Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train Odd brake behaviour

About 4 months ago I did a whole hog brake job on my 65 BelAir. All new hardware and wheel cylinders, shoes, new master, new lines (rigid and flex) and had the drums turned.

The brakes work well and don't generally pull at all. I have done a few panic stops and all has performed well.

Lately, however, if I am cruising on the highway and I apply very light brake pressure I sometimes get a pretty significant steering wheel oscillation. The oscillation disappears when I press the brake pedal harder. In addition, it seems that once I have an oscillation event, and make it stop by pressing harder, the oscillation hardly ever repeats itself on that drive. If I park the car at work all day, it may very well happen again on the way home when I press the pedal lightly, but will disappear after pressing harder.

I will admit that I have not taken the front wheels/drums off to inspect yet. The weather has been cold and wet and I don't have a garage. I was just wondering if any of you might be able to make sense of this? It really has me stumped. Might be obvious once a I open it up, but I figured it didn't hurt to ask for your ideas.

Thanks,

Kirk

Just a WAG: not enough pre-load on the front wheel Timken bearings?

I'll check that. I am hoping to have good enough weather to open it up this weekend. We'll see. I did replace those bearings and the seals during this brake job and am pretty sure I got the pre-load right.

Something isn't right....that's for sure.

Thanks.

Possibly a loose idler arm?

I agree with Will6er, something in the steering is loose. Check the tie rods, idler arm, ball joints ect. Not hard to check these items and can certainly cause your problem.