Nosser

Tonight will be moment of truth - strut bushings and rods were as toasted as most, though luckily frame mounts weren't too badly hogged out. Had to wait to get new rods so it's been up in the air for a few weeks, finally got it all back together with the centering rings on last night, but seems the door hadn't completely closed so batt was beyond dead. We'll see what we get once I get home.

So got it in the air over the weekend and everything is tight as a drum - no play in any of the suspension links anywhere as far as I can tell. Replacing the tension rod bushes all the same, on close inspection they do seem to have seen better days. Still trying to get the nuts at the back of the rods off - 24mm socket can't get down because of the threads, 24mm deep socket doesn't fit as the frame buttresses are in the way. Going to try to track down a 24mm closed end bf wrench at harbor freight today - local shops didn't have anything over 22. Can you tell I'm having fun? Another question - anyone had any luck calming the shimmies w/ a steering dampener? Don't want to just throw parts at the problem but just thought about it and it seemed like a natural solution.

Thanks for the link to the other thread - I was always hard core about hub centric wheels until I threw Cragars on a couple of domestics I've had over the years without issue. I went ahead and ordered a set of spacers - may not fix the problem but at least takes another variable out of the equation. For 12 bucks it's sure not going to hurt.

I have not specifically checked the wheel bearings, but they're making no noise whatsoever. Tension rod bushes get here tomorrow so I'll be able to get it up in the air shortly.

Alrighty then - tension rod kit is on order, once I get it in the air I'll see if anything else jumps out at me. Thanks, guys.

Hey everybody, Continuing to make headway on my new Pathy but ran into a bit of a stumble this weekend. Yesterday I had a new set of wheels and tires mounted up and installed. The specs: Tire: BFGoodrich All-Terrain TA/KO, 31 x 10.5 x 15 Wheel: Cragar V-5, 15x8, 3.75 in backspace Immediately upon entering the freeway onramp I felt a very noticable wobble in the wheel - I was tempted to just turn around and have them re-balanced but due to my schedule I decided to bring it back later, (Discount Tire - lifetime re-balances,) however I've since driven the truck a couple more times and I don't believe it is actually a balance problem as it's very inconsistent - at the exact same speed sometimes it's VERY noticeable and sometimes non-existent. I should note here that with the stock wheels and tires (265s) there was no vibration whatsoever at any speed. The tension rod bushings look a little dry, but solid. I'll probably throw on a set anyway as a maintenance item but not convinced at all that's the source of the problem. My biggest worry is actually that it's the wheels themselves as they are lug-centric, but I've run the same wheels on other cars and trucks with no vibration problems whatsover - are Pathys especially sensitive to this? Seems like plenty of folks run similar Cragar steelies so I figured they were fine. Anything else that's a likely culprit?