gas tank and the front end up on blocks , when grabbing the drivers side front tire @ 3& 9 oclock you could feel the play but nothing seems to be moving out of sorts with the tie rods or ball joints or steering box arm. It has a new steering damper. I checked the wheel bearings and they are tight and the drum is not loose. I see other responses to try tire balancing but i wonder if I can feel the play it must be something else. The car only has 55,000 miles on it and has been sitting about 5 years.
Thanks for any help

[Kubelmann]

Here is a thought.... Your front end has torsion tubes. Inside the torsion tubes are torsion springs.. the ten torsion springs when stacked together have an indentationm ground into the endge of the group of springs. In the torsion tube there are grub screws which hold the torsion spirngs in place and the torsion arms are alos held in place with thes grub screws. If you have a loose or missing grub screw that could cause your excess free play. Also check to see if your end grease seals are missing, damaged or worn. That also could cause excessive end play. If all o fthe other stuff is good as you have diagnosed the grub screw and end seal is a good place to look for trouble. You could also have worn torsion arms. But that is less common than the other issues I have mentioned.


Wheel Bearing in good condition and properly tightened
Steering damper in good condition
Wheels properly balanced and not bent
Tires in good shape and not out of round or so hard from age that they wobble.
Worn or damaged tie rods ends or ball joints
Steering box issues including damaged or loose pitman arm

[Honky]

I was able to adjust out the excess play in the steering box to about 1". I took the 4 wheels down and had them balanced and will move the rears to front and try that and see what happens. The seals are good. Since the car only has 55000 miles I am looking for the stupid stuff first. Grub screws I will look at too. Thanks for the reply. Hope this is the end of it.

[74 Thing]

My money would be on out of round wheels, bad tires (tires should be replaced every so often regardless of mileage-check the manufactured date on the sidewall of the tire, or ball joints need replacing-these have all caused me problems at one time or another.

Also check the air pressure and play with that up or down from say 20 to 25 and then up to 30 lbs.

Good luck.

[Honky]

Thanks for the reply. I am por15ing the front end and then I will put it back together and see if rebalanced wheels and lower tire pressure make any difference. I have been runnning at 30 lbs in the front but i see the low 20's is recommended for the fronts. I wil start with 22lbs and see how it goes. This sure is some thing

[tooter]

Also, just for fun... I had a similar problem. I discovered that getting the REINFORCED tires, NOT Passenger tires, really helped alot! Then follow the inflation spec on the sticker under the trunk hood. 18 psi Front, 28 psi Rear, if I remember right. The R in tire size means REINFORCED tires like what they use on the Eurovan/Vanagon/Bus.

The people that put my Passenger tires on, said they fit ... etc... DIDN'T have the correct adapter for the balance machine to fit the wide 5 Porsche Style wheels of the Thing and early Bugs. So, not only were the tires incorrect, but they "ballparked" the balance. I finally had my tires done at Coker Tire, a company that specializes in collectable autos, put on the Vanco 8 tires I got from Coninental. A WORLD of difference!

Through the course of their tire install, they kindly checked my rims for round. And they were out. I had this fixed as well. So, now I'm riding very smooth...we'll as smooth as a Thing can possibly get I think.

So - Check Tires for Size and Inflation. 2) Check Ball Joints 3)Check Shocks, 4) Check Bearings, 5) Check Rods, 6) Check Steering Box (There are TWO adjustments!! Above and Below!)

Once all that is at spec, or as close to spec as at 30 year old car can be, then you should be fine.

[Honky]

Thanks for the reply. I am aware of the top adjustment on the steering box. what is the bottom one for and where is the adjuster.

[Bruce2]

... I had a similar problem. I discovered that getting the REINFORCED tires, NOT Passenger tires,..... The R in tire size means REINFORCED tires like what they use on the Eurovan/Vanagon/Bus.

The R means Radial, nothing more.

[tooter]

Yes YOU are absolutely CORRECT...IF... there is no letter BEFORE the R in the tire size. Go back in time 30 years, they've changed. In the case of the sticker inside the trunk 185 SR 14 = 185 Sidewall Reinforced 14. I think you are referring to the current alphanumeric layout. P185 R14S = Passenger car 185 Radial 14" S (speed rating S = 112 mph max). LT185 R14 is a Light Truck tire 185 Radial 14. LT replaces SR as does 185 R14 C = 185, 14", Load Range C. All these LT, C mean Sidewall Reinfoced today... according to the Good Year/Continental dealer across the street from work. Of course maybe SR = Sidwall reinforced, Radial back then too...?

[tooter]

With regard to the bottom steering box adjustment: Crawl under, look up at the bottom of the box. You'll see a huge version of what the top adjustment looks like. These take special tools, so I had someone do mine for me.

[Bruce2]

... 185 SR 14 = 185 Sidewall Reinforced 14.

In that size, the S is the speed rating, R means radial.

[tooter]

Tire Size number and letter meanings in DOT order.

First set of Letters = Designates Vehicle application type (Example P or LT)
Next set of Numbers = Width
/ = a slash
Next 2 numbers = Aspect Ratio
R = Radial (In this position, yes R - Radial)
Next set of numbers = Wheel Diameter
Next Letter = Load Rating
Next Letter = Speed Rating

The letters and numbers on the sticker inside the trunk of the Thing PREDATE the above. What is on your car, in the manual is different.

[Scamutz]

I finally had my tires done at Coker Tire, a company that specializes in collectable autos, put on the Vanco 8 tires I got from Coninental. A WORLD of difference!

Through the course of their tire install, they kindly checked my rims for round. And they were out. I had this fixed as well. So, now I'm riding very smooth...we'll as smooth as a Thing can possibly get I think.

How did you go about doing this? Do you live near Coker Tire...did you mail the wheels to them?

TIA

[Honky]

Well I may have pinned down hte shimmy. The Steering column has play in the tube. It allows the steering wheel to move up and down 1 inch and side to side maybe half that. The donut at the bottom is good no play there it is at top of the column. The large nut is tight just seems like the shaft is loose at the top in the column . Is there a way to center this and tighten it up. Nothing in the Bentley about it.