Chevrolet C60s - Front Wheel "shimmy"

[Lynn Eades]

John, do you have a smart phone?
I have a Samsung S5. I have downloaded a clinometer app.
Make sure your veh. is on level ground and then lay the edge of the phone against your spirit level.
Does that help?

[cordenj]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

John, do you have a smart phone?
I have a Samsung S5. I have downloaded a clinometer app.
Make sure your veh. is on level ground and then lay the edge of the phone against your spirit level.
Does that help?

Thanks Lynn,

Good idea. I dont have a smartphone but my children do

[cordenj]

Some more progress tonight

Picked up two wheels and "round shouldered" 11x20s from James's LAAT. Identical tyres to my troublesome set, thought it was worth a try to see how they went but was expecting bad shimmy.
Fitted these to the Chev.
Replaced 6-degree wedges with 3-degree versions


Test drive on James's tyres and they performed the same as Neil's . i.e. ran well at reasonable speeds, some minor shimmy when hit a pothole but controllable.
Removed these wheels tonight (as not fit for a long run) and Chev on blocks ready for new tyres in a couple of weeks.

So it means that my first replacement ex-Bedford RL tyres were probably a major part of the issue.....don't know why as look to be a better set than the ones I've trialled tonight.
But truck is also now running 3-degree wedges, new Pivot bearings on one side and numerous other tweaks and adjustments.

As a previous poster suggested....shimmy is probably due to a range of minor issues that cumulatively cause the violent reaction.

Am also going to tweak up the steering box as per the manual. Seems to me I need a 2x2/3" spanner....any recommended work arounds? I see previous owners have used a hammer and chisel, but don't want to follow suit.

Plan to investigate new springs later in Summer/Autumn

Thanks everyone for all the ideas, support and comments

[hrpearce]

In my experience big spanners are too expensive for one off jobs. The easiest way to manage the nut and screw on the Chev steering box is to weld two bits of flat to a bar to make a spanner and drill a hole between the flats for screw driver access to hold the bolt steady.

[cordenj]

Originally Posted by hrpearce

In my experience big spanners are too expensive for one off jobs. The easiest way to manage the nut and screw on the Chev steering box is to weld two bits of flat to a bar to make a spanner and drill a hole between the flats for screw driver access to hold the bolt steady.

Thanks Robert,

I had come to same conclusion. Then found that a Fan Clutch Hub Spanner, for the MERCEDES AT174 is 65mm and available as a special tool from Ebay for £5. I doubt the nut is massively tight on the chev, so will try one of these.