Violent Shimmy Problem in my 74 super beetle

[Superbeetle12]

This is so frustrating to me, I bought my super beetle and drove it home 40 mills back home, cruised at 65 no problem. Once I got home and drove it around a little a problem occurred. I will be driving at 35 in 2nd gear, as soon as I shift into third and start to accelerate the steering wheel and the whole car starts to rock back and forth as if someone took the steering wheel and was jerking it back and forth really hard and fast. I can't do anything about it besides pull over and srat back up. It is very irritating and I have no idea what it could be. Anything helps, thank you.

[Laz_]

check out http://toplineparts.com/shakes/shakes.htm john can help you out.

[Superbeetle12]

That was my plan of attack. Thanks for the link!

[TheAmazingDave]

You're not alone, my 71 Super does the same, and it's apparently known as the Super Beetle Shimmy. Ours is exactly as you describe, from about 35-43. Any lower or higher than those speeds, and the car drives surprisingly well.

[Superbeetle12]

You're not alone, my 71 Super does the same, and it's apparently known as the Super Beetle Shimmy. Ours is exactly as you describe, from about 35-43. Any lower or higher than those speeds, and the car drives surprisingly well.

What do you tend to do? Because I drive mine for 10 seconds with those shakes and my body hurts from it. haha it just seems too bizzare

[vwrabbitjunkie]

Empi sells a Polyurethane bushing kit for the super beetle that works great. Also if you have a steering dampener make sure its tight and has resistance when pushed in and out. Also check the tie rod ends, ball joints, and pitman arms for excessive play. Hope this helps, the death wobble sucks.

[TheAmazingDave]

We take back-roads for the most part. Our area of San Jose I guess would be like the suburbs, and there's lots of 25 MPH residentials to get around on. If we need to drive on a road in the "shake zone" (35 or 40 MPH limt), we either stay to the right and drive just under 35, or if it's a 40 we'll accelerate through the shake and cruise at 45. We've had it up to 55 several times and it drives surprisingly well at that speed but there's a caveat. I tweaked the alignment a bit (since it was already off) to toe out the wheels. It helped marginally, but now if you nail the brakes at speed, the car likes to switch which front wheel it tracks on and can violently jerk to one side or the other. As a result, we are really trying to stick to resis in the meantime till I can fix it.

I've been under the car, and everything looks decent, as far as ball joints and bushings. It looks like the pitman arm (I think that's what it's called, it's the arm opposite of the steering box that holds the other end of the steering arm) looks to have the solid brass bushing pressed into it from a previous owner. The problems I found, however, are a spent steering box, a blown bushing on the steering damper connection, and at least the driver's side front tire has a flat spot from skidding the tire although I haven't checked the right tire yet. Not to mention, the alignment is horribly off.

[Jade Wombat]

The car is fixable, you're not doomed to have to live with this problem. I drive the piss out of my '73 at autocross and rallycross races, I've gone through everything on the front end but for handling improvements.

http://toplineparts.com/shakes/shakes.htm

[Superbeetle12]

I really appreciate all the feed back. The wobbles blow. I plan on replacing all the ball joints and bushing. The steering damper seems way too lose then what it should be. Hopefully those things stop the wobbles and makes me a little more comfortable to drive. Thanks again guys

[buggyman]

I really appreciate all the feed back. The wobbles blow. I plan on replacing all the ball joints and bushing. The steering damper seems way too lose then what it should be. Hopefully those things stop the wobbles and makes me a little more comfortable to drive. Thanks again guys

Dayo Sb12 ,
Then just start with that,quick,easy,cheap :
http://www.vw-resource.com/vw-resour...=1&zoom_sort=0
Then move on to the other,spendier,more difficult tasks if they prove to even need to be done also .

[skills@eurocarsplus]

Also check your air pressure. It is stupid low like 18 or 20 psi in the front. If you have 32+ it will shake like he'll. Lowering the air press in my old 71 did the trick

[Superbeetle12]

Checked air pressure last night. It was good, I'm begging to think it's a balance issue as well as all the front components haven't been replaced since 74. haha

[2lowcoupedoor]

Make sure all of your tie rods and center link is good and make sure your gear box is tight and your idler arm bushings are good. then make sure your tires good and set at 20psi front make sure your wheels are not bent and balanced up.