From: Bill & Bonnie Prestin (Bprestin@tir.com)
Date: Sun Apr 14 2002 - 21:48:42 PDT
Hi everyone, I have a question about 2 1/2 ton M35 series trucks.
I have an older M35 (1952 Studebaker) I have a problem with the
steering. When driving the truck along at speed (35mph+) if I hit a good
sized bump in the road the front end will start to shimmy back and forth
quite violently! It keeps this up until I slow down to about 20mph. Then it
goes away. I can then speed back up and drive along just fine as long as I
don't hit another bump.
A little history on the truck. I bought it in Marquette, Mi. and drove
it south to my house (several hundred miles) and never noticed this problem.
I had the tie rod off during the rebuild of the truck but did not adjust or
change the ends as they felt tight. I only replaced the rubber boots on the
tie rod. I also had the entire front suspension apart to work on the
springs. axle, etc. I have also installed a NOS steering gearbox during the
rebuild.
Could alignment cause this problem? Can a truck shop perform this on a
deuce? Could the backlash adjustment in the steering gearbox be the problem.
How do you adjust that? Could the amount I tightened the drag link ends
cause this? How tight should they be?
I also put one of those air powered power steering kits on the truck.
This aggravated the problem. I was hoping it would help but it got worse.
Also what type of oil goes in that steering gearbox?
I was hoping to take the truck to some shows this summer but I have to solve
this problem first. The shimmy is bad enough I could lose the truck if it
happened on a curve, or a hill.
Thanks, I hope there is a real M35 Guru out there. If not maybe someone can
tell me who to call?
Thanks,
Bill Prestin
P.S. If you want to see a picture of the truck (It is rather unusual) look
at the home page of www.studebakerdriversclub.com
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