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Triumph TR3 - Body shaking

At any speed above 35 mph, the body of my TR3 shakes terribly. This is especially evident through the cowl/dash. I've had the wheels balanced. It's not a vibration; it's almost a wobble. Anyone have any ideas of what should be checked out?

Thanks!
Chet

Ah the allusive Scuttle Shake as it is referred to. Well I have read a number of way to correct this problem, the first I found is on The TR Register (Australia). This looks really hard to do, here is the link to the page http://www.tr-register.com.au/Files/technical.htm . The second way I have heard is that it is from an unbalanced drive shaft (oh I mean a propeller shaft) what seems to happen is that over the years the shaft receives a lot of abuse and even if you cannot see it with the naked eye it may be unbalanced. Take it to a drive line specialist and have them look at it.

Good Luck
Russ Austin

Comm# TS 41804L

Bye the way if you have not registered your TR3 with The TR Registry
http://trregistry.com/start/registry/html/TR3/index.htm
there are about 118 TR2 thru TR3’s registered.
Russ Austin

Chet and Russ

My TR3A has never suffered from what you describe and I would never have thought that any sidescreen TR would need any structural additions like the ones shown on the web-site you suggested.

Are all the body mounting points tightly bolted ? Are all the original welds still intact ? Think about it, these TR's have been raced and rallied for over 40 years and there should be no scuttle shake if the body is as it was when it left the factory.

However, I had a curious problem in up-state Michigan while driving to VTR in Colorada last August. When I was at speed, the car shook all over. When I would come to a stop sign or a red light the wheels seemed all out of round. The car was wobbling up and down differently at each corner. Well, you guessed it. I had bought five new 165-15-SR Michelins in 1990 when I finished my restoration. By 2001, they had been driven 56,000 miles and it's called ply-separation. The tires felt like they had balloons all over the sidewalls as well as on the tread area. I bought 4 new tires (Kelly-Springfield Centreds for $38.00 each, mounted, balanced and installed) in Cedar Falls, Iowa and have driven another 8,000 on them since. No problems and no shaking.

Check yours out.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A, TS 27489 LO

Don Elliott

Chet-I found the dreaded scuttle shake was very dependent on the road surface. A slight washboard surface would cause it. Also, it only occurred at about 40-50 mph. I went nuts replacing shocks, front suspension parts,even converting from wires to disc wheels and having the tires trued. I guess I learned to ignore it.
Berry Price

I had this problem about ten years ago.
Solution:
1. Lower tire pressure to between 22 & 24 lbs.I was running 26-28 lbs.

2. Have your front suspension checked out, ALL PARTS.
I had several parts replaced.

Problem solved. Been driving my TR3A 20 years, no problems.
Shell Kanzer

I had a problem similar to this many years ago. It was a vibration between 50 and 60 MPH that was not appearant below 50 and went away above 60ish. One day while talking with a tire dealer, I descibed my problem and he said that I had a "flat" spot in the tires. (I had already rebalanced and trued to no-effect) Anyway, bottomline is he was correct. When I changed tires, the problem went away. One of the things he told me was, this can happen if the car sits as little a a week or so in the same spot. If you change the tires and it goes away, he recommended jack stands for even short planned inactivity.

Cheers
& Good luck

Bryan G.
Bryan

This thread was discussed between 10/06/2002 and 04/08/2002

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