I'm always amazed when we get one of these outbreaks of scuttle shake
discussions, and the lengths to which so many people have to go to eliminate
it.
The first ten years that I owned and drove my BT7, it wore various worn and
mismatched tires, old used wire wheels, two of which stripped and were
replaced by other used wheels, totally worn out lever shocks, cracked and
sometimes missing front end bushes, and god knows how long it had been since a
front end rebuild, and rear drums that I had never touched. -Anytime a wheel
or tire was replaced it was simply static balanced. ---and in all of that
time, if there was any shake or shimmy, it was very mild, and only occurred
over 80-85 mph.
Since then, everything is new. Completely rebuilt restored front end, all new
tires and wheels, new drums (not balanced), and rebuilt restored shocks.
Michelin tall profile tires, bought from Hendrix, but mounted and static
balanced locally. -Naturally the car rides and handles better, -but even with
all of the new gear, with no special measures taken, ---no shake up through 80
mph.
The only other pertinent point I can think of is that while I did have to
replace one outrigger for a small hole, and the sills on one side and rockers,
the frame itself was extremely straight and solid.
If scuttle shake were inherent in the design of the car, unless special
measures were taken, -I would think that I'd have had it. Even if I were
lucky, I would expect that some of the combinations I've had on the car would
have produced shake...
It makes me wonder what percentage of these cars seem to exhibit this
sensitivity to factors which can cause scuttle shake. -It would appear that
not all of them are prone to it.
Dave Jones.
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