Fixing Death Wobble in a Model T

How to replace the worn out bushings in the steering linkages of a 1923 Ford Model T to eliminate "Death Wobble".
Death Wobble is a common problem in vehicles with solid axles (like the Jeep Wrangler), as opposed to ones with independent suspension. It happens as the vehicle's linkages develop a bit of wear. The extra space allows the natural resonances of the suspension to throw the steering back and forth at certain speeds.
The proper fix is to replace the worn out components. This video shows the process of doing that for a Model T.

[@flivverchannel]

Great video! Once again proving that it is very difficult to own and maintain a Model T without a machine shop at hand...

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Absolutely, this would be really difficult without a lathe and pretty much impossible to do well without a good micrometer to get the press fits right. The mill you could do without for this project, and you could, I imagine, do nearly everything else in this video with a battery-powered drill and a hand file, using it as a sort of rudimentary lathe. But goodness gracious would it ever be difficult. Thanks for watching!

[@somalia5019]

New subscribed from Somalia thanks

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Nice to meet you! Hope it was informative.

[@JuroBaltins]

Nice video! this was a suggested video on my front page and it peaked my interest, and I'm glad I watched it, because you rarely see people actually working on these old cars up close. Wish you well!

[@JuroBaltins]

Might I suggest an improvement for future videos, grab some b roll footage of what you're working on and what you've done, and the car itself. there's no shame in handheld footy

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Thanks! I actually have a *lot* more footage of this process. Takes me forever to make these videos because I try to edit it down to just the most interesting stuff (or rather the stuff that I feel would be most helpful for someone else trying to do the same thing on their own vehicle) so I'm not wasting everyone's time. Would you rather I made these longer and included more of the process?

[@essentialjudge2279]

Just did all that on the 27 runabout. Did a steering column and gear at the same time. I would hate to work on that car without a press and a lathe

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Yeah, I'm going to have to do the steering column eventually. Gears are not great, but the bushings in it are completely shot. But as long as I know how much play there is, I can still run it effectively, so it's been a little lower on my priority list than other projects.

[@KlepsGarage]

You should have premiered this. Just now saw it. Good vid. The reason you could remove the top axle bushing is because ford never had a bushing there. Some one fixed the axle be for with a KR Wilson fix. Bore the top and insert a tapered sleeve. You’ll find that it on goes on top part of axle about 3/8 inch. Does not go all the way through. Cheers.

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Ah, that would make sense. I figured it wasn't original, but hadn't considered that it be a blind insert and not go all the way through. Thanks for the pointer!

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Thanks for the suggestion for premiering. I've never done that before and just turned that on for my next video that's going up tomorrow.

[@paulmacken8476]

I’m just sending mine to you!

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Haha! Don't do that! Remember, I'm Not Smart Enough to be doing any of this! :)

[@leonnygren9394]

Another serious problem with these front spindles is grease or lubrication never reaches the bushings properly. What I do is drill and install a grease fitting in between the 2 bushings in the middle. That casting dimple is the perfect spot. After installing the grease fitting, now grease will reach both bushings and the bolt spindles effectively.

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

I don't seem to have that problem with mine, but I think part of that is because I use oil instead of grease. Since oil's a Newtonian fluid (not just shear-thinning like grease), it seems to flow down through the spindle pretty well. It flows from the flip-top oil cup down the central hole in the top of the kingpin, out through the cross-drilled hole and into the narrowed slot of the kingpin where the upper bushing is, and then down the sides of the kingpin through the internal cavity of the spindle before reaching the bottom bushing. But I could see that not working at all if you were using grease or if your clearances were a little too tight.

[@pablo4015]

Muy bueno!! Saludos desde Argentina

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

¡Gracias por mirar!

[@mikemcoooo]

how not to do bearings did the death wobble go away

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Yes, it did. Works beautifully now.

[@markosterman419]

Looks like removing the excess from the bearing surfaces on the king pin bushing went too far. It’s too loose.

[@arisaka9963]

Just tighten down on the kingpin and that will fix it

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

If I was to do it again, I don't think I'd use the purpose-built reamer and facing tool. It reamed the holes too big and the facing cutter chattered so bad it just wasn't worth it.

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

@@arisaka9963 I wanted to let everything wear in a little bit, but I just recently re-tightened everything and it runs pretty well now.

[@joshuanawrocki2994]

i hate the fact you didnt pack the bearing with grease ahaaaa

[@notsmartenoughworkshop]

Heh...I must have skipped some of the footage from that in the interest of only showing the interesting bits and not wasting peoples' time, but I mashed grease into every nook and cranny of those things before installing them. I just did it manually rather than using a bearing packing tool - I don't repack bearings often enough to justify the mess of a bearing packer. The driver's side inner bearing did need to be cleaned and repacked, but it was previously full of grease as well - it was just older grease. And that's one big advantage to filling the hubcaps with grease (that's actually somewhat debated as to whether you should do that or not) - if you fill them with grease, it acts as a giant grease cup and pushes grease through both the inner and outer wheel bearings as you tighten it down. If you notice, I didn't fully tighten down the hubcaps. That's because by that point, it was already squeezing grease through both bearings and out of the inner seals. Kind of works as a bearing packer tool to fill any additional spaces I didn't get by hand. Some people don't think it's necessary, but I would totally recommend doing it that way, per the factory instructions. Even for rear ones where it wouldn't really push through into the bearings, it still acts as an emergency grease reservoir for if you need some while you're out on the road. But it's definitely helpful for the fronts.