What's wrong with my front end?!?

[Greg Baxter <gbaxter@valleybrook.com>]

Last week, I posted a question about my CVs on the '82. 

To refresh all of your memories, at highway speeds, anytime that any pressure is put on the right front tire (IE: left turns, dips in the road etc...) I get a shimmy from that area. Over the weekend, I pulled the drive axle, and sure enough, the outer boot had a cut in it, so I replaced the joint. (BTW, not NEARLY as bad a job as I was anticipating... one thing that I forgot was to wear surgical gloves... still have grease under the nails...)

On my test drive, the shimmy was still there. I took a good look at the tires, and that tire seemed to be bad - has a good cut in the sidewall etc, so I rotated all 4 around. The problem remains. 

It now seems to be getting worse. I have thought this through, and have a few ideas:

1. Could the brakes be rubbing on that side? I suppose if that were the case, I'd be more likely to feel it at lower speeds, though, wouldn't' I?

2. Something in the steering assembly? Like I said, every time I turn left, I seem to get a shimmy from the leading (right) tire...

3. Alignment? I had the car pulled straight after I bought it (it took a nose-dive into a ditch). The body shop (whom I trust) said that they pulled it straight, and had a front-end alignment done on it. This was a year ago, but the car sat for the majority of 1996. I have only put 3000kms on it since then. At these speeds, it has a tendency to pull to the right, resulting n me putting left pressure on the wheel to go straight. This also gives me the shimmy.

I was so proud of myself for making what I thought to be the correct diagnosis, and now the problem is at lease as bad as it was on Friday...

Help!


Greg
82 Rocco
91 Jetta

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