Early a body / body shake

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cudaute

cudaute

cudaute
Joined
Oct 6, 2009
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Location
Arvada, Colorado
I have several early a bodies the bodies wobble between 25 and30 mph on al all of them I have rebuilt the front ends even put in c body tie rod ends and disc brake on Couple but still wobble. The only thing in common is the ball and trunion front u joint. The are expensive if you can find them. how hard to convert to standard u joint like the rear?
 
I had '64 Newport that did that everytime upon take off a certain speeds.
Later turned out to be the wornout/oilsoaked transmission mount that caused it. Or at least, a new mount solved it.
 
Drive line shops are using flange slip joints like found on 4x4 front driveshafts replacing the B&T. The photo is a 64 Belvedere 727 tranny. I also had my 63 Valiant done.
 

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I converted my 65 barracuda formula s to modern u joint driveshaft. It was simple to have one custom made by a local shop that specialized in driveshaft repairs. I went there talked to them about my desire, left my car and next day it was done. Most type shops have the parts, metal works and desire to work on old cars like ours. It is not that difficult to do just needs to match the length exactly and fit the transmission and front end in use. Mine had an 8.25 rear and a modern disc brake kit installed, prior to the u joint install driveshaft.

65 cudalover
 
Well I checked out rock auto tranny mounts were 7 bucks a piece I ordered 4 of them for that price. Put 1 in my 65 Barracuda NO MORE SHAKE.So i did it to my 65 Valiant Convertible which shook real bad, Cured it. So I did my 64 wagon too. About 1/2 hour each Piece of cake. The only diferrence was the old mounts had 2 posts attached to the crossover brace while the new one had only a single stud. Seems to work. Alignment shop said it was the U joints. I just greased up the Detroit one and replaced the rear, that only helped a little, but the tranny mount did the trick. Thanks
 
The ball & trunion U-joint is not impossible to find. You just need to search for the proper PN's. I posted those in the last year. I found the GMB PN on e-bay recently. I was thinking of buying one to flip, since $68 I recall and some here might pay $200. Anyway, set for life myself, so I posted the PN for everyone. It wasn't just Mopar's that used those "Detroit joints". Jeeps used them too and those guys pioneered the switch to the in-line sliding yoke. BTW, the original U-joints rarely fail if you maintain the rubber boot and grease. Some use a VW rear axle 2-piece boot replacement.
 
Bullet proof (actually, Hemi proof!) keep 'em greased.
 
My 65 Newport used to wobble, kind of a right rear to left front tilting motion. It was most noticeable ~10 mph. Indeed, a co-worker driving behind me said she could see it. Started after an accident where the car slid sideways down an embankment (pulling a trailer). After I replaced the steel rims with alloys, no more wobble, so the wheels must have been bent. In my experience, such wobbles are usually out-of-round tires or wheels. If the car has been sitting, the tires can get flat spots.
 
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