1965 Front Suspension Problems

[sinisterstang65]

I have a 65 mustang with a 351W, and a coil over front suspension with rack and pinion steering. We just had our fmx tranny completely rebuilt with a shift kit, new bands, clutches, and a 2400 TCI Breakaway TC, flywheel, and also replaced the harmonic balancer on the motor. We did all this thinking it would fix the vibration in the front end around 45-50 mph. But it is still vibrating, does any one have any idea on what the possible problems could be? We thought that the main causes that can make the engine vibrate would be the Torque converter, flywheel and harmonic balancer, and we replaced all of them? Could it be the wheels are out of balance, or somehow the front end got out of enlignment. Even though we just got it enligned. Need some info asap thanks

 

[dodgestang]

Driveline vibrations are always fun

0. Confirm front balancer and flywheel have same imbalance
1. Check wheel balances
2. Check wheel bearings
3. Inspect motor/tranny mounts and look for wear
4. Have drive shaft balanced
5. Replace universals in driveshaft
6. Check alignment
7. Replace tires with different brand (or borrow someone else's for a ride)

At least those are the things I do

 

[blown65]

Coming thru the steering wheel or just feels from the front. Does it do it at the same RPM in different gears?

 

[sinisterstang65]

RE

It drives fine until you reach about 45 mph, or if you rev it to around that rpm. We dont have a tach tho so its hard to tell you what its doin it around. And its not the steering column, its the whole car, i mean the whole car shakes, but once you get to around 60 it disappears. So thats why we are having trouble figuring out whats wrong. Do you guys think it could be a lack of strength in the front end, bc of the torque at the certain rpm, bc we did hav to cut the shock towers out, and take the sway bar out, so the only strength is the connector, but that is alot of steel, so I doubt it could be that, and we reinforced all the railings with extra steel.

 

[blown65]

So if you rev it up, will it do the same thing in park at that apx rpm range?

 

[65coupe408w]

I have had the same problem...I was chasing a vibration in my car since the day I picked it up.

I put a new motor in, new trans, had a new drive shaft made, had rear (8inch) rebuilt, new wheels and tires and once you got near 65-70mph the vibration would start to come in. It would come up through the steering wheel and would get worse with speed.

A few months ago I upgraded to a 9inch with all new parts and miraculously the vibration went away! Car drives a million times better, now there is no vibration at any speed!

Are you 100% sure it is coming from the fron of the car? mine felt that way...the way it came through the steering wheel, but as I found out it was actually coming from the rear!

On a side note...what coilover setup are you using?

 

[sinisterstang65]

RE

Hoffman Group, absolute worst reviews, id have to go with a negative number just to rate them. We didnt get half the parts in the package, then had to wait and wait for the parts to come, and ended up not being the right parts. And they had terrible instructions with no measurements, and the tech support and even the shop guys had no clue about the product when they were the ONE BUILDING THEM. All in all we finally got it put on, but now this problems has came up. The rear is an 8.8 with 3.55 gear. Could it just be the driveshaft is out of balance, or somthing of that matter?

 

[sinisterstang65]

But i problably shouldnt have mentioned all that, bc its not just wen your driving it does it in park so there is so no way it could be the front end

 

[blown65]

You sure the balancer/flexplate is the right balance? 28oz and 50oz are the common ones, internal not so much.

 

[hivewax]

Check the drive-shaft u-joint connections to the two end yokes. Usually, they can be misaligned and cause vibration... even if they are an eighths off.