Palisadian., 1923-08-10
WOBBLY WHEELS
NEED REPAIRING
Practical Plan Outlined by Chica-
90 Expert on Taking Proper
Care of Auto.
(By ERWIN GREER. President Greer
College of Automotive Engineering,

(By ERWIN GREER, President Greer
College of Automotive Engineering,
Chicago)
First, see that your wheels are roll
ling true, and keep them So The tire
on wheel that is intarmittently or con-
tinuously trying to run in a different
direction from that of the car is side
slipping more or less, thereby causing
unnecessary wear.
Rear wheels are out of line intermit-
tently If they wobble. To test for this,
Jack up one separately, carefully block
ing the other three, run engine as
slowly as possible with low gear In,
and watch the wheel. If it wobbles as
a whole (hub included) the axle is
bent and should be taken out and
strengthened at once; but II hub re-
wolves evenly and only the rim woh-
bles, then the wheel itself is distorted
and must be re-trued. The cost Of such
re-trueing or new wheel will soon be
repaid by the resulting increased tire
and gasoline mileage
Test for Rear Wheels.
Rear wheels which do not wobble are
seldom out of line with each other, but
II the car has been In collision, or
traversed extremely rough roads, 1t
would be we'll to test for this as fol-
lows: Take fairly stiff and straight
board long enough to extend from the
rear part Of rear wheel to beyond the
front nf al
end, against a rear wheel tire. touch
ing both front and rear part of It and
as near the center Of wheel as possible.
the board pointing forward fhaving, If
necessary, been cut away to clear
front wheel) and touching the ground
at that end. Get friend to mark the
ground where the edge touches 1t. Do
the same at the other side of the car
(being careful to use same edge and
end of board). Now measure between
the marks thus made, and note. Push
car back (or forward) one half turn
OF rear wheels and repeat on each as
before (again using the same edge and
end); compare the two measurements
and note the mean-they will vary If
wheels have even the slightest wobble
Test for Front Wheels.
On the majority of cars the front
wheels have kindergarten" That is,
they are closer together where they
touch the ground than at their upper
edges, and where that Is the case they
should also have "foregather" that Is,
they should be nearer together (about
Y inch) at their front than at their
rear edges. Just why this is done is out
side the scope Of these notes, but the
foregather must be as nearly correct
as possible If tire life is to be consid-
cred. Jack up each in turn and spin
to test for wobble. With board held
at front wheels as given above for
the rear ones, and pointing toward the
rear turn steering wheel slightly to
right or left until the distance from
board to rear wheels Is the same on
both sides Of the ear. The wheels are
now set true for going straight ahead.
Now use board on front wheels exactly
as already described for rear ones,
marking on the ground and measur-
ing at both front and rear of car. II
ten feet is the length of the board
from center Of wheel to where 1t
touches the ground, about twenty feet
will of course separate the front and
rear marks, and the distance, in such
case, between the rear marks should be
about / Y to inches greater than at
the. front end. If correct, adjust by
lengthening or shortening the tie rod
Chat rod connecting the swivel arms
Of the wheels across the carr