Front Shimmy with Clunck sound over small bumps

[gjmane36]

I have replaced the following: shocks, upper and lower control arms, idler arm, tie rods, sway bar links, and front bearing. I have had the tires balanced on a hunter balancer, and rotated tires. Collier nut on steering shaft is tight. Still have shimmy.

I jacked the front end up and can shack push/pull either wheel about 1-2 inches with the same clunk. I can see the front end moves together. I can see the steering shaft move and U-joints look good. The sound seems to be coming from the steering shaft. But the collier nut is tight. The steering wheel shakes and can feel it through the whole car.

An HELP or insight??!!

Thanks.

[Tiger]

Probably is your wheel... do you have E39 wheels? If so, did you use hubcentric shims?

[Tiger]

Push pull which direction? At 9 and 3 o clock position or 12 and 6 o'clock position?

Shimmy is either upper control arm or wheels like I posted earlier.

Clunk is most likely sway bar links... retighten everything hard.

[rockin1978TA]

My 535 had the 55mph shimmy. Just put new tires up front,rotated front wheels to back shimmy is gone. I'm thinking it was either the tires were out of balance or one of the wheels up front.

[gjmane36]

I pulled the wheel at 9 and 3. I positioned myself to see the front end movement. I replaced the sway bar links with no change. I had replaced the control arms and the thruster arms 2 weeks apart. I replaced the tie rods and idler arm with alignment last week. No change, same shimmy.... I checked the column nut and it doesn't budge...

[gjmane36]

Sorry, I responded to last post with this information.

I pulled the wheel at 9 and 3. I positioned myself to see the front end movement. I replaced the sway bar links with no change. I had replaced the control arms and the thruster arms 2 weeks apart. I replaced the tie rods and idler arm with alignment last week. No change, same shimmy.... I checked the column nut and it doesn't budge... I have had the tires balanced and rotated as well...

[gjmane36]

I have basket weave stock rims for the E34. The tires are about 1 year old before the shimmy started and the chase began. The tires were balanced with a Hunter balancer...

[gjmane36]

Just had the tires re-balanced and rotated using a Hunter balancer. No change in shimmy...

[Tiger]

The clunk I believe is now your upper strut mount.

The shimmy I am suspecting it might just be your wheel or tire... I suggest... if you have another set of wheels... put them on... or if you don't, bring out your spare tire and change one at a time to see if the shimmy goes away.

A bent wheel or broken tire can still balance out on wheel balancer but when on the road.... shakes. I have alot of experience on this... especially tire balancer... I actually owns one. If you don't calibrate it as you are supposed to every month with a reference tire... it will get out of balance even though machine reads balanced...

The oddity of tire balancer that is not calibrated is you get shaking at around 55MPH... slow speed you might feel lugging feeling and at speed of 70MPH... might comes out smooth.

[ahlem]

Does it feel looseand clunk when you put on the brakes as well?

[Bo525i]

I have a bent rear rim (winter tires) that is perfectly balanced, but still shakes like mad @ 55 mph

[gjmane36]

No. No change when breaking or turning.

[gjmane36]

I thought it might be a bent rim or bad tire. Had the tires check with no problems. Also had an alignment... no change...

[gjmane36]

Thanks. I thought the same about the strut mount. I checked the driverside first since that was where the cluncking seem to be generating. I think I got about 1/32 to 1/16 of a turn on the driverside and nothing on the passanger side. Both seem to be pretty tight.

No change. Still have the clunk and shimmy

My legs seem to be giving out at this point chasing this issue....

I will change out the front tires with the spare to see if there is a broken belt.

[Tiger]

It doesn't take much for a clunk... believe me... that movement you said is enough for a clunk.You are tightening the strut nut but the front strut mounnt itself has a ball bearing inside which cannot be tightened. The rear strut mount is simply a solid rubber mount.

[Rustam]

Bushings - what type of them do you have on the upper control arms? Anti rattling clip - missing on the brake?

[Rustam]

is this on the brake? 7597

[gjmane36]

I checked both sides and both are present. I even check the bolts on the front breaks as well...

[gjmane36]

I have PowerFlex bushing on the upper control arms. I also check the bolts for correct torque settings. I tighten the front strut mount with an open end wrench and allen wrench to keep it from spinning. That was almost a two person job!

[gjmane36]

I found that the flex disk on the steering shaft has a tear. I am beginning to believe that the colar nut is too tight and has pulled the flex disk apart. Can this issue cause the clunking sound and play or shimmy? I do have one on the way and should arrive within the next few days.

[Tiger]

Play in steering yes. No to everything else... usually a tear happens when in front end accident.

[gjmane36]

The chase continues...

