[TR] Shaking TR3

[William Brewer]

     I ran original factory steel wheels for about 15 years. I had the wheels
checked for true-ness and they were straight. I bought the polished stainless
steel 60 spoke Daytons and had new Vredesteins mounted at British Wire Wheel
with new splined hubs. I hang out the side of the car to check the wheels
sometimes while driving and they appear true.
     Maybe I should have got
Panasports or Minilite replicas instead.

     -Bill in Tehachapi


--- On
Thu, 6/16/11, Jerry Van Vlack <jerryvv at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> From: Jerry
Van Vlack <jerryvv at roadrunner.com>
> Subject: Re: [TR] Shaking TR3
> To:
"William Brewer" <wsb1960tr3a at att.net>, "Triumphs" <triumphs at autox.team.net>
>
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2011, 3:20 PM
> At the end of the day I think that
>
you'll find that it's the wire wheels. Can you find someone
> who does on the
car balancing? That may improve things a
> bit. I'd also suggest trying a set
of solid wheels and
> tires. I must caution however that you don't get much
stud
> and bolt engagement (thread length) doing that and then
> driving up to
60mph is risky. That and you don't know how
> well they are balance either but
if you noticed a change it
> could steer you in the right direction.
> 
> I
changed from wires to Panasports on my 4A and 29 years of
> vibration and
shaking disappeared. My wire were old however
> but they were maintained.
> 
>
JVV
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Brewer"
<wsb1960tr3a at att.net>
> To: "Triumphs" <triumphs at autox.team.net>
> Sent:
Thursday, June 16, 2011 5:20 PM
> Subject: [TR] Shaking TR3
> 
> 
> >     So
the entire time I have
> driven my TR3A (19 years) I have been trying to
> >
get it to ride smoother, especially in the front end.
> It is very smooth to
>
> about 45 mph and then it gets shaking and wobbly from
> 45 to about 60 or so
and
> > then smooths out again. The car has been a rolling
> restoration and
things have
> > been changed out and upgraded continually. It has new
> rear
springs with solid
> > bushings, new wheels and balanced tires from British
>
Wire Wheel, R&P steering,
> > new trunnions, shocks, urethane upper A-arm
bushings,
> new upper A-arm mounts,
> > ball joints, new lower bushings,
alignment, more wheel
> balancing, steering
> > column bushings. Nothing has
proven to be the silver
> bullet. The only thing I
> > haven't changed out or
checked recently is the wheel
> bearings themselves or
> > maybe the shocks
and shock bushings (although they
> look fine to me). I am
> > thinking of
putting a dial indicator on the wheel hub
> and wheels to measure
> > runout.
I may check the rear wheel
> > alignment, but I bet there is
> > nothing wrong
with it.
> >     ISTR some
> > Australian website where the guy made a welded
steel
> frame to reinforce the
> > firewall to minimize cowl flex. That seems
a little
> extreme and unnecessary.
> > 
> >   I can't imagine that they rode
this
> rough when new. Back in the 50's with
> > the American land yacht cars
rolling down the road it
> seems like people would
> > have expected a
smoother ride out of a new Triumph.
> >     Among other things,
> > I do
flight test data acquisition systems. I've been
> crazy enough that I have
> >
thought about setting up a labjack system (http://labjack.com) to measure
> >
acceleration, but the accelerometers  are too
> expensive (the cheapest are
>
> about $500 apiece). Maybe I can borrow some from
> work...
> >     Any other
ideas?
> > I may borrow another TR3 that was recently ground-up
> restored to
see if it
> > rides better.
> >     ISTR threads on this in the
> past.
> > 
>
>     -Bill in
> > Tehachapi