Old Car Safety

[SmithKid]

Old car safety
Dennis, for what it's worth: I was considering the installation of a limited slip rear end. I actually had talked with Larry about acquiring his 8" take-out. I've had them before, and currently have one in my little truck (Ranger 4x4, but that's for a different reason). I do not race any more, and with my Falcon I NEVER do standing start burnouts. Though I DO like to run it through the gears , the most it does is "chirp" the tires on shift now and then on dry surfaces. That's enough to make me happy and seems to put a big on my face every time. So I decided to not do the conversion. I think the most I will do is put on a set of T-bars of some sort the control the wrap-up, but that's for the future. Not to tell you what to do, but I feel a limited slip would be a waste of $$$ for you too.

[ew1usnr]

[B]Not to tell you what to do, but I feel a limited slip would be a waste of $$$ for you too.

Hello, Gene, Larry, & Don.

I retrieved The Wonder Falcon from the mechanic's shop yesterday after work. I did not want to test drive it during Friday evening rush-hour traffic, but I did not not hear any sound from the back end on the drive home. I'll take it out later this morning and run it up to 75 mph in the Interstate and see how it does.

The mechanic did not change the ring and pinon gear. He said that they were OK, but he had adjusted them closer to make up for wear.

He replaced the bearings in the differential and the wheel bearings.

He sent the drive shaft out to have it balanced and they also installed new universal joints. The mechanic said that when the drive shaft went out it had a big weight on it and when it came back it had a smaller weight.

They also fixed an exhaust leak and re-built the front brakes.

The invoice showed the following parts numbers:

Outer Axle Bearing (2) RW207CCRA
Rear Axle Seals (2) 13700
Pinion Oil Seal 18100
Differential Gasket Set RDS13270
Carrier Bearing Kit (Master Kit) SDK310MK
Front Brake Shoes TS TS154

Here are the parts descriptions:

SKF Differential Kits SKF differential kits come in either a standard kit or a master kit (MK). Standard differential kits from SKF contain all the components needed for a complete repair, including: •Pinion bearings •Differential bearings •Pinion seal •Pinion nut •Crush sleeve (where applicable) •Gear marking compound and brush •Thread locker •Silicone sealant. Master differential kits from SKF contain all the elements that come with the standard differential kits, as well as: •Pinion shims (where applicable) •Pinion adjusting shims •Differential shims •Ring gear bolts. 36-month/45,000 mile warranty.

Pinion Seal 18100 Spring Loaded, SKF Patented Bi-Directional Wave Seal, Positive Fluid Control, High Quality General Purpose Rubber, Temps from -40 Deg F to 250 Deg F.

NAPA Proformer Brake Shoes TS TS154. Brake Shoe Friction Material Attachment : Bonded
Brake Size : 10" x 2.25". Features and Benefits: Basic Reliable Friction.
Premium Friction Materials - Restores Braking To Premium Performance Levels.

[ew1usnr]

It was 53° and mostly cloudy at 9:00. I ran the car up I-75 for 25 miles and then turned around.

On the good side:
The brake squeal, the low speed wobble, the flutter sound from the exhaust leak, and the loud gear whine from the differential are all gone. The car runs great at 70 mph.

On the disappointing side:
I still notice a vibration in the 55 - 65 mph range that is not there at other speeds. The vibration is most obvious while speeding up or slowing down through that speed range. The vibration is reduced from what it was previously, but it is still noticeable. The vibration decreases, however, if the speed is held steady while at at 60 - 65 mph.

I'm just going to drive the car and not worry about it.

[Jeff W]

N

On the disappointing side:
I still notice a vibration in the 55 - 65 mph that is not there at other speeds. The vibration is most obvious while speeding up or slowing down through that speed range. The vibration is reduced from what it was previously, but it is still noticeable. The vibration decreases, however, if the speed is held steady while at at 60 - 65 mph.

I'm just going to drive the car and not worry about it.

Maybe something easy like a wheel weight fell off. You could swap front to rear wheels and see if it changes. Free test.

Mine vibrates so bad I can't see anything in the rear view mirror. My strut bar rubbers are mostly missing, loose tie rod ends, need to check the u-joints... I have most of the front end rebuild parts on my bench.

It's all on my list, sadly when new items get added to the list, they are added to the top. Today it says, build cabinet doors for the built in book cases and China hutch. My home was built in 1913 and suffered from neglect for most of it's life. Oh, and I will be helping my 10 year old build a covered wagon model for her "Oregon Trail" unit at school. Fun stuff but little progress on the Falcon

[ew1usnr]

Maybe something easy like a wheel weight fell off. You could swap front to rear wheels and see if it changes. Free test.

I will be helping my 10 year old build a covered wagon model for her "Oregon Trail" unit at school. Fun stuff but little progress on the Falcon

Hello, Jeff.