[Rustam]

So the clunk, may be originating actually from the steering box. You said that it seems to be from around that area, and last time I missed this bit of information. The box is mounted by two bolts one of them is placed vertically. This bolt was loosened in my case, a long while ago, and I tightened it. The clunk was gone. The box actually does jump up because of road bumps making noise. You haven't mentioned these bolts in the post, it is good check them as well:

I tightened the bolt Part 5 with Parts 6 and 7 related:
7598

[Rustam]

Plus the middle steering link, may be faulty in the sense that the ball joint ends being pressed into the tube, may have been loosened. My middle steering link had this problem. Part 9 below shows a tube with ball joint attachments at each end. These attachments are compressed chalked by the tube. It is conceivable that one of them or both have loosened at the chalking:

7600

[gjmane36]

I replaced the steering shaft flex disk. The column nut was way too tight. The shaft was pulling the disk into a u-shape. The disk had tares where the bolt holes are located. I loosened the nut to where the shaft would travel more freely without it being too loose.

I could turn the wheel left to right and right to left without having the engine on and hear the clunk.

I believe your assessment is right on. I will looking into, how to access the bolt and post my results.

I really appreciate your input and all others as well.

Thanks.

[gjmane36]

That was the one of the parts (in my front end re-build chasing the clunk) and the Putman arm that I didn't replace. The ball joints didn't show any movement or play. I tried to push up on the links for any play. The clunk sound still seem to be generating closer to the driver side area.

[Tiger]

possible engine mounts

[gjmane36]

I check then engine mounts on a regular basis. Not the engine mounts. I have also changed the transmission mounts.

[Rustam]

I highly doubt that this can be engine mounts, and honestly do not have a single clue how this can be so. Especially given the fact that the person claims to be able to hear the clunk just by moving the wheels manually:

I jacked the front end up and can shack push/pull either wheel about 1-2 inches with the same clunk.

[Tiger]

Oh right... then I still think it is the upper strut mount...

[gjmane36]

I was able to access the area to tighten the bolt about 1/4 turn. I did have to secure the top of the bolt with an open end wrench and tighend it from the bottom. Since I had the front wheels off the ground, I tried moving them by grabbing the tire at 9 and 3. I was able to move the wheel about 1-2 inches and still got the clunk. I was better able to see the U-joints and they seem to be pretty secure and tight. The steering shaft seem to move in-senc with the movement. The sound does seem to be generating from around the fire wall in the steering shaft.

I took a short drive and the clunking is still present going over small bumps. The steering play was not as great but the shimmy is still present.

Is it possilbe that the column nut was tight enough to have pulled or loosen the steering shaft u-joint near the firewall?

[gjmane36]

I check them and got about 1/8 of turn from the driver side mount. I used a large open end and allen wrench to check both sides. Other side was tight. No change in the clunk or shimmy.

[gjmane36]

I really need to check my spelling ... My apology if there was any confussion in my posting...

[mikell]

Something is loose - my vote is for worn out strut mounts. How about wheel bearings? Just a thought.

[gjmane36]

Put new mounts in with the shocks. I had also replace the front bearing about 2 years ago. Sound seem to be coming from the steering shaft, I narrowed it to the steering box. I tighten the top bolt. I got about 1/4 to 1/2 turn. It did help to slightly reduce the shimmy in the wheel but not the clunk. I plan on adjusting the steering box over the weekend.

[gjmane36]

I tried to adjust the steeing box but was unable to break loose the retaing bolt to tighten the box. I used the BMWE34.net techniques for adjusting the steering box. However, I was unable to break loose the retaining bolt to make the adjustment. I also tried from the bottom using a u-joint socket wrench. I did not seem to have enough hand strenght to break it loose.

Does anyone know of any technique to use that may possibly work?

[Rustam]

Is it possilbe that the column nut was tight enough to have pulled or loosen the steering shaft u-joint near the firewall?

Whether this particular occurrence is possible I am not sure. Assuming BMW did a great job at design time, of course it shouldn't. However, it is possible that the steering shaft ujoint has loosened. I had to replace mine a while ago - the cross between the yokes was damaged and had a shimmy. You may wish to check the condition of this ujoint.

[gjmane36]

Thanks. I tried adjusting the steering box over the weekend. I was able to look closer at the joints for any play. They were tight. The steering box however was the sourse of the clunking sound and the source of the play.

I was not able to break loose the retaing nut this time. I will try to adjust the box and if not look to replace it.

[Rustam]

Any news?

[gjmane36]

No. No response on a different technique or how to possibly break it loose.

I tried once again to break the nut loose and was not able to get a good grip on the nut. I tried to work it loose with little or small twist both ways with no result.

I even had a hard time finding an indy to do the adjustment. However, I did get an appointment.

The box is the source of the cluncking and play. I don't know if it is beyond adjustment.

[gjmane36]

No. No response on a different technique or how to possibly break it loose.

I tried once again to break the nut loose and was not able to get a good grip on the nut. I tried to work it loose with little or small twist both ways with no result.

I even had a hard time finding an indy to do the adjustment. However, I did get an appointment.

The box is the source of the cluncking and play. I don't know if it is beyond adjustment.

[gjmane36]

I had the steering box adjusted today. The handling is tighter on cornering, with marginal difference on center. The shop was Blagoi's International (http://blagois.com). They checked out the front end first. They found it to be pretty solid. It took 2.3 turns on the box.

Looks like the box will need to be replaced. Uuggg....

[Rustam]

Looks like the box will need to be replaced. Uuggg....

I hope you will re-check everything...