What's with my shaking car?

[Guest Pegasus76]

alright, ehre is the deal fellow Datsun buddies Everytime I take my car above 50 or so, it starts shakign erratically. Do you think I should swap out the rearend? anyone else have this problem? I have a 1976 280Z with a 73 camaro 350

[Tim240z]

Is the whole car shaking or the steering wheel.

 

Check the wheel balance, maybe you threw a weight.

If the steering wheel is shaking, then it's the fronts, if the whole car, then the rears. Does it go away at higher than 50MPH?

Wheels should be rebalanced at least every 10k miles.

Tim

[Guest Pegasus76]

It seems to get worst at higher speeds and the steering wheel shakes like mad? So what should I do with the front?

[Pop N Wood]

Hard to diagnose over the board. You need to do a general front end check before looking for specific causes.

 

Check all the front end components for play. Tie rod ends, ball joints strut mounting bolts and gland nuts, wheel bearings and steering rack bushings. Check to see that the struts are still working properly. While your at it, check for play in the steering rack itself and/or the steering column U joints and coupler.

 

Next check your tires. Any uneven wear? If they are new tires could they be out of round? Check the tire pressure. Check the rims to see if you might have bent one on a curb or pothole. Are the lug nuts tight? Finally, rotate and balance the wheels.

 

When was your last alignment? A good alignment shop will double check all of the things above.

 

Another thing to check is the brake rotor run out. Z cars with the unvented rotors are notorious for “warping†the rotors. This causes the steering wheel to vibrate, especially under heaving braking from speed. This happened to my Z and I just replaced the rotors rather than having them turned.

 

Good luck and happy hunting.