----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Peca" <sppchicago@excite.com>
To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 10:14
Subject: Shudder While Driving
The shudder occurs about 40mph and continues to about 50mph, at which speed
it somewhat
smooths out. At lower speeds there is no (perceptable) shudder.
>
> What is the problem? Do I simply need to balance the wheels? (Easy
> enough.) Or does the shudder involve something else? I've read about a
> driveshaft being out of balance causing a shudder. Could this be the
> problem? How do I check for an out of balance driveshaft? I have also
read
> from this board about balancing a drive shaft with hose clamps. Does this
> work? How do you know where to place the clamps?
> Steve Peca
> Franklin Twp, New Jersey
> 1958 TR3A - TS23867L
Others can correct me if I'm wrong but if the vibration goes away the faster
you go, check your wheels. They either need balancing or they are not
straight.
In my case, the driveshaft was the problem and believe me, the vibration
didn't go away with speed!!!
As far as driveshaft balancing with hose clamps, here's what I sent last
summer:
Here it is.
What told me that the driveshaft was the problem was that I could see the
rear part of it vibrate I high speed (35mph+). The front looked OK. After
stopping the shaft from spinning, I noticed some weights (flat pieces of
metal) welded (probably from factory - I don't know for sure) on one side of
the shaft. That when I thought of adding my own weights.
Now, where to put the weights. Since the shaft was vibrating, that meant
that it wasn't centered. So what I did is asked my wife to start the engine,
put it in fourth gear and spin the wheel to reach around 50mph (the car was
securely jacked up of course!!!). Lying on my back under the shaft with a
piece of chalk, I used the frame as a solid pivot point and slowly got the
tip closer to the spinning shaft. When I got close enough, the tip off the
piece if chalk touched the shaft slightly only part of the way around the
shaft.
I then asked my wife to stop the engine and there it was, a nice little
mark, about 1 inch long on the shaft, telling me which side was "too heavy".
I put my hose clamps on the shaft with the screw part 180 degrees away from
the mark.
That was my starting point. Started the engine, put in fourth gear and
revved up. Already better. Added two clamps. Tried again - better. Tried
to move the weights a few degrees left and right to see if it was better or
not. Once I got the best results, I just added more clamps, along side the
first ones until I got an ALMOST vibrating free shaft all the way up to
90mph.
This is only a temporary solution. I plan to have my driveshaft properly
balanced this summer.
HTH
Steph
Ottawa, Canada
'69 Spit - Hers (Can't wait for Spring!!!)
'71 TR6 - Mine (In thousands of pieces!)
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