Helping your ten year old is by far your most important project. I would like to see a photo of the covered wagon.

You are right. I was thinking that maybe the vibration could be related to either the tires or the wheels.

[dhbfaster]

Dennis, how old are your tires?

[ew1usnr]

Dennis, how old are your tires?

Hello, Don.

I bought a set of five Milestar P175/80R13 tires on 8/04/12 and have about 13,500 miles on them.

But, I didn't get a front end alignment until 4,000 miles ago and the front tires were badly worn on the inner edges. I then rotated the worn tires to the back. The tires are therefore not that old, but they are not in the best of shape either.

I hope to put maybe another 15,000 miles on these tires and then replace them with a set of bigger P185/80R13 tires.

****
Update: I read this post on a Mustang board. His situations sounds very similar to mine. The conclusions were that he needs an alignment, two new rear tires, and a wheel balance. I could buy one new P175/80R13 tire, and use it and the almost new spare to replace the two mis-worn rear tires, and keep the better of the two worn rear tires for a spare.

"My car. 2010 v6 vert with 72k miles.

Okay so I put new 19 inch wheels with the front tires brand new and the rears evenly warn but down but not yet to the wear bars. Before I put these wheels on the car had an alignment problem where the inner fronts were wearing slightly.

Well I put the 19 inch wheels with the tires on and the steering wheel wobbled at 60mph and disappeared at 70 mph and the car pulled left and right. (Note now that I installed new brakes but didn't turn rotors about 1,000 miles before all this)

So I thought to myself since I put the new wheels on "oh I just need my wheels balanced and aligned"
Took it to a famous shop the whole valley loves. this is what they said I need to fix the wheel shake and pulling left and right: Note below all this includes labor.

1. Front end alignment only ($110, really? Just for the front?)
2.Caster bolt kit, said that since my car was newer it requires a new kit.
3. Two new rear tires ($450 why? They wore evenly, they are on the rear, and have about 40 percent left. how would that effect the handling? I can get two new tires from Goodyear or perreli for $120 each)
4. New front brake pads and rotors. They said I needed new rotors as they looked worn, which I can agree, they should have been turned, but never had a vibration issue previously. New pads cause they would have to shave the "old" ones I just replaced to make them even with the new rotor so they said they might as well replace them?($525 for front. which is absurd. I can do all that including ceramics with new rotors all around myself for $180)
5. Brake fluid flush. I know what worn fluid looks like, mine is a light vegetable oil color, not like tea. Said my brakes pulsed and that will assist in the vibration when I brake (which is near non existent) ($110 for flush. Ouch)

So, basically, they said all this would fix my small vibration at 60 mph and my slight left and right pull."

[ew1usnr]

I still notice a vibration in the 55 - 65 mph range that is not there at other speeds.

Olin Mott tire shop says: "Is your vehicle vibrating at certain speeds, say, between 50 and 70 mph? If so, chances are your wheel is out of balance. Look for these signs, and if you find either one, come see us:
Scalloped, erratic wear pattern on tires.
Vibration in steering wheel, seat, or floorboard at certain speeds."

See: http://www.olinmott.com/service-desc...heel-balancing

They were describing my problem exactly. I went there yesterday to have my new tire mounted and had all five wheels balanced.

The bad news was that they said that the two left wheels were out of round.
The good news is now that the problem has been identified it can be fixed.

When they spun one of the the wheels I could visually see that it was not quite round. They recommended against moving the tires off those two wheels because the tires would have worn to the shape of the out of round wheel. They put the new tire on the wheel that was in the trunk and put it on the left front. The previous left front wheel went in the trunk, and the two rear wheels were swapped to opposite sides. This put two good wheels on the front, one bad wheel on the right rear farthest from the driver, and the other bad wheel in the trunk as a spare.

That made a big immediate improvement to the feel of the car. It is nice to drive without the steering wheel vibrating.

So, .... I need two good 13-inch 5-lug wheels. The February National Falcon magazine listed an ad from a guy in Colorado who has those wheels for $50 each. I just sent him a request and asked how much they will be with postage.

It will be fantastic if I can get this car to run vibration-free at highway speeds.

[ew1usnr]

It will be fantastic if I can get this car to run vibration-free at highway speeds.

The car had been shaking at between 55 and 65 mph.

I drove the car at 60 mph (dead center of the previous shake zone) and there was not any shaking. Yay!!

After balancing the wheels and putting two new tires on the front end, there was nothing to feel at 60 mph that was any different that at 50 mph.

The Wonder Falcon runs really nice now. Smooth and quiet at all speeds.

It took me 3 1/2 years of fiddling to get it to this point.

[dhbfaster]

Nice!,