Hi Thom,
I don't know much about TRs, but this should apply pretty much to any car:
IMHO shimmy on non-MacPherson front susp cars is usually due to wheels and
tyres out of balance. So I'd have those balanced again.
If it still shimmies, your hub/disc could be out of balance. Check for wheel
bearing and damaged disc (rotor).
I think most other things, like bad shocks, worn suspension bushes and
steering would merely fail to damp a shimmy which is already occurring in
the rotating components. Unless the suspension bushes are so bad and the
toe-in so far out that the wheel is flopping in and out.
Your lean: if it's leaning on the passenger side, it must be quite bad, as
it's normal for old cars to lean on the driver's side, which is where most
weight is, obviously. So if the car is, say, down an inch on the pass side
in relation to the driver's side, then it could be down two inches in
absolute terms. This could be a broken spring at the front or a broken leaf
at the back, assuming the chassis is solid. Or maybe just the wrong
spring(s) fitted to one side or the other. Or to cure the driver's side
lean, a previous owner has fitted a new spring to the driver's side, which
is less saggy than the old one on the pass side. Check for broken springs,
if OK but it still bothers you, buy new springs in matched pairs.
Hope this helps a bit,
Paul
> Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 21:00:53 +0100
> From: thom kuby <thomkuby@iwvisp.com>
> Subject: It's a leaner...
>
> Greetings,
>
> Yes...again. I'm getting much closer to resolving this
> "shimmying & sloppy
> steering" bugaboo. Unfortunately, we're not there yet.
>
> Since the last time I queried this great list, I've tightened up the
> steering box (via the adjustment screw on top of the steering
> box. I have
> NOT yet played around with the shim setup...) and the
> steering has improved
> immensely...nowhere near the amount of slop I had before.
>
> But...the damn thing still has a shimmy - only occurs around
> 60mhp. please
> recall; I've rebuilt the ENTIRE front end. During the initial
> rebuild, I
> left the steering box alone, which alot of you told me I
> shouldn't have
> done (and I sorta thought that before)...so, I went back in there and
> performed this first adjustment. The good news is that it
> does not appear
> that this steering box is the problem. The box looks like
> its' in pretty
> good shape; no wear on the adjustment screw anyway and plenty
> of oil in it.
>
> Anyway, Now, I'm thinking the wheel and tire setup might be
> at fault. I've
> recommended to the owner that he look into some top quality tires like
> Michelins, (or whatever else was std equipment on these
> things). right now
> he has some cheap tires on it, and the steel wheels were
> always suspect. I
> understand that the PO drove this car hard, and off the
> highway, through
> the mojave desert, where I live.
>
> But...aside from the wheel/tire factor, I have noticed
> something else just
> looking at the car tonight...
>
> This thing LEANS...to the left (pass side). Not much, but its' there.
>
> My questions are:
> 1. bad spring? and would this contribute to shimmy'ing? I
> did NOT replace
> the springs on this job.
> 2. I put oem front shocks back on it...should I have gone with Konis?
> again, are these shocks junk? and would contribute to this problem?
> 3. or, are these cars THAT squirrely to begin with? (I would
> find that
> hard to believe...)
> I set the front-end toe, camber, according to the numbers in
> the manual
> (I'm using the Bentley repro of the factory pub.).
> 4. Are these numbers correct?
> 5. are some other tricks to getting this geometry right?
> 6. Is there a quick way to determine if the frame itself is
> tweaked up?
>
> Any comments?
> please help...we're getting closer to getting this thing
> resolved and this
> list has been a huge help. Please remember-we have STEEL
> wheels on it, not
> wires.
>
> Again, the car's owner and I thank you in advance...
>
> Cheers
> Thom Kuby
> Porsche freak, with a TR3 in his garage
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of british-cars-digest V1 #96
> *********************************
>
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