My bothersome shimmy went away. Yay!

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cruiser

cruiser

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MOPAR brethren (and sisterhood): I'm posting the following for what it's worth, in the hopes that it may help someone else. My 1974 Duster that I bought in 2019 with 238K miles had a noticeable shimmy (wobble) in the steering wheel above 55 mph. You could also feel the wobble in the car the faster you drove. I had all four wheels rebalanced, but that didn't help. The only front end components that weren't factory original were the lower ball joints. What did help was rebuilding the front end. By replacing the upper and lower ball joints, control arm bushings, tie rods and their ends, the stabilizer link bushings, the steering arm and the idler arm, the wobble and shimmy have completely disappeared. So if you have a persistent shaking problem in your front end that won't go away by balancing the tires, a front end rebuild is probably necessary. I'm extremely happy with my car, which now drives smoothly and shimmy free. Just like a brand new Duster. Something to consider if your car has the same problem that mine did. Good luck!
 
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Congratulations, it feels so good when you finally correct a nagging problem.
 
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cruiser said:
MOPAR brethren (and sisterhood): I'm posting the following for what it's worth, in the hopes that it may help someone else. My 1974 Duster that I bought in 2019 with 238K miles had a noticeable shimmy (wobble) in the steering wheel above 55 mph. You could also feel the wobble in the car the faster you drove. I had all four wheels rebalanced, but that didn't help. The only front end components that weren't factory original were the lower ball joints. What did help was rebuilding the front end. Between the new upper and lower ball joints, control arm bushings, tie rods and their ends, the stabilizer link bushings, the steering arm, and the idler arm, the wobble and shimmy has completely disappeared. So if you have a persistent shaking problem in your front end that won't go away by balancing the tires, a front end rebuild is probably necessary. I'm extremely happy with my car, which now drives smoothly and shimmy free. Just like a brand new Duster. Something to consider if your car has the same problem that mine did. Good luck!
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Awesome! You just keep makin progress on it. That's a dang nice Car, too! Gettin better all the time!
 
RustyRatRod said:
Awesome! You just keep makin progress on it. That's a dang nice Car, too! Gettin better all the time!
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Thanks, Rusty. I could never buy one of these new back in the day. I've always wondered what a factory fresh Duster would drive like, and now I know with the new front end. But I had to very carefully pick the right car to restore before purchasing it. This one was from Portland OR and very original and unmolested, so it's been easy to bring it back. Amazingly free from squeaks and rattles for a 48 year old car. Doors open and close like they were new. I've got some minor carbueration problems (rough idle), but otherwise there's very little left to fix on it. Plymouth built them well back in the day.
 
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