I have heard that the M/Strut front end beetles get a wobble up, Mine gets one about 80kph and gets quite violent, i have adjusted the slack out of the steering box to about 25mm free play at the outside of the wheel, struts arent leaking , wheel bearings have been done. any help appreciated
Cheers
RJ

get a wheel balance

also look at all your bushes in the front end.
try having a read here
http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1298&hl=shimmy 

Mine does it at 55km/h, quite specifically. It's fine below about 53km/h and the wobble goes away at about 58km/h. I feel quite happy with that, whereas if the wobble was at 60km/h I would be extremely angry!

joel always suggests just moving the front wheels 90 deg, or one bolt to the left/right... not a permanant fix though i dont think..

Hi

I've had supers since 1973, I battled the dreaded shimmy for years, fitted new steering boxes, universal steering joints, lower ball joints, tie rods & steering dampers.

All these things helped but the most useful things to stop it were Urethane bushes in everything and skinny struts with heavier front springs, I personally believe that the front springs are too light which causes most of the problems.

Steve

Steve there's always one to give you a headache, I have a client with a super cab, with 4 stud chromies, strut brace and all good nick suspension joints and urethane bushes.....it's constantly on the verge of shimmy if you have uneven road surface....I am wondering about lifting the rear as it has the saggy rear torsions look and way in the air in the front, so maybe caster has quite an effect ???

Hi Mat

I had heaps of problems when I was running 14 inch 7 & 8 inch Magnum eliminators (OK it was the 70s), I had to get an on car balance or have the shimmies.

When I went to 15 inch wheels, then 16s & 17s it seemed to go away.

When I had the shimmies bad, I found a quick flick of the steering wheel would get rid of it.

Even my sons bug with stock wheels, skinny V Force struts and Urethane bushes had no shimmy, for a short period of time it had a loose lower ball joint no shimmy, now with 17 inch wheels its a steady as rock. It has a worn steering damper bush in the pitman arm now, still no shimmy.

Steve

I have found that simply having the wheels balanced on the car was mysolution many years ago.
regards
Jak

I dropped 35kg in the spare wheel well this afternoon and I have managed to shift the wobbble start point to 60 - 65 kph checked all the bushes and ball joints, they seem OK have organised new ones any way, will fit on weekend and booked in for an alignment and balance Monday, will keep you posted
Cheers
RJ

If your wheels' contact patch is out board of the point on the ground
where the imaginary kingpin axis intersects, it will aggrivate the problem.
This is common on aftermarket wheels.
Added caster can help, as can better steering damper, but it is probaby a bandaid.

mine got the wobbles and was just the wheel balance.

get a wheel balance and go from there a $35.00 fix

I had this problem. The bushes, ball joints etc were fine. A new steering damper was an instant cure.

Cheers,
Brett.

mine was fixed with a good wheel alignment
after replacing all the rubbers to nolathane stuff

Had a wheel alignment and set the camber at max allowed in at the top, toe in was out and balance wasnt to bad, drivable? sure is, just need to replace the bush or bearing what ever at the steering wheel end of the collum as there is a bit of movement there and hopfully Ive got it by the balls definetly drives better thou
RJ

Thanks ,but I need to take the steering wheel off and apparently there is a bush or a bearing in there, I can actually lift my steering wheel up and down and side to side

Yeah - the is a plastic sleeve/bush that has ka-putted

those plastic ones always fall apart
a 72 probably should have had the metal sleeve though.

re. the shimmys what wheels are you running?
with nearly all the supers I've owned 90% of the time if the balljoints and bushings are even half decent its the rims that cause it

small diameter seems to amplify the problem but the worst are all those dreadfull 70s ROH wheels like hotwires, globes, hurricanes etc with the square shank bolts that dont center properly but stock steelies with small buckles/wobbles seem to bring it on too

as mustard said above I;ve found moving the 1 wheel at a time 90 degrees on the bolts can sometimes atleast dampen it if not cure but only if all the rest is good

Running 5" chrome mangles I think they are called.
Seems todays effort, alignment and balance has got rid of them for now.

thats an Lbug you have there so its after 73 which is why its got the disintegrating plastic steering shaft sleeve instead of the metal one, more cost cutting on vw's part

Sometimes the offset of those wider rims can upset the shimmys by widening the track