pfeinauer

Hey everyone,

I have an outstanding thread about engine performance, but thought I'd make a new one with a shimmy I'm having.

I have a 1994 Ford Club Wagon with the 7.5L 460 V8 in it. I'm experiencing a very bad shimmying / shaking when I get between 45-65ish MPH. When I go around a bend (to the left I just noticed today) the shimmying will usually stop. Sometimes, it only shimmies for 15-20 seconds, then stops as well (same speed, going straight).

I first suspected wheel alighment, but the shop said my alignment was perfect. I then suspected tires, but got them rotated, and my shop said the tires wouldn't be having this bad effect. The shop mentioned it could be my suspension linkage is loose. I've never heard of this before, and just wanted to ask you guys what you thought about that. What type of shop can fix this, or is this something I can just jack up the car and tighten a few bolts?

Here is my alignment report:

Front Left: .4 Camber, 4.0 Caster, 0.00 Toe
Front Right: .3 Camber, 4.3 Caster, -0.04 Toe
Total toe: -0.04, Street Ahead 0.02

Back Left: 0.0 Camber, .40 Toe
Back Right: -0.1 Camber, -0.19 Toe
Total Toe: 0.21 Thrust Angle 0.30

Please advise. Thank you!

RobbyEMT

If you only have the shimmy when your going around a turn I would bet the house it's a wheel bearing. This can be difficult to determine exactly what wheel it's coming from. There's several ways to attempt to find this. Obviously driving the vehicle and if you have a good ear, listen to where it is coming from. One is to jack up both sides of the vehicle and use a large bar and see if you can lift up on the wheel while you put it in gear and give it some rpm/s. got to run...sorry

pfeinauer

Thanks for the response.

When I first took the van to pep boys, they checked both front wheels, and needed to replace the right wheel bearing when they did the brakes.

I've had another mechanic look at it, and state that the alignment numbers are totally fine. My tires are balanced, and have even tread wear. So it has to be something with the suspension.

Is it possible that some of the bushings have just gone bad? The van was sitting for a while before I took ownership (2-3 years). What could I look for in the suspension that could cause this?

-Pat