1937 shimmy and Shake

37 CTS

My 37 CTS has the above shock absorber mounted to control front end shake. This was installed in the 1970s and still works fine. The shock is mounted to the left (drivers) spring and the tie rod.



A Hudson buddy has this problem on his 37 H , and so, what are some updated parts to use to rectify this concern on his car.?

terraplane8

What kind of shake do you mean? The '36-'39 radius-rod front end doesn't have any shake or in fact any movement at all that I can detect except the springing up and down over bumps. The steering is exceptionally stable on my '36's in fact it's perfect.

Jon B

Interesting. I have never had any sort of shake in my front end but then, it's only a Terraplane. Maybe this is a disease of royalty, LOL! I had thought that it was loose tie rod ends that caused shimmy -- or maybe bad kingpins.



I guess the main thing I want to say is, that I don't have that special shock absorber, yet don't have shimmy. So maybe if he simply replaces all the 'wearing' front end parts, he'll be okay.

37 CTS

This hudson friend's car seems senisitive to wheel track ruts left on paved roads from semi trucks and makes the car shake or wobble rather badly.

I talked this over with an Australian member and he said they use a Mercedes shock ot relieve this situation.

Ol racer

FYI

Any movement in the steering linkage anywhere will transfer into a shimmey to the tires when hitting bumps at speed. If all the components are tight ck the steering gear adjustment.



If you steel have problems SO CAL Speed Shop has a Straight Axle Universal Steering Dampner Shock to eliminate front end shimmy. I think cost around $50

barrysweet52

Ive had similar shimmey after replacing wheel brgs, king pins, tie rods, shockers, all steering adjustments and a wheel alignment on my 37T. I know a few people who have gone to radials and have solved the problem. You dont realise just how bad some roads are until you get out of a modern car and drive an older car. Possibly the brand/quality/type of tyres, worn sagging springs and shackles might contribute. Im still thinking about this problem, and havent driven much because of it. Hope there will be more discussion. Regards, Barry

terraplane8

barrysweet52 wrote:

Ive had similar shimmey after replacing wheel brgs, king pins, tie rods, shockers, all steering adjustments and a wheel alignment on my 37T. I know a few people who have gone to radials and have solved the problem. You dont realise just how bad some roads are until you get out of a modern car and drive an older car. Possibly the brand/quality/type of tyres, worn sagging springs and shackles might contribute. Im still thinking about this problem, and havent driven much because of it. Hope there will be more discussion. Regards, Barry

My '36H8 was hard work steering with cross-plies on truck-rutted roads until I increased the front tyre pressures up to 36psi or thereabouts, transforming the steering with no discernable effect on ride comfort.

Jon B

When your friend says "shimmy", he is talking about the rapid left-right movement of the steering wheel (several times per second), to a point where it is difficult to steer the car? Or is he simply saying that the car is hard to control when it enters the "trucker's ruts"?



If he means that he has to constantly make left-right steering corrections when driving in the ruts on the Interstate, then that would not be "shimmy" to me. It is a normal condition encountered with bias-ply tires, especially the skinny ones from the 1930's and earlier. Radials would help quite a bit. I chose to buy bias plies, because I liked the 'retro' design much better than radials, but I did "up" to a size-larger tire size: 650x16 (as opposed to the original 600x16 size. A fatter tire helps the ride, and the tracking, somewhat. But you'll always be done-in by trucker's ruts.



If your friend has the Hudson, it would have had 600 or 625 tires originally. No telling what he has on it now. Upping to 650 would help somewhat. Actually, originally they offered a 700x15 tire as an option on Terraplanes and Hudsons, and he might go in that direction if he wanted to maintain authenticity and get a fatter tire. He'd have to find the right 15" rims though.

[Deleted User]

37 wrote:

A Hudson buddy has this problem on his 37 H , and so, what are some updated parts to use to rectify this concern on his car.?

He should try installing an "Auto Poise" on his car first. They were first used on the 1939 models. Since they improved the handling of the car, Hudson offered retro-fit kits to install on the 37 & 38's.



The Auto Poise looks like an anti-sway bar and is mounted to the backing plate for the front brake assembly.



Most folks who retro-fitted their 37 & 38's say that they improved the handling of the car. Jon B. installed one on his 37. Perhaps he would offer some feedback on what it did (or didn't do) for his car.



Kevin C.