[TR] Shaking TR3

[Jerry Van Vlack]

Well you have certainly taken all of the correct precautions but I stand by 
my original thought. It's the wire wheels.
JVV
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William Brewer" <wsb1960tr3a at att.net>
To: "Triumphs" <triumphs at autox.team.net>; "Jerry Van Vlack" 
<jerryvv at roadrunner.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: [TR] Shaking TR3


     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